The superstars of productivity, those who have the highest impact, and those who are in the game for the longest. Because the key to legendary is longevity. You want to stay in the game longer than your peers and everyone else around you. And the key to that is to work in cycles. So I call it the high-excellence cycle and the deep recovery cycle. I guess what I’m suggesting to you is elite performance without deep recovery is an empty victory. So the superstars work in bursts of intense work and then they take time off. So that’s The Five Great Hour Rule that I talk about in my book, The Everyday Hero Manifesto. You work five hours, it takes most people two weeks to get five hours of real versus fake work done. And after those five hours, maybe it’s eight o’clock to one o’clock, take the rest of the day off because it’s not the hours that you work that’s important. I’m not a member of the hustle-and-grind culture. You want to work smart and intensely when you work, and that’s the power of the five great hours rule, eight o’clock to one o’clock. No distractions, no interruptions, no social media, no watching TV, no chit-chatting, no scratching your belly. All you’re doing is working on the biggest opportunity to allow you to own the game. And after that, after those five great hours, take the rest of the day off. Go have dinner with a family member. Go get a massage or go to an art gallery or go for a mountain bike ride or a walk or read a book or listen to an audiobook or watch the stars. And then every week, take one day off. A digital Sabbath, one day off, no technology. Then every quarter, take a week off. Watch what happens to your productivity because you are paid to work really, really hard.
