A marathon mindset, i.e. starting slow but picking up pace, can help people reduce their stress load and perform better at work, researchers have pointed out.
Experts at Tel Aviv University have come up with tips to help keep the energy tanks full while working.
Dr Danit Ein-Gar of the University's Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration and her co-author Dr. Yael Steinhart of Haifa University found that people with high-levels of self-control tend to burn out the fastest.
Dr Ein-Gar said: "They tend to invest all their energy at once and are then left with insufficient resources for additional tasks."
But those who thought like marathon runners were better able maintain their energy levels and avoided burning themselves out, unlike a sprinter who gave all his effort at once, the boffins observed.
Dr Ein-Gar added: "The world may be multi-tasking at a frenetic pace but in thinking like a marathon runner, people with high self-control won't mind other people passing them. Marathon runners know that the race is long, but the winner is the one who can finish the race at the end with power left over to keep running."
Dr Ein-Gar quantified the findings in a new series of studies presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology in San Diego.
