Summer programme: lighten the load to perform better

I have been sleeping badly for weeks. I am irritable. The smallest change takes on disproportionate weight. I am exercising less. I know what this means. I arrive at summer running on empty.

My sports coach’s advice

This morning, my coach said: “I’m putting together a lighter programme so your body can recover and drive your performance into the autumn, not the other way around.” I nearly laughed. I track my progress every week. I advance through willpower. Lightening to perform sounded like a joke.

It was not.

Putting the mind in second place

I decided to play along. Not just for the body. For the mind too. When the mind drives everything and arrives at summer with less energy than it wanted, it needs a different kind of intelligence. Nature’s, for instance, which observes where the mind cannot.

A summer logbook in five episodes

Over the coming weeks, I will share a series of pieces. No frameworks, no back-to-school homework on how to be a better manager by September. Just leadership lessons from nature: the dandelion that scatters seeds, the butterfly that cannot leave its chrysalis without giving something up, the underground connections of trees that speak without being heard.

For everyone whose mind drives everything and who arrives at July with less energy than they wanted.

See you next week for the first episode. And if you want to work on your own sustainable performance, explore Manentiel at manentiel.com.