Producers with drained batteries are highly unproductive.
The idea that working longer and harder makes you more productive and better is outdated.
Legendary producers outfocus, outinvent and outwork everyone around them when it’s game time. And then, after they’ve expressed their mastery in a hot burst of flaming audacity, they go dark. Ghost. Silent.
And recover. And read. And exercise. And daydream. And regenerate.
This seasonal or cyclical way of running a day and then a week and then a month and then your years is unpopular. And counterintuitive, given the way we’ve been socially programmed to think about productivity.
Yet if you really want to express your genius, lead your field and stay in your sport for the fullness of a career, it’s the best way to operate.