Breathe. Relax. And Grow Your Bankroll!
Breathe
One, two, three.
Breathe.
One, two, three.
Breathe…
Feel that? It’s called a moment. It’s called a break.
It’s funny to say it now, but as a sports fan, I’m lucky that I grew up in New England. I say it’s funny, of course, because until I was 16 years old, New England sports teams were a bit of a joke.
I’m on the cusp of my 32nd birthday now. And New England sports teams have won 10 championships in the last 16 years.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I no longer care as much as I once did. DFS has plenty to do with that (if you’ve been playing long enough, you know what I’m saying; a chunk of fandom has to be taken out with the trash if you want to maximize DFS success), and another part of that dissipation of fandom has to do with the end of that 2007 NFL season.
If you know me (and most of you do), you know I find myself on a constant quest for self-improvement. And if you know football (again: most of you do!), you recall that the end of the 2007 NFL season brought a shocking end to the Patriots’ perfect season.
The night after that Super Bowl, I slept for probably 17 hours. Every time I woke up, I closed my eyes and forced my body back to sleep. Getting up and facing a day on the other side of that loss seemed like the worst punishment I could conjure. Once I finally dragged myself out of bed for water and a bit of food to keep myself alive, I was struck with this thought: I wish I didn’t care quite so much about my favorite sports teams. This was not the first time this thought had landed in my mind; “Game 7 vs the Yankees” – the Pedro Martinez / Aaron Boone game – was barely four years in the past, after all. But something about that end to the perfect season struck me more strongly than “the Red Sox breaking my heart yet again” had four years earlier. Finally, I began to move away from caring a silly-large amount about a bunch of grown men running around in tight pants.
Even with that merciful bit of self-improvement, however, I have maintained an ability to enjoy the teams I grew up with – to not be particularly affected by big losses, but to nevertheless enjoy the triumphs. I have also maintained an ability to apply my fandom toward further self-improvement. As I said: I’m lucky I grew up in New England…
One of my favorite paths toward self-improvement is to watch and read the thoughts of wildly successful individuals and organizations, in order to see what elements I can pull from such individuals and organizations and incorporate into my own life. And in terms of sports teams, there are few organizations as successful as the Patriots over the last 16 years, and few individuals as successful as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
Take things one day at a time.
Do your job – worrying about your own role, tasks, responsibilities, etc., and focusing on taking care of only what you can.
Outwork everyone else just a little bit each day.
Those are all things you could pick up from studying nearly any successful individual or organization – be it Steph Curry or Elon Musk or Hunter S. Thompson. Or Belichick and Brady and the Patriots.
While I often run into items in my study of the Patriots that I have run into time and again in other spots of study as well, however, I stumbled this January into a new “building block of success” – one that I had never stumbled upon before. In fact, it was one that I had always blatantly and intentionally ignored.
Recovery!
Yeah. Rest. Recovery. Relaxation. Oh – and the importance of these elements toward success in any area of life.
Our American culture is built on the idea that more work is better. Those who work the most hours get ahead; those who combine “smart work” with “more hours than others are willing to invest” come out on top in the end. Right? The very idea of “taking a break” during work time is seemingly inimical to success.
As I read about the emphasis Brady – and, by extension, the Patriots as a whole – have put on “recovery” the last couple years (going so far this last year as to equip players with devices that monitor the state of their body, and – rather than pushing all players to “work harder at all times” – scaling back workloads for players whose bodies require more recovery), I began to wonder if the same principles apply to the mind as to the body.
Apparently, the Harvard Business Review wondered the same thing a few years ago. If you have the time, I encourage you to check out that article; it’s lengthy, but it’s an enlightening read. Here’s the short of it, though (for those of you who “can’t afford” to take a break):
The mind is equipped to work in bursts of 90 to 120 minutes – after which time, productivity declines.
Furthermore, test groups (at Wachovia, at Ernst and Young, and at other elite companies) in which employees worked in 90 to 120 minute bursts, separated by intentional breaks (preferably of the “non-screen” variety! – no phones or computers, but instead enjoying some quiet and peace, or going for a walk, or even closing one’s eyes) outperformed those who worked through those times. Less total work equaled more overall productivity.
Further-furthermore, those who budgeted a bit of quiet time in the morning outperformed those who did not. Those who ate breakfast and took a real break for lunch outperformed those who did not. Those who exercised, and who made time for their family in the evening, did better at work than those who “didn’t have time” to carve out time for the things that truly matter…
Most of you probably know that I have been in Europe over the last four weeks (we’ve done Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges, Seville, and Algarve already; right now, we are in Morocco – in fact, I am typing all this on my phone during an eight hour car ride to the Sahara Desert, where we will ride camels into the desert and camp for the night – then we wrap up our trip with two weeks bouncing around Italy). And while I have put in some work during this trip (I had the privilege of hosting an awesome NASCAR video course for RotoAcademy with RotoDoc, and now I’m busy prepping our Premium MLB package for the upcoming season and putting things together for some MLB video courses!), and while I have also put in time each morning with my fiction writing, I have primarily used this time to rest. Recover. Relax.
In Paris, I spent about an hour each day wandering the streets and cobblestone alleys by myself. In Amsterdam, my wife and I wandered the canals without any predetermined destination, and on our one full day in Bruges we carved out some time to watch In Bruges. In Seville, we spent two hours at each meal, and in Algarve – along the southern coast of Portugal – we sat on the beach for hours and literally did nothing but listen to the waves.
When I return home, I’ll be two weeks away from the glorious start of MLB, and I’ll put in back-to-back 60-hour weeks making sure everything is 100% good to go with RotoGrinders Premium and RotoAcademy. Then MLB season will take off, and I’ll be busy all summer; then NFL starts, and I’ll be busy all autumn. I’m used to that. In fact, I love it! The thing I miss most of all right now during this trip (besides my cats and Chipotle) is work. Seriously. I love being busy. I love having structure to my days. I love attempting to outwork everyone else.
But while I’m used to that routine, I’ll be adding something new to the mix this year:
Recovery!
Whereas I typically put in 60 hours on any normal week between DFS writing, DFS play, other RotoGrinders and RotoAcademy responsibilities, my fiction writing, and my reading, I plan to cut down to about 55 hours a week this year. I plan to fill that extra time with intentional breaks.
And I plan to accomplish more than I did last year in the process.
Listen: most of us push so hard, we wear ourselves out. Most of us place zero emphasis on recovery, and as a result, our productivity suffers. Most of us equate “more hours” with “more accomplished” – we even equate that feeling of “Wow, my brain is so worn out I don’t know if I could do anything more if I tried” with “an obviously great day of work.”
But what if that’s not the case at all?
What if you could work just a little bit less, use that time just a little bit better, and wake up each day feeling refreshed and replenished and ready to dive into another awesome day?
I challenge you to think about this. I challenge you to find ways you can work a little less and recover a little more. I challenge you to relax!
Take a moment.
Breathe.
One, two, three…
Before long, your body will thank you. Your mind will thank you.
And here’s to betting your DFS bankroll will thank you as well.