What is the Recovery Rocket model?
Essentially, the recovery rocket provides a model for maintaining a baseline of mental wellness over a year, and then gives you activities to do during the week to top up your engine fuel. It was originally designed by an organisational psychologist called Andrew May, who created the model for the Australian Cricket Team.
For your baseline, the model recommends:
- 300 nights of good sleep (7 + hours of unbroken sleep) every year
- One big stretch break or ‘off season’ (a good week or two on holidays)
- Three mini breaks (long weekends in different locales)
- 10-15 minutes of ‘slow time’ every day (going for a walk, preparing veggies for dinner, meditation, etc)
- 30 weeks where you accumulate 100 recovery points.
What are recovery points?
Recovery points are points that you get for doing activities that you enjoy. Each has a certain number of points attributed to it, and the aim is to do enough activities each week to accumulate 100 points.
In the model, points are attributed to massages (50 points), going for a walk (20 points), talking with a friend on the phone (15 points) and so on. However, you can make your own up instead.
For example, one participant using the Recovery Rocket model found that her weekly dance class alone earned her a solid 30 points. Add to that a beach walk with her dog (20 points), a stroll along the same beach with a friend (10 points), some quiet time spent crocheting or crafting (10 points), watching a few episodes of a favourite show (10 points), getting takeaway (15 points), dinner with a friend (20 points), and playing a video game (5 points), and the week begins to feel not only manageable — but restorative.
What’s refreshing about the Recovery Rocket model is its orientation toward success, not perfection. Unlike traditional wellness advice — which often demands 365 nights of perfect sleep or daily meditation practices that stretch beyond what’s realistic — this framework offers flexibility. It acknowledges that you won’t always hit 100 points every week. And that’s okay. Falling short one week doesn’t signal failure, just a shift in rhythm. A night of poor sleep doesn’t undo a month of effort.
So here’s a gentle challenge: take a moment this week to list ten activities that genuinely bring joy or relaxation — ones that are relatively easy to fit into your routine. Assign each a point value based on how refreshed or recharged you feel afterward. Then, over the next week, aim for 100 points. Not as a test, but as an experiment in noticing what really helps you recover.
What will you put on your recovery points list?
