Personal energy management - the key to a balanced life

As a coach for top executives I often work with leaders who have difficulties living a balanced life. This has negative effects on the performance of the companies they are in charge of. It has also negative consequences for their family life and happiness in general. To cope with this challenge I don't find it useful to focus on time and task management, as many leaders would expect. A much more rewarding approach is to focus on energy management. The idea of focusing on energy originates from research conducted by sports psychologists Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, who has worked with the tennis player Pete Sampras and other athletes. Their goal was to find the key to long-term performance. Their book The Power of Full Engagement is highly recommended if you want a thorough review of the principles. The book includes The Corporate Athlete Training System, which is a systematic way of managing and developing personal energy. At the beginning of the book they come up with a provocative question: Top athletes spend about 90% of their time on practice (building up energy) and approx. 10% of their time to perform (using energy). How is your personal split between building up and using energy in your job? Do you know any of these scenarios? You participate in a four- hour meeting where no time is wasted. But during the last two hours your energy level decreases and you struggle to stay focused. You sprint through your 12-hour workday. But in the middle of the day your energy turns negative and you become more and more impatient and irritable. You want to spend some time with your children when you come home after work. However, you are so distracted by thoughts about your work that they never really get your full attention. You remember your wife's birthday. Your computer and your Palm Pilot reminds you of it. But at night you are actually too tired to go out and celebrate the day with her. Loehr and Schwartz make a series of provocative statements. Eg. that breaks are productive time and that amount of time (24 hours) is fixed but that the amount of potential energy available is in principle infinite. A basic principle is, that personal balance requires a balance between performance and recovery. Life should be a "series of sprints" and not the "marathon" that many people experience. The four sources of energy You can start by asking yourself if you are fully engaged? Look back at the last three months. Are you as happy and energetic as you would like to be? If not, it may be a good idea to take a look at how you build and use your energy. Loehr and Schwartz define four sources of energy. The four sources influence one another. For simplicity, it may be a good idea to analyse each source individually: Physical energy: This is the most fundamental form of energy. Are you getting enough sleep, healthy food and exercise? In a busy life controlling the physical energy can be extremely challenging. If you have significant challenges conce ing the physical energy (eg. Poor eating habits - coffee, pastries, burgers, etc.), this is where you should start to make an effort. Emotional energy: Emotional energy is basically about things that make you happy. You probably know the situation. You're going home after a long and tiring day at the office. Driving home you are thinking about the family dinner with at Aunt Anna you have to go to this evening. Just the thought drains your energy. You've heard her complaints and stories 100 times . And you're forced to listen to them a whole evening again - with a smile. Unbearable! Another day, you are again on your way home from a long and tiring day. When you get home , you are going bowling with your four best friends . Maybe you have a pint or two. Just the thought of it gets your energy level to rise. Fatigue disappears and you can easily keep the energy throughout the evening with your friends. There is no physical difference between the two scenarios. You have worked equally hard in both cases. But there is a clear emotional difference. And it affects your energy. You can deliberately get more energy by filling your day with things that make you happy. Obviously, this is very is a very personal thing. Some people love classical music. Others like a piece of chocolate or a break where you go for a walk in the forest. For me my close family and good friends make me really happy. Motorbike riding and hunting deer also make my energy level (and sometimes also my voice says my wife) rise. I also have a passion for business development, where I set up businesses and help others to create growth and prosperity through my consultancy VAEKSTSTRATEGI.DK . Mental energy: Mental energy is the ability to stay focused. We all know what happens to the energy in a group when the focus disappears. Similarly, one on a personal level you can improve your energy level by getting a clearer focus. Spiritual energy: Spiritual energy has a religious tone. Many people feel a little provoked by the word "Spiritual". Nevertheless, I choose to use this exact word. Spiritual energy is about higher meaning. There is a lot of energy in feeling that an action (or a job) is meaningful. And you've probably experienced several instances in your life where the meaning (and therefore your energy) disappeared. It may have been a relationship where it suddenly "hit you" that you did not wish to continue. It may have been a job where one day you came to recognize that you could not support the values of the company you worked for. A sense of meaning means a lot, especially for the younger generation of highly skilled knowledge workers. It is no longer enough that a company gives a good salary. You must also be able to connect personally with the company's vision, mission and values. Reflection Assignment: Test your energy Find a place where you can sit undisturbed for 30 minutes. Take a blank sheet of paper and a pen and reflect on the following questions: What do you do to be in good physical shape? What do you do to ensure that your emotions are mostly characterized by optimism and positivity? What do you do to ensure that you're focused, concentrated and has the right priorities? What do you do to ensure that your professional and private life is meaningful to you? How do you create a healthy balance between performance and recovery? If you could change one thing in your life to create more energy, what would it be?