Welcome to the Rest Refocus Recharge Program!
“This idea that unless you are suffering, grinding, working every hour of every day, you’re not working hard enough … this is one of the most toxic, dangerous things in tech right now. It has deleterious effects not just on your business but on your well-being.”
Welcome to the Rest, Refocus, Recharge Program!
Even though we live in the best time ever in human history, many people are struggling and feeling exhausted, anxious, and unhappy. We don’t lead the healthy, high-performance lives we’re capable of and deserve. We don’t reach down to our depths and activate our hidden potential so we can climb to new heights. We’re making five sacrifices:
We’re sacrificing our health for our wealth.
We’re sacrificing quality for quantity.
We’re sacrificing response-ability for reaction.
We’re sacrificing attention for distraction.
We’re sacrificing internal motivation for external rewards.
We need time to slow down, rest, and properly recover and recharge.
I see a clear way out of this, and it begins with our physiology. Looking at the fundamental changes that have been happening in the sports world over the last few decades really highlights how making simple changes to our habits can deliver great results.
When I was a competitive swimmer in my youth, and then coaching athletes in the 1980s and 90s, the standard philosophy was to train as much as possible: Lift the most weights, run the most miles, swim the most metres.
Back then, if athletes were lucky, they might get a massage at the end of a main competition or season. Stretching was optional, at best, and recovery practices consisted of some ice packs on aching joints. Often, the most successful athletes were the ones who were able to handle intense training without getting sick and injured. As a result, athletic careers were short, injuries were common, burnout was a given, and mental health suffered.
Fortunately, things have changed. We know so much more about human health and performance. Thanks to serious research into recovery and regeneration, scientists now understand that what athletes do when they are not training is as important as training itself. Think of NBA star Kawhi Leonard. During the season when he was with the Toronto Raptors, his sport scientist, Alex McKechnie, incorporated breaks into his schedule to ensure that Kawhi properly recovered from his injuries, developed his fitness during the season, and then peaked for the playoffs—ultimately helping the Toronto Raptors win an NBA title.
This idea of the “24-hour athlete” has become standard among athletes and coaches, who have learned about the importance of sleep, healthy nutrition, optimal training techniques, immunology, massage, and the use of heat and cold, among other techniques.
Sport careers have become longer, and we now regularly see Olympians competing at the Games in their 30s and even 40s (and in equestrian athlete Ian Millar’s case, in his 70s!). Where athletes used to peak once per year, many now compete at a high level throughout the year on World Cup or X-Games circuits and then also peak at major events such as world championships or the Olympics. Perhaps most importantly, athletes and coaches are now working on optimizing their physical, mental, and emotional health as a foundation for world-class sporting excellence.
We can break free from the sacrifices that keep us from reaching our potential—and it’s the science and practice of recharging that will help us achieve it. It’s time to take what we have learned from the sports world and apply it to our school, workplace, and home lives so we can get healthy, perform better, and ultimately focus on the things we really want.
Let’s all slow down a bit so we can speed up.
Here’s how this program will work
We will dive deeper into each facet of The Recharge Effect in the coming months. Over the course of the program, we will explore how to:
· Practice radical attention
· Think about how you think
· Do less to achieve more
· Embrace the extraordinary
Before diving into the Practice Radical Attention module, the first week will focus on how to set dreams, build great habits, and to create an environment for success.
Throughout the Program, I'll present you with information that will introduce core concepts and also zoom in on specific skills and techniques that you can work on. You will receive articles, podcasts, and videos to help you build the habits and skills you need to reach your potential and be extraordinary. Each of the emails will also be recorded so you can listen to them when commuting or at the gym.
The first step is to download the The Rest, Refocus, Recharge Workbook. We encourage you to save it to your computer as a PDF file or print it out. There will be occasional exercises for you to fill out, simple strategies that you incorporate into your days to slow down, and space for you to write your own notes, comments, and reminders. The more you engage with the content, the more you'll get out of the Program!
You can send me your questions any time at coach@wellsperformance.com or via the contact page on the website. All communication between us are confidential and are only shared with my internal team.
I look forward to working with you!
Dr. Greg Wells
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.