How do you sustain performance and wellbeing in a high-demand environment? What are the costs of ignoring self-care? Is it important or just a luxury? Are there self-care practices that suit the demands of high-performing advantage leaders? What benefits can self-care have beyond oneself?
In the iconic 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey chose for the final habit ‘Sharpen the Saw’ and urged us to celebrate it as the habit that made all the others possible.
To sharpen the saw you must invest in what we now call self-care. It's about refreshing and renewing personal energy in all its forms. Covey acknowledged how hard it can be to prioritise this investment in the face of the urgent demands of everyday life.
Performance and wellbeing
Professional tennis players travel the world month on month competing in ATP events spread across more than 30 countries. Performance is the currency of success. Take a Grand Slam like Wimbledon, for example. The draw starts with 128 players. How many matches does it take to decide a winner? The answer is simple: 127. Why simple? Because 127 players will lose their last match in the tournament, leaving one unbeaten winner.
Tennis is tough. You win and you advance. You lose and it's back on a plane and off to the next hotel, the next practice court, the next doping control and so on.
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