Why “I’ll recover at the weekend” never works

We often tell ourselves - “I’ll just get through the week and recover at the weekend.”

But if you’re spending most of your working week in survival mode, the weekend isn’t recovery. It's collapse.

And collapse isn’t the same as rest.

Survival mode was never meant to be permanent

Survival mode is designed for short bursts.

Deal with the threat. Come back down. Rest. Repeat.

The problem is, most workplaces don’t operate like this.

Instead, people are exposed to constant pressure, ambiguity, overload and responsiveness.

The nervous system doesn’t get the signal to stand down - so it adapts instead.

It becomes more sensitive. You tip into fight or flight faster. And you stay there longer.

This is where many teams are operating without realising it.

What chronic survival mode looks like at work

When the nervous system is constantly activated, the effects show up everywhere, not just in “stress levels”.

You might notice:

• Small things suddenly feel overwhelming

• Your thinking narrows and becomes reactive

• Irritation, anxiety or withdrawal creep in

• You’re busy all day but feel like nothing meaningful is moving forward

• Decision-making gets harder, not easier

• People avoid challenge, risk or honest conversations

This isn’t a personal resilience issue. It's a biological response to the environment.

Which is why telling people to “just be more resilient” entirely misses the point.

Why weekends can’t undo the working week

You don’t fix a chronically activated nervous system with:

• A yoga app

• A long lie-in

• A deep breath at the end of the day

If the working week keeps re-triggering threat, the system never truly resets. It just lurches between adrenaline-fuelled effort and exhaustion.

That’s why people come back on Monday already depleted.

The real lever: downshifting during the working day

The solution isn’t pushing harder or adding more wellbeing initiatives.

It’s building regular downshifts into how work actually happens.

That means:

• White space between meetings

• Time to focus without constant interruption

• Moments of movement that work for you

• Pauses that tell your nervous system: “You are safe.”

These aren’t nice-to-have wellbeing perks.

They are performance enablers.

Why this matters for performance (not just wellbeing)

When people regularly move back into a regulated state:

• Thinking becomes clearer

• Collaboration improves

• Decision quality rises

• Costly mistakes reduce

• Energy stabilises instead of spiking and crashing

People don’t perform at their best when they’re running on adrenaline. They perform at their best when they have the capacity to think.

Sustainable performance comes from working differently

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing practical ways leaders and teams can reduce survival mode - not by asking more of people, but by changing how work is designed and led.

Because sustainable performance doesn’t come from running flat-out.

It comes from people who aren’t stuck in survival mode all day.

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