We grow at all level levels by expanding the…
We grow at all level levels by expanding the energy beyond our normal limits, and then recovering. Expanding capacity, requires a willingness to endure short term discomfort in the service of long-term reward.
— from Fuel (Energy)
In the book
The classic version is the person who pours everything into physical achievement and professional output while the emotional and spiritual tanks run dry — and one day discovers that when work becomes the whole identity, a single bad day can hollow him out entirely. We grow, in truth, only by expanding our capacity past its normal limits and then recovering — pushing and refueling in rhythm — but the driven person learns only the pushing and never the recovery. The second drain is the ego, which is astonishingly expensive to run. […] The most important thing I learned about fuel, I learned too late, and I want you to have it early: refuel before the gauge reads empty, not after. The driven version of me believed that rest was what you earned once the work was done; the truth is that rest is part of the work, the recovery half of the only rhythm that lets a person grow without breaking. I learned, too, that most people never run far enough on their first wind to discover they even have a second — they quit at the first emptiness, never knowing that stamina, perseverance, and a deeper reserve were waiting just past it. — Fuel (Energy)