Resting Your Way to Success
August 3, 2015
What do world-class athletes and hyper-successful business owners have in common? Obsessions! Percentage-wise, very few “normal” humans can identify with being obsessed to be the best in the world or to wildly succeed. Yet, that is frequently the factor that reveals the ultra successes.
Mike Wolfe, former assistant US attorney-turned professional ultra long-distance runner. We’re talking 50 – 100 mile races in mountains and through mud. He runs for the North Face Global Athletic Teams. He knows the thrill of victory, setting many world records and winning many races. Including Wyoming’s Bighorn 100 and the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship. But racing in 2012 in the Transvulcania Ultra marathon in the Canary islands, Wolfe’s body began shutting down and he came in a disappointing 13th place. He was the odds-on favorite to win.
Wolfe, along with super athletes Alberto Salazar, Anna Frost, Anton Kurpicka, Geoff Roes, and Kyle Skaggs (all record-setters in ultra-marathoning) fell victim to an affliction referred to as OTS. A malady that affects athletes training at the outer edge of human performance. OTS stands for Over-Training Syndrome. David Nieman, former vice president of The American college of Sports Medicine said, “OTS is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years of working with athletes. OTS is an acute exhaustion and “slow-poisoning of the nervous systems which could last weeks or even months.”
These athletes had pushed themselves to a point at which their bodies and minds had simply stopped responding. We have seen similar meltdowns in the business world. The former head of American Apparel suffered from a business OTS. Multiple corporate executives and entrepreneurs, not knowing what to call it – midlife crisis, burn out, etc – suddenly find their Midas touch turn into a Midas curse.
They lose respect from their peers, the trust of their boards, the confidence and loyalty of a spouse and too often the health set backs that force them into early retirement, or worse. They find themselves lost in a jungle of confusion and are forced into survival mode or into a self-destruction mode. Anytime a human is repetitiously training/working at the outer limits of human performance, there is risk of losing all the good that has been built to that point. It is at this “edge” where we find our greatest successes as well as our greatest tragedies.
Simply over-stated, OTS occurs when a person pushes hard, and then pushes even harder, thinking that more is always better without allowing himself intervals of rest. Strategic downtime is critically important to long-term survival in the world of competition. And this includes business competition. I’m thinking of one of the most talented and multi-gifted professionals I’ve ever known. He was a mega-star in his field, but succumbed to OTS in his mid-thirties, collapsing and never recovering. When I asked a family member to explain, he said, “DJ wanted to run 100 mph through life, but he never learned to take a pit stop. He only knew how to race.”
Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and their Nascar peers may excel at driving 200 miles per hour on the race track, but they won’t survive to race again if they drive that fast on America’s highways. They must learn to slow down to reality or risk losing it all. OTS in the business world shows up among those striving to reach the pinnacle. Jeff Kreher, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital writes, “There will come a point where you reach the pinnacle and stop positively adapting to pain and stress, and instead you start responding negatively.”
The emotional, physical and mental push it takes for high achievement can trigger enormous physiological and psychological stress. Many high-achievers notice that the great victories they enjoyed are followed by a kind of “post-race depression.” Closing the deal, negotiating a major purchase, developing a new concept, launching a major marketing campaign – all of these can be highly stimulating for over-achievers, but even they are subject to the hormones and limitations of their mental and physical bodily house.
Super achievers are often motivated by thoughts and ideas that surpass the normal. But super thoughts, plans and ideas do not confer Superman strength to the bodily and mental capacities. We still need to eat, rest, and care for our families with a normalcy that is in conflict with our super achieving mode. As I post this blog, I am on the cusp of the biggest deals of my real estate lifetime. Opportunities are opening to me beyond my craziest dreams. But in the midst of this explosive expansion in my life, I am making several important side-line decisions I wish to share with you to prevent my falling victim to OTS in the biz world.
1. I have hired a personal consultant/adviser and have regular appointments with him. He is more of a life-coach and sounding board to help me keep grounded with my high-flying ideas and plans. I believe in having non-business third-party advisors who can be gut-level honest with me. Those who will help set up limits and restraints to keep me in line with my ultimate goals for life.
2. My wife and I are working on our marriage more than ever. Business tends to override the marriage duties. Marriages are far too often the victim of business success. We recognize that and are working to insulate ourselves from that.
3. I am learning to say “No” to other great opportunities in order to focus my limited energies on the few specific areas I excel in. Sure, I like the invitations that come with success. I don’t need to accept them to feel wanted or to be truly successful. I’ve only got so much energy and so much time. I can’t do everything. Therefor I must concentrate on what is truly important to me, not what others tell me.
4. I love the business of my business. I love the actual doing of the work. The ideas and deal-making and negotiations. But, that is not the essence of a well-lived life. There must be a higher more noble purpose. So, my wife and I have started a foundation to channel our success in business into more than accumulating cash and toys. With our foundation we can make a truly important difference in the lives of others. Our foundation is called, All My Heart, and it’s set up to help disadvantaged children and families around the world by investing in select non-profit corporations which address those needs. Be wary of where you find your identity. Is it in your work? Or in what your work can do for others?
5. I’m taking time to rest and reflect. This means time when the cell phone is turned off, the television is turned off and my mind is turned on to something other than business at the speed I prefer. Mini-vacations, which are brief 1-3 hour excursions away from the office and away from the business environment along with weekly time off and regular get-away vacations are all a part of my plan to keep OTS from bringing down the business I have worked so hard to achieve.
I’ve been lost in the business jungle before. I’ve suffered some OTS. I made it out, but never want to be there again. And I want to share with you through this blog series how you can not only survive but succeed beyond expectations.
