Energy Surfing: the science of sustaining focus without crashing

If your focus disappears halfway through the day, this explains why and what to do about it

Have you ever hit the afternoon wall? Times when you're sitting at your desk, staring at a report or a complex set of data, and your brain simply refuses to process the information.

You read the same sentence three times but it's no good. Your focus has gone, your thinking has slowed and mental fatigue quietly creeps in.

When this happens, most people respond the same way: push through. They reach for another coffee, a snack or drift through the next hour on admin tasks in an attempt to feel productive again.

We tell ourselves that continuous work equals continuous output.

Unsplash: Joao Ferreira

Organisational psychologists call this behaviour the Recovery Paradox. When our cognitive resources are depleted, we are least likely to take a break.

But pushing through doesn't restore productivity. It leaves you more depleted and less able to focus. And why is that?

It comes down to our biology.

The Biological Truth: We Are Not Machines

The problem isn’t effort. It’s that we work in ways that don't align with how human beings function.

We treat our brains like machines, expecting them to operate at full capacity without a dip.

But the body's systems do not provide constant output. Instead they operate in rhythmic, cyclical pulses.

Most people have heard of circadian rhythms (our 24-hour biological clock). But few know about ultradian ones. These are short biological cycles that repeat throughout the day. One of these directly affects your ability to focus.

Sleep researcher Nathan Kleitman named this rhythm the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle (BRAC).

For around 90 minutes, your brain is primed for complex problem-solving and analytical reasoning (high energy phase). After that, it naturally switches to a lower-frequency state, a period of rest and consolidation. Your mental capacity rises, peaks, falls, and recovers. Like waves. Yet most of us try to work as if the ocean is flat.

When your brain drops into that low-energy trough, it’s shifting from concentration to consolidation. If you force continued focus, you interrupt that crucial process, leading to sluggish thinking, errors and deeper fatigue.

Hitting a wall and needing a break isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s completely natural.

The concept of Energy Surfing

The most effective knowledge workers don’t fight this biological cycle; they work with it. Instead of pushing through, they learn to read the signals. They notice when capacity is building and lean into deep work.

As focus starts to fade, they recognise fatigue and distraction as signs that the wave has peaked. By stepping back early, they prevent their energy from dropping too far.

How to surf the waves

So what does this look like in a working day? You need to structure your tasks around cognitive capacity, not just time.

Working in waves

Surfers know that waves come in sets. They're neither continuous nor evenly spaced. Your capacity works in much the same way. To plan your work effectively, think of your day as a series of waves to ride.

How you can do this:

• Spot the wave: notice when your focus and mental clarity begin to rise

• Catch the wave: start a high-leverage task that truly matters.

• Ride the wave: stay with the task while your focus and energy hold

• Exit cleanly: step away the moment you become fidgety or distracted.

• Recover: engage in an activity that helps the brain completely reset

Wipeouts as feedback

A wipeout is when you hit the wall. Instead of frustrating you, use it as bio-feedback. It usually means you pushed too far or tried to force energy that wasn’t there. The skill is in noticing what led to the crash so you can step away sooner next time.

Waiting as part of the skill

Great surfers don’t spend all their time riding waves. They spend most of it waiting, watching, and preparing. In many workplaces, this stillness is mistaken for laziness. In reality, it’s strategy.

Rest isn’t separate from productivity. It’s the very thing that makes the next wave of high-quality work possible.

How to support your brain

To restore cognitive functioning, your breaks need to support what your brain is trying to do. As a minimum, step away from all screens for 15-20 minutes. Stop focusing, and stop processing information.

Take a short walk. Sit outside. Make a drink. Do the dishes. Listen to music. Stretch. Do anything that avoids making the same cognitive demands as your actual work*. This gives the brain the exact space it needs to rest.

When you return, you’ll find you haven’t lost momentum, you’ve restored it. You will come back clearer, sharper, and ready for the next wave of deep work.

*Tip! These kind of activities are known as active rest. You can read more about how to use them here

Moving beyond the theory

Understanding the science of the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle is the easy part. The challenge is catching these waves in a real working day, when deadlines are tight, your inbox keeps filling up, and meetings litter your calendar.

This is where most people get stuck. Not because they don’t understand the theory, but because changing how you work takes intention.

If you want to start surfing your energy instead of fighting the current, the first step is simply noticing your patterns. Start by experimenting with just one focused 90-minute wave in your day and see what happens to your concentration.

If a 90-minute wave feels too long (especially if the task is heavy or draining) shorten your ride. You don't have to wait for a massive swell to get started; even a focused 30 or 45-minute sprint followed by a clean exit counts as a successful set.

The goal isn’t to ride every wave perfectly. It's to start noticing what your brain actually needs and adjusting your stance.

Bottom line

We’re not supposed to be “on” all day.

Your capacity to work comes in waves. When you learn to surf those waves instead of trying to flatten the ocean, your work becomes sharper, your stress drops, and everything feels more manageable.

Stop pushing against the tide.

Take care of you.

Curious how these waves show up in your own day?

With my Refine coaching clients, we use a simple 10-day tracker to spot when focus rises, energy dips, and natural resets happen.

If you’d like a free copy, just email me and I’ll send it over. It’s a simple tool, but it often sparks powerful insights into what’s draining (or sustaining) your focus.