geniuses: the brightest minds spend their time either pursuing an activity with ferocious intensity, or engaging in complete restoration and recovery. This approach, Csikszentmihalyi discovered, not only prevents creative burnout and cognitive fatigue, but it also fosters breakthrough ideas and discoveries

The more decisions you make automatic, the more energy you’ll have for the work you deem important. The most essential part about adopting the minimalist-to-be-a-maximalist lifestyle, then, is figuring out what really matters to you—what is actually worth expending energy on—and devoting minimal energy to everything else.

Great performers, Ericsson found, generally work in chunks of 60 to 90 minutes separated by short breaks.

Nearly all elite athletes have well-practiced warmup routines that are orchestrated down to the minute.

During our peak hours, when we are hyper-alert and focused, our conscious mind is dominant. But during our off-peak hours, as we become fatigued and struggle to maintain focus, our more creative mind has a better opportunity to shine.

In the midst of stress, those who demonstrate a challenge response proactively focus on what they can control. With this outlook, negative emotions like fear and anxiety decrease. This response better enables these individuals to manage and even thrive under stress.

we should realize that we have limited energy and devote it only to things that really matter. Of course, the more things that we think really matter, the less energy we have to devote to any one of them. It is only by becoming a minimalist that we can become a maximalist.

He compartmentalizes his day down to the hour. Each compartment has a concrete objective.

Joyner has designed not only his days but, really, his entire life around eliminating distractions and decisions “that don’t really matter.” In doing so, he reserves energy and willpower for the activities that are critically important to him. In other words, the secret to Joyner’s accomplishing so much, to being a “maximalist” in his field, is tha