The Rhythm Strategy Executives Need: Powerful Techniques for Maximum Performance

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4 Powerful Techniques for Maximum Performance

Many of the executive leaders I work with find themselves wide awake at 3:00 am, mentally rearranging their company org chart while their spouse sleeps soundly beside them. If this sounds familiar, know you’re not alone.

Insomnia is nearly epidemic among high-performers. Many chalk it up to pressure, performance, or the relentless to-do list that never seems to shrink. And yes, those are real. But there’s something else, something deceptively simple that most executives overlook.

Your rhythm is off.

We’re rhythmic creatures living in a proudly arrhythmic culture. We override natural cycles in favor of caffeine spikes, all-nighters, and Google Calendar gymnastics. And it works… until it doesn’t. Until your focus flags, ideas stall, meetings drag, and suddenly those 3 a.m. wakeups start feeling inevitable. But what if the very thing you’re ignoring, your rhythm, isn’t just the key to better sleep, but to better leadership?

This newsletter is a bento box of frameworks, each one offering a different way to optimize your performance by aligning with your natural rhythm and flow.

Your Calendar Has a Pulse

In his book At Your Best, author and productivity strategist Carey Nieuwhof presents a deceptively simple but potent framework for working with your body’s natural rhythms: color-coding your calendar based on your energy zones.

Nieuwhof’s method encourages leaders to work within their zones to maximize performance and output.

Green Zone: Your highest-capacity hours. Ideal for deep work, strategy, creativity, and complex decision-making.
Yellow Zone: Moderate energy. Great for meetings or tasks that require collaboration.
Red Zone: Low energy hours. Reserve this space for admin, emails, and anything that doesn’t require your A-game.

Nieuwhof’s core argument? Protect your Green Zone like a fortress. Many executives unintentionally burn their best brain hours on status meetings or calls, leaving their most important thinking for the end of the day, when they’re fried.

Want instant optimization? Block your green zones in your calendar right now. Then guard them.

1. The Power Hour, Done Right

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Founder of The Hands-Off CEO, Mandi Ellefson coaches CEOs who want to grow without being operationally handcuffed. Her solution? The Power Hour. Here’s her method:

Each night, identify your 3 most important tasks for the next day.
Then block one sacred hour, the time when you’re mentally sharpest, to tackle them without interruption.
No calls. No emails. No Slack. Just forward-moving work that aligns with your goals.

Mandy’s brilliance lies in how she integrates rhythm with intentionality. This is about reclaiming decision-making altitude.

2. The 90-Minute Rule

Tony Schwartz, founder of The Energy Project and coach to Fortune 500 executives, argues that our bodies operate in 90-minute ultradian cycles, which are periods of high energy followed by a natural dip. His premise: We work best in 90-minute work sprints, followed by real recovery.

The key here is actual recovery. Not a scroll through LinkedIn or responding to Slack messages while you eat lunch at your desk. Instead, take a short walk, eat lunch literally anywhere but your office, or give yourself a few minutes of silence.

3. The Pomodoro

The Pomodoro Technique and its famous tomato-shaped timer, is a deceptively simple structure that boosts focus and stamina:

25 minutes of focused work
5-minute break
Repeat 3x
After 4 rounds, take a 30-minute break

That’s it. I taught my kids to do their homework in Pomodoros. If it works on distracted teenagers, it’ll work on your overloaded executive brain, too.

4. THE Circadian Bible

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Dr. Satchin Panda is a leading researcher in the field of chronobiology and author of the book The Circadian Code. Dr. Panda’s research shows that our entire operating system is controlled by our circadian rhythm. That means our focus, sleep, digestion, metabolism, they all run on light- and food-based cycles we too often ignore.

If you want energy that doesn’t crash mid-afternoon, these three simple shifts are gold:

Getting morning light within 30 minutes of waking boosts alertness and sets your sleep clock.
Eating with rhythm, at designated times lets your body know what’s coming and relax accordingly
Going to bed and waking at consistent times helps regulate emotional resilience.

Your body's timing system is your operating system. Ignore it, and you're like a Mac trying to run a Windows program — clunky, glitchy, and prone to spinning wheels.

Rhythm is a Leadership Strategy

High performers love to race time, but great leaders learn to pace it. They know that creativity, clarity, and composure aren’t fueled by urgency; they’re fueled by alignment.

So if your days feel more like a blitz than a plan or if your best thinking is happening at midnight instead of mid-morning, maybe the problem isn’t discipline. Maybe it’s that your rhythm is off.

To get it back, you just have to listen to the natural beats around you, and dance along.

This was also published on Juliet Funt's LinkedIn.