To professional athletes, there’s nothing “soft” about well-being — it’s the very foundation for winning. In The Long Game, a new video series from Thrive Global in partnership with VICE, we take a closer look at elite athletes and their daily and nightly routines, exploring how they’ve honed their habits to up their game.
The series begins with Andre Iguodala, small forward on the Golden State Warriors and, by all accounts, Thrive Global’s tallest partner and investor. Iguodala, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 NBA Finals, credits his improved performance on the court to changes in his sleep habits.
Iguodala has a strict “no screens, no lights” bedtime routine that involves “shutting down all the phones, putting everything on airplane mode, getting my alarm clock set, taking a couple deep breaths, having a conversation with my wife, and doing a bit of reading.”
When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is wave his hand over his Sense device, a modernist, globe-shaped alarm clock and sleep tracker that helps monitor and optimize rest.
Iguodala says he has benefited so much from his routine that he has just two tips for anyone who feels out of whack: “Sleep more and work out more.”
In the debut episode of The Long Game, Iguodala lays out the specifics of his sleep habits, talks about his newfound appreciation for meditation, and explains what he means when he says, “Everything I do every day in life is to keep balance.”
Watch the full episode above to learn how you can thrive like Andre, and be sure to stay tuned for future episodes of The Long Game.
Originally published at medium.com