Artwork for podcast People Soup
Quick Spoon: Recovery isn't the opposite of performance
Episode 6118th September 2026 • People Soup • Ross McIntosh
00:00:00 00:01:55

Share Episode

Shownotes

We often think about recovery as something we do after the productive work is finished.

But when is the work ever really finished?

In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super challenges that assumption:

“Recovery is productive.”

Amanda suggests that self-compassion isn't just something we think about — we need to act on it. And that can include taking care of some of the basics of our physical wellbeing and building opportunities for recovery into the working day.

Ross explores what that might look like in practice.

Recovery doesn't have to mean a week away or a long weekend.

It might be five minutes away from your screen.

A walk around the block.

Some fresh air.

Taking your lunch away from your desk.

Or simply stopping for a moment and taking a breath.

Here's something to try:

Put one small recovery break into your working day this week.

And don't wait until you've earned it.

Treat it as part of the day.

Because recovery isn't the opposite of performance. It can support how we work — and how we experience work.

People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.

If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful.

Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human.

Here's the People Soup Website.

And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here.

Visit Ross' Website.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

Transcripts

QS5 v1

[:

[00:00:20] But it's really important to focus on taking breaks throughout a busy working day, even if it's just five minutes.

[:

[00:00:53] Ross: We work hard, we get things done, then we recover Except the work is never really finished, is it? there's always [00:01:00] another email, another meeting. another thing to cross off the to-do list So perhaps recovery needs to be part of the working day rather than something we squeeze in when everything [00:01:10] else is done

[:

[00:01:44] because recovery isn't the opposite of performance. It can support how we work and how we [00:01:50] experience work. That's your Quick Spoon. Until next time, take care

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube