With the constant hustle and bustle of today’s hectic business world, we have so many different things that are pulling energy from us all day long. There’s a constant barrage of people and situations that can drain your energy, if you let them.
Leaders especially need lots of energy. Enough to deal with their own work, but they also have their team, their peers and superiors pulling at their energy as well. In addition, they have to keep their team’s energy up so they stay engaged and productive.
It’s challenging enough keeping energy up during your work day, but many leaders are also parents or caregivers. They have to maintain energy for longer periods of time. Coming home and crashing in front of the TV is not an option.
Their day started early in the morning and restarts again when they get home after they worked 8 hours or more already. So adding all that up and that’s a lot of energy needed!
So what do many people do to replenish and maintain their energy? Many rely on artificial means to help them keep going. Thank you caffeine!
Caffeine, and for some…nicotine…is a necessity for so many leaders to function all day. It’s why Starbucks is able to charge those prices! It’s okay to rely on caffeine to give you a kick start but downing energy drinks multiple times a day is becoming an unhealthy norm for some.
It becomes a vicious cycle of replenishing your energy all day by artificial means. You go from one cup of coffee to the next. The youth in today’s world can down 3-5 energy drinks a day. If I did that my heart would explode!
So What is Draining all Your Energy?
There are a multitude of things that deplete your energy each day. Here is a list of some of them:
- Negative culture
- Conflicting priorities and agendas
- Making decisions
- Stressful timelines
- Bad relationships
- Re-work
- Multi-tasking
- Disorganization
- Disruptions and interruptions
- Reading bad news on social media
- Worrying about performance
- Boredom
- Too much technology
Sound familiar? But those are just the external energy drainers. What about the internal energy drainers? Those that come from our own approach to our daily life.
It’s just as important to manage how you, yourself, are doing things that drain your energy. Your own thoughts and behaviors will drain your energy even before external forces will.
Internal Energy Drainers:
- Worrying all the time
- Creating drama
- Being constantly frustrated with others
- Being negative
- Being unorganized
- Over analyzing
- Being critical of yourself and of others
- Holding on to anger and resentment
- Being Depressed or other chronic health conditions (always get medical help for these!)
Be mindful of these energy drainers. Avoid them and/or don’t cause them.
Don’t Just Depend on Replenishing Your Energy, Proactively Maintain it in the First Place
When you look at all the things that could be draining your energy in one day, it becomes blatantly obvious that you need to be proactive on how you manage your energy.
Too many people don’t even think about managing their energy and just trudge along day after day in a vicious cycle of either feeling tired or pumping themselves up with stimulants, over and over.
Remember, It’s not just about replenishing energy in healthy ways. It’s about proactively maintaining your energy, so it doesn’t deplete so much in the first place.
Here are some healthy ways to proactively manage your energy:
- Break up the day with physical movement and socializing. Get the blood and oxygen flowing. Don’t just stare at your computer, immobile, for 8 hrs. straight
- Eat/drink healthy proteins and complex carbohydrates. Not simple sugars and/or tons of caffeine
- Reduce social media use
- Avoid negative people and don’t add your own negativity
- Don’t overload your morning with meetings and other energy drainers. Spread them out
- Fight for reasonable dead lines
- Stay focused on one task at a time. Multitasking is not efficient. It’s an energy drainer
- Prioritize and delegate. Hero and martyr syndrome are energy drainers
- Plan recharge-reflect times into your schedule. Don’t make these times an afterthought, because you will never get to them
- Promote a calm, drama-free culture with your team
- Don’t catastrophize. Making things bigger is an energy drainer
- Replenish and refresh energy every evening and morning. Diet, exercise, meditation, socialization, hobbies, passion projects
Do yourself a favor and start to deliberately and consistently monitor and manage your energy. If you’re already trying to intentionally manage your stress as well, managing your energy, it can only help. They are connected!
The bottom line for leaders is, to be intentional about how you go about your day in a healthy, sustaining manner. Depletion of energy long-term can lead to burnout, which is becoming more rampant in these turbulent times.
This will not only improve your health, but it will improve your performance and your leadership and avoid burnout.
Last but certainly not least, it will enable you to feel better at home so you can be present, connected and engaged with your family.
Keep Calm and Lead On!
