If you were responsible for hundreds of people’s lives, would you choose to nap on the job? And would you do it specifically when you felt wide awake?
The most dangerous part of a long-haul flight is the landing. And it’s coming at a time when the pilots would normally be most tired. Which means they’re performing well below their best — focus is compromised, energy is low, and they’re more likely to make poor decisions.
So the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) brought in top flight sleep researchers to investigate whether a well-timed nap might boost safety. Sure enough, when the pilots took a short nap before landing this gave a boost to results.
Huzzahs all around. And some serious real world consequences. Naps save lives!
not so fast. The sleep researchers weren’t satisfied yet. They had a hunch that a different choice of nap placement would work even better.
They had another group of pilots take the same type of nap. But they did it WAY earlier — shortly after the plane took off on this long flight.
Pretty counter-intuitive. The pilots weren’t feeling tired at this point. And there was a long time to come before they’d need their skills at peak for the dangerous landing.
But this approach turned out to work even better than the nap just before landing.
And so the “power nap” was born. (The researchers wanted to call it a “prophylactic nap”. Airline bosses sensibly ruled that giving it that name would stop everyone from using this powerful tool)
Take another example.
If you’ve ever watched pro tennis you’ll see the players take a drink at every change of ends throughout the match. And they start this even at the very first changeover. At that point they’ve merely played a single game. They can’t possibly be thirsty. And yet they drink.
Why?
Because they know that if they wait until they feel thirsty then it’s already too late.
By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already in a slightly dehydrated state. And, although you won’t notice it, it’s already having measurable impacts on your performance.
At the top of the world in tennis that can be the difference between victory and defeat.
So tennis players don’t listen to their thirst. They just drink.
There’s a simple underlying principle here. When something matters you want to attend to it before you realise you need it. And you want that to happen automatically.
High performance guys and gals in consequential environments see this as non-negotiable… So I reckon the rest of us should be looking to follow their lead.
Now there might be something here that applies to your work. You’ll know if that’s the case.
But I hope that all of us are keen to live a good life. To do the things that help us thrive… Make us happy… Bring joy to others… And lift up the world.
Those are the areas where you want to think about what makes a huge deal. Things that make you energised when you have them. Or depleted and ineffective and grumpy when you don’t.
Then deliberately work out how to replenish your resources before you notice you’re running low.
It might not just be the “kind” or “relaxed” thing to do. It might actually be making you a more productive, healthier, nicer person.
For a few starting ideas, you could:
- Seek solitude before you feel overwhelmed.
- Schedule time with friends and family before you feel lonely.
- Rest before you feel tired.
- Take a holiday before you feel burnt out.
- Slow down before you feel rushed.
Just be aware that this isn’t as easy as it might sound…
When I’m writing articles like this one I have a system in place. I take short breaks where I walk for a couple of minutes at set times.
When my walk times come around I almost never feel like I’m struggling with concentration, or the ability to focus. However — without fail — I feel clearer and more on it when I get back from the break.
But this never stops me questioning the value of these breaks. Every time I force myself to down tools it feels like I’m being lazy. That five minutes walking is letting myself off the hook from doing the real work.
The temptation to skip my breaks is still very strong — even now that I’ve had countless examples of it being the right thing to do.
Understand this. You can’t trust yourself to know what’s right. And to want to do what’s right. Even though it all makes logical sense as a concept.
When the time comes to put it into practice your brain will kick and scream. Claim it’s not really that important. Suggest you can do it later. Argue that it’s true for most people but that you’re a special case.
That’s why you need some system in place to make this sort of thing automatic.
While this could be as simple as remembering that you shouldn’t wait until you feel like you really need something… The safer bet is to operationalise it like the pilots and tennis players.
The pilots don’t ask if they feel tired. Or how much they slept last night.
After the plane takes off, they nap. End of.
The tennis players don’t ask whether they feel thirsty. How much they ran around during the last game. How long the match has been going for. How much water they’ve drunk already.
When they change ends they drink. End of.
What would something similar look like for you? For what matters most to you in your life.