From the Farnam Street Brain Food newsletter: We live in a society that praises all-out effort. But giving a task 100% of your energy can lead to burnout, over-exhaustion, and injury. Jackman believes in the “85% Rule,” which means that intensity, force, or stress should never override form, technique, and preparation. Jackman elaborates: “A sprint coach realized that [Olympian] Carl Lewis did nothing at the 50-meter mark; his breathing and form was exactly the same....
Since I never liked wasting time or working just to get enough hours in, I read and experimented a lot around this topic in the past few years. I want to use my time efficiently so I can do more of what I care most about. I also want to do great work when I work and not half-ass it. During those years in the fascinating, useful, and sometimes toxic personal productivity space, I found some fundamental principles that worked consistently for myself and others....
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. There must be some wisdom in the folk saying, `It’s the strong swimmers who drown.” Charlie Munger There are two fundamental strategies for how to play a game. The first one is to beat the other player by actively scoring points. The second is to avoid losing points and waiting for the other to make mistakes....
A soldier spends every minute from the moment he wakes up to when he goes to sleep with a single purpose: training for battle. A top-athlete is dedicating every second of the day towards maximizing her performance at her sport. How does a day dedicated to the highest performance in knowledge work look like? I asked myself that question over some time tried out different tools and tactics, and arrived at a field-tested routine....
You know those parts in movies where a blasting soundtrack comes on and the hero trains and progresses in about two minutes from zero to superstar? I’m thinking the Rocky Balboa training sequences (or any other boxing movie for that matter) or the limitless Eddie Morra sequence where he finishes his book, learns piano, some languages, and a bunch of other stuff in synch to a Black Keys banger. Real-life doesn’t work like that of course....