For most of my career, I've abided by the "work hard, play harder" method of recharging. Work your tail off, then drink your face off. It was fun, for sure, but also expensive, unhealthy and, most importantly, not actually restorative. I often woke up Monday feeling even more exhausted than I did on that previous Friday. And sometimes, I'd lose an entire half-day of my weekend to a hangover. Pretty inefficient.
Have you ever had a hangover so gnarly that you promised yourself "I'm never going to do this again" and actually meant it? I had one of those a couple years ago, and I made a new choice: to prioritize moderation and true restoration.
I was ridiculously efficient before -- despite my inability to properly recharge. But in the months following that decision, my productivity skyrocketed. And it's continued that exponential growth curve since then. What's more, I've lost weight. I feel better and think more clearly. I sleep better at night, and wake up feeling refreshed and rested.
I still drink alcohol, but not nearly as much -- it's lost its luster. I've shifted my priorities to focus on activities that I know restore me: deep sleep, laughter, relaxation, exercise, travel, new experiences.
Looking back, I've amassed a wealth of proven strategies... even those crazy days yielded powerful efficiency insights. (Hell, some of my most productive workdays were the ones in which I battled a hangover. Out of necessity, I had to learn how to snap myself into focus and edit copy for hours, despite a hangover so gnarly that even scrolling made me seasick.)
I've started to compile these tactics, tips and strategies in an enormous library called REBEL. It's all about rebellious productivity, because let's face it: if you want superhuman effectiveness, you can't bother with traditional approaches.
Learn more about it here.
