Life in Waves / by Alexander Lyadov

“The best posture is the next one,” a rehab expert explains. “The problem is staying still. Your body isn’t built to sit frozen at a desk for eight hours. You need variety. Switch positions, stand, stretch, and so on.”

His advice echoes a lesson from the tatami. After a break from an injury, I fought worse, though I remembered techniques and kept my strength. I’d lost a subtle skill: “energy management.”

That’s what I call dosing effort in a match, blending tension and ease. It’s like the peristalsis of the throat, the heart’s pulse, or breathing—in and out, up and down, on and off.

Try an isometric exercise, such as a plank. The more tired you are, the louder you thank heaven for even a second’s rest. The body recovers quickly when given a chance.

Almost any task takes time. You don’t hit a Wow result in one strike. Mastery is about spreading energy wisely from start to finish. On a chart, the best strategy looks like a wave—a smooth sine curve.

Your results in business, sports, or art can soar higher. Stop praising “isometry”:

  • pushing through fatigue,

  • non-ergonomic desks,

  • endless work heroics,

  • skipping vacations,

  • chronic sleep debt,

  • forgotten meals,

  • ignoring pain.

Instead, make your life rhythmic, like Nature:

  • animal migrations,

  • moon phases,

  • brain waves,

  • ocean tides,

  • seasons.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander


About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

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