Staying at the top of your game can be incredibly stressful: juggling the constant demands of your team and your business, not to mention friends and family in our life outside work.
But did you know that the right amount of stress can help you to reach your peak performance? The key is to get the balance right – and know when to pull back before you head towards burnout.
What is peak performance?
Peak levels of performance are triggered by production of the right amount of dopamine and adrenaline in our brains. When this happens we become alert and interested, and we feel an element of stress – enough to drive us, but not enough to tip us into overwhelm.
This is why it can feel so exhilarating when we get it right: dopamine makes you feel great, while adrenaline drives you; the combination makes you want to keep going at this level. You are more productive, more decisive, make better decisions, and you are more efficient. It can be tempting to keep pushing yourself harder, but get it wrong and you could end up going too far and burning out.
How can you trigger peak performance?
Triggering peak performance will look different for all of us. Here are some key questions to help identify what works for you:
- What areas of work do you find most interesting?
- What circumstances do you need to feel like you can lose yourself in your work?
- What activities give you energy?
- How much work creates the right amount of pressure to drive you?
Building an awareness of what is happening when you are operating at your best will help you to understand your optimum stress conditions, so you can learn to manage them to your advantage.
Once there, how can you maintain the balance?
Our energy and cognitive abilities are influenced by many different factors, and don’t operate at a constant level, so it’s crucial to be aware of fluctuations and be able to make adjustments when you need to. Prioritising activities that support your wellbeing will also help ensure you get the rest you need to regularly restore your cognitive abilities.
Here are some of the signs that you’re pushing yourself too far:
- Energised and alert switches to exhaustion – you notice you are feeling drained and have started to lose motivation.
- Exhilaration switches to overwhelm – you’re no longer feeling a rush, instead you are weighed down by the accumulation of tasks.
- Efficient thinking switches to struggling to get started – you notice you are procrastinating and have difficulty making decisions.
- Thriving switches to surviving – you no longer feel like you are ahead of the game, instead you are reacting to whatever is put in front of you.
If you notice any of these signs in yourself, it’s time to listen to your body and act. It may also help to stop and reflect on what changed, and what pushed you past optimum capacity, so you can recognise this more quickly in the future.
Remember – rest is a key part of maintaining high performance, and once you have hit refresh you’ll be ready to come back stronger again.
