Increasing capacity in these competencies is beneficial to both elite athletes and executives, the foundation of which is often referred to as the ideal performance state. Fundamental to this IPS is the way in which we expend and renew energy, which is the life-blood of our existence. This knowledge has led to a change in paradigms, which is summarized on the slide. In the living laboratory of sports, performance psychologists also found that the real enemy of high performance is not stress, which paradoxically as it may seem, is actually a stimulus for growth. Rather the problem is the absence of disciplined, intermittent recovery, which ultimately can lead to chronic stress and burnout. Perhaps the easiest example to understand for building capacity is weight lifting. In weight lifting, the muscle fibers are stressed to the point where they literally start to break down. Given an adequate period of recovery (typically at least 48 hours, the muscle will not only heal, but it will also grow stronger. But persist in stressing the muscle without rest and the result will be acute a chronic damage. Conversely, failure to stress the muscle results in weakness and atrophy (just think of an arm in cast for a few weeks).

Why is any of this important for us? The average professional athlete spends most of his/her time practicing and only a small percentage actually competing. The typical executive by contrast devotes almost no time to training and must perform on demand ten, 12, 14 hours per day or more. Athletes enjoy several months off-season, while most executives are lucky to get 3-4 weeks vacation per year. The career of the average athlete spans seven years, the average executive can expect to work 40-50 years. Life is tough and for time-starved executives like us, it is getting tougher. While it isn’t always in our power to change our external conditions, we can train to better manage our inner state and our energy.