We all have routines.
Whether we choose to admit it or not, we all have things that we do from one day to the next, in the same way, the same style… things that perhaps only a lover or close friend would know or recognize.
The motion we use when we brush our teeth. The posture we sink into behind the keyboard. The dressing we choose on our salad. The way we get to work.
While most of us perform these routines unconsciously, innocently and perhaps even naively, there is a certain category of the human population that doesn’t.
Olympians.
Since day 1, Olympians have been trained, coached and disciplined into a way of being that does one thing – prepare for peak performance. Their job, in other words, is to optimize their own physiology.
In the context of the sea change in health care from disease management to prevention and wellness, perhaps no other category represents a better model for the rest of us to emulate.
Digging deeper into the methods of peak performance employed by top-tier Olympic athletes such as Michael Phelps, Meb Keflezighi, Natasha Hastings and Caroline Burckle, we find the ingredients for success are not just physical. Mental training and well-being, including meditation and visualization techniques, are a fundamental part of the approach.
On your mark. Get set. Go!
Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones studies provided tremendous yield by looking deep into the routines of the world’s centenarians and spotting patterns that can be applied in our day-to-day lives. By integrating these elements into our body clock calendar, we can all work towards achieving the peak performance seen in Olympians. Similarly, Owaves will be taking a deep dive into the lifestyles of our world’s physiological top-performers for lessons that can augment all of our 9-to-5 rhythms. If Virgil is right, and the “greatest wealth is health”, then THESE are the 1% we should all strive to follow…
