People exercise in order to achieve a certain effect. They may want to be stronger, or lose body fat, or train for a sport or sporting event. Similarly, people read, think, produce and be kind to others in order to achieve an ideal result. The more a person does these things, the closer she gets to her goal.
Now people will tell you that you need a day off to recover. Your body needs time to rest, so as to adapt and become stronger. This is true to some extent. Your body needs to recover. How long it will take is another question.
Suppose you run a marathon. Next week, when you walk down the stairs, your legs will look like lead. But they won't think like this forever. If you rest long enough, you will recover in the end.
But there are some ways to speed up the recovery process. You can put on a pair of compression boots immediately after the game, which will squeeze the accumulated waste out of your legs. You can have a good meal instead of eating and drinking a lot of beer and bananas at the finish line. You can sleep for ten hours. You can stretch or use a foam roller.
If you try your best to recover, you can exercise the day after the marathon. Maximizing recovery is the reason why top professional athletes hire full-time staff such as chefs, personal trainers and masseurs.
The same idea applies to any goal-oriented pursuit. If you try to read every minute every day, you may damage your eyesight. If you donate every penny of yourself to charity, you will be the most merciful hungry person in the world. Before you continue your efforts, your eyes and your bank account need to be restored.
In addition, every such pursuit is limited by time and resources. The time a person spends on any activity and necessary recovery is limited. Getting a professional masseur, glasses and a stable income will affect the activity time and recovery. With all this in mind, there are two ways to help you achieve your goal:
1. Follow your passion
Think of lebron james and elon musk. They dedicate every moment of their lives to people who are outstanding in their own fields. When they need it, they are efficient and invest the necessary time and resources to replenish their energy.
If you have an overwhelming passion, whether it is exercise, knowledge, charity or other things, do your best to pursue it and do what you need to do to recover.
2. Find out the minimum effective dose
Suppose you are exercising to lose body fat, but you have other tasks and hobbies in your life that require your time and energy. If you don't like going to the gym and don't have enough time to go every day, but you can still prepare for the next day's training, then you need to find the minimum time and intensity needed to achieve your goal.
Therefore, if you exercise four days a week and use the remaining three days to recover, you can lose 1% body fat every week, then there is no reason to do more. The same applies to learning new skills, running a company or helping others.
Spend time and energy to achieve your goals, and then put your energy into other aspects of your life.