Leadership Strategy & Performance
Recovery Time
Published Guide updated 1 min 56 sec
Sharon says peak-performance research treats recovery as the work, not the interruption. The people who never stop are not the model. She recommends a short break every sixty to ninety minutes, a real lunch, and at least one device-free day a week, because the day you return is often the strongest.
Executive Summary
Key Takeaways
- Non-stop work used to look heroic. The research she cites does not support that.
- A five-to-seven-minute break every sixty to ninety minutes is the rhythm she recommends.
- Lunch needs twenty to thirty minutes, not a meeting with food.
- One or two days fully away from work and devices lifts the days you come back.
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Edited Transcript
Peak-performance writing, Sharon says, talks about recovery at length, because people still miss it. In the 1980s the hero was the person who worked the hardest and the fastest and did not stop for sleep or lunch. She says we now know that person is not the model. The people who take breaks are the peak performers across industries.
The rhythm she recommends is a short recovery of five to seven minutes after every sixty to ninety minutes, and a lunch break of at least twenty to thirty minutes. There is also a weekly break: at least one day off, away from devices and away from work. Two days is better. If Saturday and Sunday are actually off, the day you return is often the highest-performing day of the week. Sometimes the strength shows up on the second day back. Either way, one or two days of recovery lifts what you can do when you are working.
Her close is direct. Do not skip the recovery. Take it every ninety minutes or so, take lunch, and keep a device-free Sunday, or a full weekend if you can.
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