Why the Best Leaders Treat Themselves Like Elite Athletes

Why the Best Leaders Treat Themselves Like Elite Athletes

If you’ve ever made it to a holiday only to spend the first two days flat on your back with a cold, this episode is for you.

That pattern is more common than we think. And it isn’t just bad luck. It’s a signal worth paying attention to.

In this episode of The Leaders Kitbag, recorded in the Brecon Beacons, I explore one of the most overlooked principles in sustainable leadership: the relationship between hard work and deliberate recovery.

Drawing on the work of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, whose research into elite athletes fundamentally changed how we understand human performance, I make the case that the real enemy of high performance isn’t effort. It’s the absence of recovery.

For most leaders, there’s no planned recovery. One demanding period simply rolls into the next. But without deliberate rest and reset, the hard stretches eventually start costing far more than they deliver – not just to you, but to the people around you who deserve the best of you, not what’s left.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why getting ill on holiday is a signal, not a coincidence
• What elite athletes do differently, and how the principle translates directly into leadership
• Why pushing hard only works when you build deliberate recovery around it
• A practical question to help you audit the next three months of your working life
• How to identify your hard stretch, protect genuine recovery time, and stay in the game for the long run

Ben’s Key Takeaway

Sustainable high performance isn’t about how much you can endure. It’s about how well you can recover.

Elite performers don’t just work harder than everyone else. They recover better. They build deliberate cycles of stress and recovery, and it’s that rhythm, repeated over time, that builds real capacity.

Most leaders plan the hard stretch. Very few plan what comes after it.

Look at the next three months. Identify where you’re genuinely pushing. Then decide, right now, when it ends, and what recovery looks like on the other side.

Work hard. And recover just as deliberately. That’s not a sign of weakness. That’s how you lead well over the long run.

Interested in The Leader in Me?

If this episode resonated, it might be a sign that you – or someone in your team – would benefit from some proper investment in leadership development.

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• Learn how to inspire your team and deliver results…

It’s open to individuals, and if you’re in HR or run a business, you’re welcome to register interest on behalf of colleagues too.

Register your interest for the next cohort here.

 

Podcast Transcript

Why the Best Leaders Treat Themselves Like Elite Athletes 

Think about the last time you made it to a holiday… 

You’d been running on adrenaline for weeks, and then you finally stopped. 

And within two days, you were flat on your back with a cold. 

It happens so often that we’ve almost started to accept it as normal. 

But it isn’t normal. It’s a signal.   

Your body has been holding it together under sustained pressure. 

The moment you stop, it lets go. 

The immune system, which has been suppressed by stress hormones, finally catches up. 

And here’s the harder truth. 

If work is getting the best of you – your sharpest thinking, your highest energy, your most patient self – then the people who matter most to you are getting what’s left. 

And most of us don’t even notice it’s happening. 

I’m in the Brecon Beacons this week…to deliberately rest and reset. 

I’m in a demanding period of work right now, by choice. 

I’m three years into a ten-year plan, and I’m pushing hard. 

But I’ve learned – by getting it wrong – that pushing hard only works if you deliberately build recovery around it. 

And that idea comes from two people I want to credit: Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. 

In their article – The Making of a Corporate Athlete – they make a compelling argument: the real enemy of high performance isn’t hard work. 

It’s the absence of recovery. 

Loehr and Schwartz studied elite athletes and found something that changed how they thought about human performance. 

Elite performers don’t just train harder than everyone else. 

They recover better.  

They work in deliberate cycles – periods of high demand followed by periods of genuine recovery. 

And it’s that rhythm – stress and recovery, stress and recovery – that builds capacity over time. 

For most leaders, there’s no planned recovery. No defined end to the hard stretch. 

They just… continue. 

One demanding period rolls into the next. 

Now, I’m not suggesting you need to start training like a professional athlete. 

But I do think the principle translates directly into how we lead – and how we live. 

Think about your year for a moment. 

Are there genuinely quieter periods built in – or does it just run at the same intensity all the way through? 

And when you do take time away, do you actually recover – or do you spend it half-checking your phone? 

This week for me is about deliberate recovery.  

Mountains are my reset. Always have been. 

And next week I’m running my first 86-mile ultra marathon – something I’ve been building towards for a long time. 

That event is only possible because of how I’ve managed the training around it. 

Hard weeks followed by easier weeks.  

The recovery isn’t the gap between the work. The recovery is part of the work. 

So here’s what I’d invite you to do. 

Look at the next three months. 

Identify your hard stretch – the period where you’re genuinely pushing. 

And then decide, right now, when it ends. 

What does recovery look like on the other side of it? 

What will you protect?  

Who in your life deserves the best of you – and when are you going to give it to them? 

That’s it for this episode. 

As always, look after yourself — and look after those you have the privilege and responsibility to lead. 

Until next time… lead on.