Human work happens in cycles of sprinting and relaxing. No human can work at high outputs consistently. Work that happens in sprint relaxation cycles is the most optimal and efficient type of work as it gives us a higher ROTI than work that that’s being carried out repetitively as a marathon. That is just the nature of the human being.
Eg: A TeleSales Executive may call a prospective client, or a few of them and talk with them for sometime and then play a game on their mobile phone so that dopamine is released in between the release of cortisol, so that body feel happy as well and not stressed out, increasing the ROTI for the entire process. Due to this, a tele sales executive may be able to perform well for a longer period of time, compared to if they were continuously calling on the phone and not playing a small game intermittently to remain de-stressed.
Hope – keeps dopamine alive, when we have dopamine, then we can function for a longer time frame as opposed to when we have cortisol.
Eg: A pro athlete would want to work in rest relaxation and high work output cycles. If they are told to continually work, then in that case their performance may suffer and maybe suboptimal.
Eg: A computer programmer (coder) would actually work well at high performance levels intermittently and intermittently they should just rest, and relax to be able to give a sustained high quality output with time.
If we see definite success as being just round the corner then we are filled with dopamine and can go the extra mile. This is what we should aim for. Keep small targets and achieve them. This also positively reinforces the happiness & success cycle in our brains and minds.
Remember to sprint and then relax, and then repeat till you reach your apex success in the given endeavor.