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⚡️ Today’s level up ⚡️

Today’s edition helps you implement a simple system that improves your recovery so you can perform better as a “corporate athlete.”

Let’s go!

Read time: <5 minutes

It’s not what you do, it’s what you don’t do that counts

In 2008, Christiano Ronaldo won the Champions League (the most important trophy in European soccer) for the first time in his career with Manchester United.

It capped off an incredible season where we had scored 42 goals (that’s a lot!) and would go on to win the Ballon d’Or (basically the MVP in world soccer) that same year…as a 23 year old!

A few days prior to lifting the trophy in Moscow, Manchester United were already crowned champions of the English Premier League. The players had a lot to celebrate that night.

So they partied.

The goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar and defender Rio Ferdinand were seen leaving the hotel bar at 8am the next morning. Another player, Wes Brown claimed to have had one hour of sleep before getting ready to head back to Manchester. And another, Danny Welbeck had to get a taxi to the airport as he had overslept and missed the team’s (already delayed) bus.

But there was one man who wasn’t going crazy with the celebrations – Ronaldo.

Apparently, the first thing Cristiano did was head to the gym when the team bus got back to the hotel after the game.

He was recognized as the best player on the planet and just achieved the biggest moment in his career. But for Ronaldo, partying wasn’t the most important thing. What mattered more was getting his recovery in.

Recovery is the key to peak performance in your career

Love him or hate…or not care, you do have to respect what Ronaldo has been able to accomplish in his career.

And he’s still performing at a high level at age 38.

His former fitness coach Giovanni Mauri, said Ronaldo would always make it a priority to head to the gym after a game to do a thorough routine to ensure he sped up his recovery between matches.

Whether it’s swimming, cryotherapy, power plate vibration therapy, inversion table spinal recovery, hot tubs, ice baths, naps, and more – he’s made recovery a habit (not something he waits to be told to do by the head coach, like other players).

When you add up all of these things that Ronaldo does for recovery, it far outweighs the actual time he spends training or playing.

There’s a lesson there for sellers.

And it’s why I make Rest a core pillar to my own personal operating system, PREP.

How to build in more recovery time in your high stress sales role

Before you go all-in with cold plunges or compression boots, here are 3 simple ways to make recovery a part of your daily routine:

1. Schedule tasks aligned to your natural circadian rhythm

Working in alignment with your natural circadian rhythm is so beneficial.

It starts with identifying your chronotype.

Chronotype is defined as a “person’s natural inclination with regard to the times of day when they prefer to sleep or when they are most alert or energetic.”

For instance if you are part of the 14% that make up larks (aka early birds), it’s good to optimize your early mornings. If you are the 21% that are night owls, your creativity will be at its peak late in the evening. And if you are a third bird, which is most of us at 65%, then you’re somewhere in between.

To leverage this to maximum effect, I ensure that my most demanding tasks, like creating a strategic proposal or building a kick-ass presentation, synchronize with my peak energy; while less cognitive-demanding tasks, such as checking email or organizing my CRM, are scheduled during my dip.

Source: Rise app helps you to monitor sleep debt and align tasks to your natural circadian rhythm

Remember, when you do things is just as important as what you do.

2. Incorporate The Pomodoro Technique

I use The Pomodoro Technique to work in highly-concentrated 25-minute efforts. After each 25-minute work session, I take a five-minute break. Then, after three sessions, I take a longer 15-30 minute break (perfect for sneaking in a walk outside).

Overall, I target 6-8 pomodoros and strive for no more than four 1-hour meetings per day. With strategic sales, four hours of meetings worked well for me. If you’re just beginning your career in sales, that number might be higher to reach your targets.

This approach is critical if you want to put your best effort forward, by staying focused and mentally fresh.

3. Instill a Shutdown Ritual

In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport makes a case for a “shutdown ritual” to turn off at the end of a workday.

It helps to “flip the switch,” so you can transition from pro to a person who can be present in other areas of your life – a partner, a parent, a runner, a photographer, a “whatever you want to be.”

The ritual signals your brain to “let go” of all work-related thoughts and rest until you start again the next morning. He gives 3 reasons for making a clean break at the end of the day (remember: no after-dinner email or work tasks!):

– We need downtime to fuel our creativity

– Those after-work tasks aren’t critical anyway

– Downtime gives us the energy to work “deeply”

To make it easy for me, I have a daily shutdown ritual built into my calendar and I use Sunsama to go through a checklist of items to close out my day (typically takes less than 2 Pomodoros).

Bonus Tip:

Have an hour meeting? Schedule it on your calendar for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Have a 30 minute meeting? Schedule it for 45 minutes.

This forces a 15 minute review to capture your takeaways from the meeting while forcing a 15 minute open gap to take a break. This also ensures no one, like your SDR can book back-to-back meetings on your calendar.

Key takeaway: Don’t be like Rio staggering into your next workday. Be more like Ronaldo and make recovery a part of your daily operating rhythm so you can sustain peak performance.

That’s a wrap. See you next week!

💡 By the way, these tips were taken from my “Personal Operating System Blueprint.” Every Make More Hustle Less Club member gets instant access to a copy along with 14 hours of on-demand content and other resources to help you fine tune your own peak performance OS.

When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1 | Unlock the 7 Figure Seller OS

Most readers have opted for the Intermediate Program, which combines the 7 Steps to 7 Figures system along with a membership to Make More Hustle Less Club where we put the system in action as a community and members have access to over 13 hours of available content.

2 | Book a 1:1 coaching session right now

You can book a 60 minute strategy session with me (although the Pro option above provides access to 1:1 coaching with me at a 70% discount (just 10% of available slots remain for 2023).

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