Your energy: What exactly is worth yours?

Our energy is a finite resource. We have 24 hours a day and only so much energy to invest. As we contemplate a life of serving well, it’s a thought to capture and spend some quality time with. The term “energy management” found it’s way into my thought world about a year ago and based on the fact that it keeps showing back up, may be it’s telling me something.

Most of us know the term “time management,” and there is no shortage of productivity hacks and resources on the topic. I was an old-school fan of Franklin Covey and his systems have carried me along quite nicely for the last three decades. What takes me into the next five decades may be better classified under “energy management.” Just where can I optimize my mental and physical game?

A bit of research tells us the story that makes sense as to how we got to where we are today. The notion of time management and the universal 40-hour work week was based on factory laborers primarily, and the sheer fact that after 40 hours, workers became less productive. Makes perfect sense.

Today’s reality is quite different, as well as our knowledge that flexibility in recognizing work and personality styles are central to our happiness and… the ability to flat out “get things done,” aka productivity. We need to know what drives us and when we are more likely to get in “the zone” in order to be our best.

Since I generally focus on brief insights, I won’t list out the many directions we could go with the conversation, but one thing that I felt was super powerful upon researching this topic, sends us back to time management. Truly tracking for a few days, when you are at your best and what you are doing when you are in that space gives us the clues we need. What gives you energy and what sucks the very life out of you? (Okay, maybe that’s drastic. But maybe not…) Once you do this exercise, then protecting your calendar is the next step. The focus: Identifying and securing your best “zones” and driving your life in that direction. Have a strong wrap to your week! (And as the picture illustrates… I think moving in the great outdoors is most definitely an energy builder for me! What do you know for sure gives you energy?)