What is your natural working style? Are you a sprinter or a marathon runner? Do you like to work in short bursts or prefer the long haul? Perhaps you apply the best of both worlds. Let’s explore how you can take this path by improving your stamina, speed and ‘sleep’ to achieve success.

1) You can focus on your stamina.

“My natural style is to be a sprinter - but my working life seems to be one long marathon,” said one person. “People say I must slow down, but I rather enjoy going fast. I’m not getting any younger, however, so I wonder if I need to reduce my pace.”

People can learn to channel their personality, rather than change their personality. Certainly a ‘sprinter’ can learn to run ‘marathons’ - but they may still want the adrenalin kick of working in short bursts. You can take this step by, for example, improving your psychological and physical stamina.

How to make this happen? On the psychological side, focus on your long-term picture of success. Why? Keeping your eyes on the vision provides energy and gives meaning to every day. (You can find more ideas on this theme in 3 tips for clarifying your picture of success.) On the physical side, try to break-down your days, weeks, months and year into blocks. Each of these time frames should look something like this - with sufficient time given to rest and recovery.

“That sounds good in theory,” somebody may say, “but it is hard in practice.” I agree - but it is the method used by peak performers in many fields. One person said:

“During the year there are four hectic periods when I immerse myself in work. Anticipating I will be tired at those times, I always keep the weekends free. During the other months I work at home on Fridays. I also never interrupt the weekend by travelling on Sunday. Each working day I do creative activities in the mornings - which is when I have most energy. Whenever possible, I take breaks between meetings - because this helps me to reflect and make better decisions.”

Look ahead to your work schedule - the marathon - and break it down into reasonable blocks. Create time to prepare properly before each tough period. Build-in time to rest and recover afterwards. And, of course, eat properly - eat good food that releases energy slowly. This will help to develop your long-term stamina. Try completing the following sentence.

The things I can do to improve my long-term stamina are:

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2) You can focus on your speed.

So how can you be a good ‘sprinter’? Providing you have divided your time into reasonable working blocks, you can then concentrate fully and give your best. Let’s explore how to take that step.

First, get enough rest beforehand. Make sure you are physically and psychologically on top of your game. Concentration is crucial in order to perform at your best.

Second, prepare properly. Make sure all the practical things are in place - then rehearse properly. Look ahead to the situation - be it a meeting, client visit or whatever. Rehearse what you must do to get positive results.

Third, go into the situation and be fully present. Give 100% attention. Be fully alert and use your ‘radar’ and repertoire to get the right results. Because you have rested and rehearsed, your ideas will come ‘speedily’. You will then be able to sprint during this part of the marathon. Try completing the following sentence.

The things I can do to improve my short-term speed are:

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3) You can focus on your ‘sleep’.

Certainly it is vital to get at least 6 hours sleep to refresh the body and soul. Peak performers also create times for rest and recovery during the day or the ‘event’. Some have an ‘official’ after-lunch cat-nap. Others have ‘un-official’ naps - or times when they relax and re-centre. They may take 15 minutes between meetings to collect their thoughts. Sometimes they reinvigorate themselves by going for a walk. Great opera singers, for example, pace themselves through a performance. They are then able to give their best at the critical moments. Try completing the following sentence.

The things I can do to improve my
‘sleep’ – and rest & recovery - are:

*

*

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You will work at a fast pace when ‘on stage’. So sometimes it is important to slow down, re-gather strength and rehearse the next performance. You can then be both a sprinter and marathon runner. The long haul can be broken down into a series of sprints where you give your best. This is more enjoyable and also increases the chance of success. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to be a
sprinter whilst also running marathons are:

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