The parents would leave explicit instructions: Who eats what, when. Who works when and where and how. Any rewards that were and were not permitted. Who could and couldn’t watch TV or talk on the phone (pre-text era, mind you). When they had to start getting ready for bed. What the pre-bed ritual was. When they needed to be asleep. What to do in case of emergency. And so on.

It occurred to me, these operating instructions are what I help my clients figure out for themselves. We call it your owner’s manual or handling instructions. Your fancy phone has a manual…and it’s replaceable. You do not and are not.

So we have to develop the skills to write one, so you know how to care for yourself mentally and physically.

Believe it or not, you are similar to elite athletes. They need to exercise. The need recovery. They need to manage stress. They need their sleep. They need to eat food, not numbers. They need to balance their energy in and energy out. Period.

The difference between us and “them”, is the level of intensity they train and perform, and thus have to manage every other piece. The more they train, the more they need to recover.