Time with family and friends
Protected off-hours with the people who knew you before the job did
Evenings and days off spent with family or close friends, treated as part of the recovery plan rather than whatever is left over after it. The point, for the athletes who describe it, is a relaxed head that carries into training, and a life that survives the career ending. Free, but it has to be defended like a training session.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Cristiano RonaldoDoes it
Footballer · Portugal captain and five-time Ballon d'Or winner
Training comes first, he says. But a relaxed lifestyle is what lets him be his best physically and mentally, so his free time goes to family and friends, to keep him calm and in a positive frame of mind.
Source: FourFourTwo: Cristiano Ronaldo's training tips - J. Kenji López-AltDoes it
Chef and food writer · The Food Lab
Says he has reached a point where he can either work harder at being better known or accept that he has been lucky, and spend the time on his family and on projects he takes for fun. He picked the second. Nobody, as he puts it, wishes they had spent less time with their kids.
Source: The Sporkful: Kenji Lopez-Alt No Longer Calls His Recipes The Best - Novak DjokovicDoes it
Tennis player · Record 24 Grand Slam singles titles
Fatherhood shifted his sense of himself beyond tennis, he says, and leaving the racket to one side at home is where he finds calm and good recovery.
Source: VICE: Novak Djokovic: Meditation, Yoga and Veganism Helped Shape My Success - Oprah WinfreyDoes it
Talk show host and producer · The Oprah Winfrey Show
Porch evenings with friends, shared meals, rolling in the grass with the dogs: her list of what happiness looks like is mostly other people. Service to others is what she calls her biggest reward.
Source: Oprah.com: What Oprah Knows for Sure About Happiness
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under stress.
- HabitFREE, no cost
Daily meditation
10-20 minutes of formal practice, most days
On record from 21 of 62 tracked people: 17 do it, 1 recommends it, 3 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily walking
A long walk most days, often without headphones
On record from 19 of 62 tracked people: 14 do it, 5 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Journaling
Writing to unload the mind, usually first thing or last thing
On record from 14 of 62 tracked people: 13 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Gratitude practice
Writing down a few specific things you are grateful for, daily
On record from 13 of 62 tracked people: 11 do it, 1 recommends it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Deliberate solitude
Regular time with your own thoughts and no other inputs
On record from 12 of 62 tracked people: 9 do it, 3 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily prayer
A fixed time for prayer each morning, before the phone and before the day starts
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.