The Big Three — Sleep, Diet & Exercise

There’s a great scene in recent Disney + series — The Falcon & the Winter Soldier where they discuss ‘The Big Three’ Bucky Barnes (a.k.a. The Winder Soldier) has no idea what the Falcon is even talking about. He means The Big Three Avengers, notably Captain America, Iron Man & Thor. These are the Avengers MVPs, the most notable, the most well known, the most experienced. It’s why at the end of Avengers Endgame, it’s these guys that face off against Thanos. They are The Big Three.

So what about being effective in our work and life? What are The Big Three? Is it some kind of planning system or power morning routine? Is it an app or organisational system? No. From a purely temporal point of view the Big Three are sleep, diet and exercise.

This is true on a micro scale — day to day. The benefits of a healthy sleep habit to our overall effectiveness in the short term cannot be overstated. The fuel we put into our bodies during the day and when we do so can massively impact our energy levels. Even a small amount of exercise like going for walk can give a massive boost to our cognitive abilities. So, in the short term, if you want to boost your productivity, boost your focus and concentration through the day and boost the quality of your work, then I would say the first place to go is to The Big Three — sleep, diet & exercise.

It’s also true on a bigger scale of the medium to long term. The benefits are cumulative. A healthy sleep pattern, a healthy diet and consistency in exercise will have a compound effect over time. The main impact will be on our overall energy levels and our ability to focus and concentrate. Over time these will increase. But I have also experience a greater consistency in these as well. At times when I have been most consistent in healthy sleep, diet and exercise, my energy and focus has been the most consistent through the day and through the week. At these times both the quantity an quality of my output have increased, as has my consistency.

So — if you want to be more effective — start here, start with the Big Three.

Honourable mention goes to the Hawkeye of the productivity world — keeping hydrated. Hawkeye is often totally overlooked and doesn’t seem to be doing very much but actually contributes a lot more than anyone realise. Keeping hydrated is just like Hawkeye!