Sometimes I don’t listen to my own advice.

I’ve always been very physically active. As a hobby-job I taught strength and conditioning classes. I understood how to train.

But somewhere in my mid-40s, I had this thought, ‘This is my last chance. If I don’t hit all my physical goals now, I’ll never be able to hit them.’

I began the heaviest and most demanding training program I’ve ever attempted. I was, literally, doing a week’s worth of heavy work in each workout, 3X a week.

I was impressed with myself. For a while.

I had reason to be. I became stronger than I’ve ever been. I competed in a strongman event, which was a blast. I learned new athletic skills I had wanted.

But I was in constant pain. It hurt to get out of bed in the morning. It hurt to hold a toothbrush or make my bed. I spent 20-30 minutes before each workout trying to calm the pain in my joints and tendons enough just so I could work out.

The pain eventually became a limiter to progress.

It was stupid. Even though I knew it cognitively, on an emotional level I couldn’t resist the pull of adding just one more thing.

What I knew but couldn’t accept was that the body only needs a certain amount of stimulus to trigger a growth response. And for driven athletes, that ‘right amount’ is met before you hit your physical limits.

Years later, after injuries forced me to slow down, I discovered two things: A) Even though I’m in my 50s, I’m not dead yet. I’m still setting personal records. B) I’m doing it without constant pain.

More effort is not always needed, and at some point it is counter-productive.

Leadership and Effort

Most leaders I work with are high-drive people. I doubt they can turn that off. They don’t need to.

But they benefit from learning to see that fuzzy line between ‘enough’ and ‘too much’ effort.

The 80/20 Rule and Effort

This is not a Pareto principle reference. In fact, it is almost the opposite.

The research around exercise physiology is very clear: 80% of endurance training should be at submaximal effort. When strength training, the load should be about 80% of your max and you should stop when you have at least one or two more good reps left in you.

There is no good research on this topic as it relates to your work at your job, or mine. We don’t have a way to measure the load or determine ‘max effort’ at work. So I don’t mean 80% literally.

I mean you should leave a few reps in the tank. Practice walking away from your work, a project, or a meeting with some mental and emotional reserve.

For 80% of your time, you should be working at 80% capacity.

Pushing beyond that not only doesn’t provide meaningful gains, but it opens you up to mistakes and errors which cost you more than whatever it was you thought the effort would gain you.

The clearest signs of this:

• Avoidable mistakes, particularly repeat problems that keep putting you into a firefighting loop.
• Emotional fatigue: you stop looking forward to work that you would normally enjoy.

I cannot tell you how many overworked executives I know who will happily tell you how overworked they are but refuse to evaluate:

• How productive their work is
• How much of their work is ‘re-work’: fixing things that didn’t need to be broken or problems that should have been avoided

I’m Not Arguing Against Hard Work

I’m arguing for productive work. Which usually requires less work.

And there are absolutely times when 100% is needed.

80% effort, 80% of the time leaves room for 100% effort when you actually need it.

That might mean one very heavy day in a week. Or it might mean two or three very demanding months during a difficult season.

But 100% can’t be your normal operating level. If you constantly run at 100%, you have no margin when circumstances require you to ‘up it’ by another 20%.

Your Team and Your Organization

This applies to your team and your organization as well. 80% of the time, they should run at 80% load.

That leaves room for everyone to ramp up when intensity is needed. People have the bandwidth to fill in during unexpected staff changes, or to step up for problems or opportunities.

But they shouldn’t stay ramped up perpetually. For the same reasons you shouldn’t.

You Are Responsible for the Load

If you are an owner or an executive, you are responsible for the load.

You may feel like there is no other option. That is common.

Just like I felt I needed to train until complete fatigue to get gains in the gym. I also felt that way in my business many years ago. Neither feeling was accurate. The better gains, in both, happened when I did enough of the right work to produce results and then stopped.

You set the pace. You determine the priorities. You have the ability to create clarity and focus, or not.

You just have to ask yourself: Do I want to be the hardest worker? Or the most productive worker? Because they aren’t the same.

There are periods when you need to be at 100%.

But if you are always at 100%, you have no reserve for the times when you actually need it.

Take good care,
Christian