This week’s thrive in five is about the concept of The Cadence Approach™
Over the next three weeks, we’re going to be talking about the concept of The Cadence Approach™, looking at what The Cadence Approach™ is, how you can become implement it and tips and habits we can learn from professional athletes that we can apply to our everyday lives.
What is The Cadence Approach™?
I think we would benefit from seeing ourselves a little bit more like an athlete does. In terms of managing stress, improving our longevity, of being healthier and more energised day to day. Minimising our risk of burnout.
An athlete will look ahead to their schedule and they will identify when their peaks are, when do they need to perform at their best? When is the competition? When’s the event, when’s the tournament. And they’ll then make sure they really doubled down on sleep, mental health, energy, nutrition and hydration. All the things that are really important for performance.
How to Apply The Cadence Approach™
If we were to emulate that thinking and that approach to our own lives, we would do a lot better. If as business people we were to look ahead and think where are our Wimbledon’s? When’s the next big work event? Or even wider than just our business lives, when is the next big family event? When is the next exam? Whatever it might be. Planning prior to that event, like an athlete would, so we doubled down on all the things that are important for health and performance.
That’s the essence of The Cadence Approach™ concept.
Preparation for big events is vital, but also closely aligned to that is that is what we do after that event. It’s vital we get enough recovery. We need to de-load. Just like an athlete would, so they would take their foot off the gas a bit. Serena Williams, for example, would not be grandslam fit all year round.
Post event athletes focus on massage, sleep, hydration, nutrition, a lot of the same things, but with a view to recovering rather than building up. So in the same way as business people, we need to plan in our recovery, make sure recovery is prioritised and we assign time to do so.
Burnout prevention
The Cadence Approach™ idea is that if we did more of that and we were able to plan and pace for the ups and downs, the peaks and troughs of life, that we would be healthier, happier, and more energised. We definitely wouldn’t be burning out as much.
So my observation is that most of us expect to be at peak performance all year round, and it simply isn’t sustainable. So that’s the idea of The Cadence Approach™.
Questions to consider
My question to you is what are your Wimbledon’s? What are your big events coming up? What do you know is in the diary, that’s going to be draining or demand a lot of your time and attention and how can you get ready for that? So that’s what I’ll leave you with.
Stay tuned for next week when we will talk about the importance of recovery, all the best for now.
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