Work-life balance under constant stress, how does that work?

My most important experience from a transatlantic, non-stop sailing race!

A sailing race across the Atlantic is inherently a non-stop race. Where should you stop to pause? – And due to the competitive nature of this Atlantic crossing, a break would have been absurd anyway.

Our crossing lasted 11 days and 4 hours and led from Lanzarote directly to Grenada in the Caribbean. For the members of the crew, that meant 3 hours on duty, 6 hours off. During manoeuvres, however, the rule was "all hands on deck" to help, in a 24/7 rhythm.

So how do you get to periods of recovery? Is it possible to have a kind of "Work-Life-Balance" build up? One must!

Recovery as a success factor for continuous performance

The greater the effort, the longer the strain, the higher the level of peak performance, the more important it is to consciously plan the recovery phases.

As a golden rule, I always recommend that you devote at least as much time and attention to planning and organizing your downtime as to the “business” itself.

How can I create space for downtime when I'm under constant stress?

Through conscious planning. Get out of the reactive hamster wheel and into an actively creative role. Your personality plays a crucial role. To know more about yourself, is another success factor.

Examples of uninterrupted load drivers are:

  • Too large scope of duties, lack of demarcation
  • Insufficient division of the work to be done, lack of leadership
  • A lack of ideas or a lack of commitment to actively shaping leisure time

Wenn es mitten auf dem Atlantik bei einem Segelrennen klappt, dann wird es auch im Businessalltag an Land funktionieren!

So how did I regenerate my strength during the race across the Atlantic? Here are my top tips:

Zusammenfassend möchte ich also teilen, dass es unter allen Umständen möglich ist, seinen persönlichen Spielraum zu definieren. Natürlich kann ein größerer Rahmen Limits setzen. Mitten auf dem Atlantik konnte ich nicht zum Sonnebaden im Liegestuhl ans Vordeck und Erwartungen nach einem ausgiebigen Buffet mit Schmankerln aus dem Mittelmeer blieben ebenfalls unerfüllt. Dennoch kann man Freiräume schaffen und Momente der Erholung gestalten. Der Antrieb muss aber von innen kommen, sich auf andere zu verlassen klappt in der Regel nicht.

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