In a previous blog, I wrote about Robin Sharma’s concept of the twin cycles of peak performance – the ebb and flow between going all out and then deliberately pulling back to rest and renew. I shared how I’ve applied that philosophy personally, managing my own micro, meso, and macro cycles to avoid burnout and sustain energy over the long haul.

This article takes the idea further. How do you apply these cycles in the context of engineering and construction projects, where you can’t just “switch off” mid-delivery? What does recovery look like when client deadlines, contracts, and site realities don’t stop for anyone?

Why This Matters in Construction

Engineering projects are marathons disguised as sprints. They demand sustained efficiency over months, sometimes years. But the way most projects are scheduled looks more like an endless sprint: continuous high-intensity effort, week after week.

The result is predictable. Teams burn out. Errors creep in. Engagement drops. People leave.

Recovery in this environment can’t look like vanishing for weeks at a time. It has to be built into the way leaders structure teams, workloads, and culture.

The Twin Cycles Framework

Work cycles: focused bursts

Work cycles typically run for two to six weeks. They align with project sprints, design packages, or major deliverables. During this period, the focus is sharp: clear priorities, targeted outputs, and minimal distractions. Daily stand-ups, milestone gates, and strengths-based task allocation keep everyone aligned. The goal is to deliver visible progress within a defined timeframe.

Recovery cycles: active reset

Recovery cycles are shorter – a few days between bursts, or up to a week when transitioning between major phases. This is not “time off,” but a deliberate slowdown. The workload is lighter, and the focus shifts to reflection, learning, and recognition. Teams might run retrospectives, share lessons, attend training, or simply consolidate work. The goal is to restore energy and cohesion before the next ramp-up.

Why Projects Need This

In my earlier post, I talked about respecting the meso-cycle, those mid-project energy dips where burnout often happens if you just keep grinding. The same logic applies to teams, but at a larger scale.

Planned cycles of work and recovery help in these ways:

• Teams maintain efficiency for longer. Just like athletes, engineers and managers cannot sprint endlessly. Errors reduce because fatigue-driven mistakes are avoided and mistakes are expensive in safety-critical environments.

• Engagement and retention improve when people feel their workload and energy are being managed, not just squeezed.

• Managers gain a predictable cadence. Recovery is planned into the schedule rather than bolted on after a crisis.

Practical Steps for Sustaining Peak Performance in Construction

Sharma’s model sets the principle, but applying it in construction requires leadership adjustments. Recovery here is about sustaining energy without losing delivery momentum. These are the levers project leaders can pull:

• Align roles with strengths. When people work in their strengths zone, they naturally maintain higher energy for longer. The first step for any manager is to design roles around natural talents so effort feels engaging rather than draining.

• Notice dips in energy. Good leaders pay attention to when someone is running low. That might mean stepping in to shift workload, encouraging a lighter week, or prompting someone to take leave before burnout hits.

• Encourage leave as normal. Too many teams treat banking annual leave hours like a badge of honour. In reality, it’s a path that leads straight to burnout. A healthy culture treats time off as responsible, not weak.

• Respect the right to disconnect. Too many young professionals feel pressure to stay “always on” — answering emails, Teams messages, or calls even while on leave. I remember a general manager once telling me, “If you’re a senior project manager, you need to take calls on holidays if you’re in the country. If you’re a general manager, you need to take calls even when you’re overseas.” That expectation may be fair for senior leaders carrying ultimate accountability, but it should not be the norm for more junior team members. They need true disconnection to recharge fully, and leaders have a responsibility to protect that space. There are very few matters that can’t wait until tomorrow.

• Promote physical activity. Exercise and movement aren’t just good for the body — they’re proven to boost resilience and mental health. Talking openly about it, and making space for it, signals that it’s valued.

• Lead by example. The most powerful signal comes from leaders who live this themselves. If you never take leave, never log off, or never prioritise health, your people will copy you. If you show balance, they’ll follow your lead.

Example: Managing Cycles in a Live Project

Picture a design manager in the middle of a critical three-month delivery phase. The program is tight, the client is demanding, and there’s no scope to slow the project down.

Instead of asking everyone to run flat out until the deadline, the manager takes a different approach. Tasks are assigned based on strengths: analytical engineers focus on modelling and calculations, while relationship-driven people handle stakeholder workshops. This means each person spends their energy in areas where they are naturally strong – not grinding through work that drains them.

Midway through the phase, one of the engineers starts to lose spark. Instead of ignoring it, the manager steps in, acknowledging the dip, shifting some workload, and encouraging the engineer to take a few days of leave to reset. The rest of the team covers, and the project keeps moving.

By the end of the phase, the team has delivered the package and the people are not shattered. The leader has treated energy management as seriously as schedule management.

The Leadership Role

Leaders play a crucial role in protecting recovery cycles. Left unchecked, they’ll be swallowed up by “urgent tasks.”

Good leaders model recovery themselves, pausing after milestones to reflect and reset. They ring-fence recovery time in the schedule just as fiercely as they protect client meetings. And they reframe recovery not as downtime, but as an accelerator, the habit and practice that maintains momentum over the long haul.

Final Thought

The twin cycles of peak performance aren’t just about individual productivity, they’re a leadership philosophy for building sustainable performance in project environments.

My earlier blog explained the why – why recovery matters and how ignoring it leads to burnout. This blog is about the how – the practical steps managers and leaders in construction can take to weave recovery into their projects without losing momentum.

The projects that succeed long-term won’t be the ones that sprint the hardest at the start. They’ll be the ones where leaders deliberately design cycles of performance and recovery and create cultures that make high performance sustainable.