For the past several decades, success in the popular imagination has been equated with a lifestyle of extremes. In the Eighties, the boom in high finance brought with it the "work hard, play hard" mantra, and its image of flashy Wall Street types throbbing with adrenalin and driving their blood pressure to the skies. Lunch was for wimps, and then it seemed sleep was for wimps, too, representing as it did a period of time in the day that could not be monetised.
Since then, the wellness industry has swelled to historic proportions, selling us cures for every last ill of modern life. Where once health may have been neglected by those who had better things to do, it's now become an almost unhealthy obsession: every calorie consumed, step taken and minute slept optimised and tracked by pocket-sized technology.
Facebook exec and author Sheryl Sandberg, one of many senior business figures putting boundaries around work.Credit:Bloomberg
And yet, at the top of the food chain, there remains an enduring belief in the "hustle" as the ultimate gospel. "Thank God it's Monday" has become the counterintuitive mantra of a generation hooked to the idea that striving for success is a lifestyle choice in itself. Neon signs in co-working spaces urge those inside to "hustle harder". Casey Neistat, theYouTuber who cofounded the multimedia company Beme, has the words "work harder" and "do more" literally tattooed on to his arms.
"Working unsustainably hard has become a cultural badge of honour," writes Megan McNealy in her new book Reinvent the Wheel: How Top Leaders Leverage Wellbeing for Success. But the operative word here is unsustainable. McNealy's mission is to take on "the mistaken belief, pervasive in our workplaces, that doing well is more important than being well", and to demonstrate that wellbeing, in fact, drives and accelerates success.
This perspective has been quietly gaining traction. Many leaders are now advocating mental health and wellbeing to be as central to success as profit turnover. Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO of Facebook, always leaves work at 5.30pm to spend time with her children. Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post, who used to sleep for only four hours a night, has more recently been championing sleep's virtues after burning out. And US business magnate Warren Buffett is said to be teetotal and prone to life-affirming inspirational quotes on his Instagram feed.
But beyond these high-profile examples, what are today's high-fliers doing to ensure they optimise their health while enjoying life at the top of the corporate ladder? McNealy, a wealth management adviser at a global investment bank in San Francisco, has been furiously interviewing many of them to understand their hacks for what she likes to call "wealthbeing".
Here's what she found the boss class was doing …
When you wake up
Before the emails comes meditation. Rich Fernandez, a former Google executive who now runs a coaching company, begins his routine at 5am with an initial 20 minutes of "attention practice" in which he works on his concentration, then 10 minutes of walking meditation in his study. As he walks, he explains, "ideas get digested or integrate more fully".
The walking is followed by a further 20-minute meditation, which sometimes includes a visualisation exercise, in which he sets an intention for his life or career. A study published by the Journal of Psychosomatic Research in 2004 found that mindfulness-based practices may help people overcome clinical and non-clinical complaints, but if you balk at the idea of a 5am start, there are some easier tweaks to your morning routine. For example, meal prepping can ensure that you eat well.
Of course, for entrepreneurs, this can be taken to the extreme. For John Mackey, chief executive and co-founder of Whole Foods, breakfast starts with berries and sometimes seasonal fruit, like a sumo orange. If he's going to be on a business trip for more than three days, he will pack his own rice cooker so he can make breakfast in his room. He says: "I like the ritual of being on the road and, before I go to sleep, putting my steel-cut oats into the rice cooker to soak overnight."
At work
From the "snack table" to business dinners, your job can supply spontaneous treats and rich, boozy meals. A survey of 1,000 office-based people last year found that they ate three snacks a day, totalling an extra 100,000 calories a year. If you're out even twice a week with work, that extra food and drink can take its toll.
Being desk-bound can be so detrimental to your health that it inspired the phrase "sitting is the new smoking". The British Journal of Sports Medicine has recommended that office workers should incorporate two to four hours of non-sedentary activity into their day to counteract the effects.
A survey of 1,000 office-based people last year found that they ate three snacks a day, totalling an extra 100,000 calories a year.
Some top business people even combine this with team-building opportunities. Gopi Kallayil, whose title is chief evangelist, brand marketing at Google, teaches a yoga class for his colleagues. With yoga linked to reductions in the effect of stress responses, there's good reason to think such investment in employees' wellbeing may pay dividends. If your employer does not offer anything of the kind, aim for a brisk walk at lunch time instead.
After work
It's now not enough simply to be good at your job. Interviewers and investors are increasingly looking for polymaths with several extra skills or interests. But, while setting up a side-hustle or moonlighting as a magician might sound exhausting, some business bigwigs see their hobbies as a way both to aid relaxation and improve performance at work.
Riley Etheridge released five studio albums while he worked his way up to managing director level at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He calls this musical outlet "a foundation for my wellbeing" because it allows him to get lost in the moment. He writes lyrics on flights and uses travelling time to edit melodies on his phone.
John Worden, a partner at law firm Schiff Hardin, practises football and the martial art Bok Fu Do. At the age of 50, he won a gold medal at the US National Kung Fu Championships. He squeezes a two-hour gym workout into one by doubling its intensity, and carrying dumbbells while on the treadmill.
At bedtime
Sleep is a priority for Denise Brosseau, founder and CEO of the Thought Leadership Lab. She brings her own pillow on business trips. Ticking clocks are banned from her house and electronics are stored in a drawer overnight. She is most productive in the early mornings and later in the evening, so cuts sleep short to make sure she is awake for those hours, and naps in the middle of the day.
Naps are credited with restoring alertness, enhancing performance, and reducing mistakes and accidents. Nasa research on military pilots and astronauts found a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34 per cent.
If you're not a CEO who can choose their own hours, you can give yourself an earlier bed time and practise good "sleep hygiene" by turning off all screens at least an hour before.
At the weekend
Working on your days off is no longer seen as a way to show off about how truly dedicated to work you are. As with evening activities, having an escapist hobby that takes time, patience and commitment is often regarded as the more interesting down-day pursuit. Not only that, but the benefits to mental health are well documented.
It has been found that engaging in a regular activity that you can get increasingly better at is a therapeutic exercise as well as a fun one.
Yanik Silver, founder and CEO of Maverick1000, a global network of top entrepreneurs and industry leaders, performs stand-up comedy and drives racing cars in his down time.
Not only that, but he also told McNealy that every night he writes and draws in his diary, which he is also turning into a book. Even personal relaxation methods can prove marketable, it seems.
Reinvent the Wheel: How Top Leaders Leverage Wellbeing for Success by Megan McNealy is out now.
Telegraph UK
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