Manage Your Energy

This one goes out to all the fine ladies and gentlemen out there in the workforce—the producers, the account directors, the digital strategists, the creative directors…the CEOS…

By Erin Noel

To all who are weary:

One of the most amazing gifts of being a talent scout is meeting crazy talented people who want to make a difference by impacting businesses, cultivating meaningful relationships, indulging their curiosity and creating something beautiful. However, you can’t help but hear the sigh and breathlessness of exhaustion in everyone’s voice—”I’m tired, I’m burnt out, I don’t want to do this anymore, I don’t have time to myself…” You know when the topic of “productivity” makes the cover of Fast Company that we’ve got a systemic time management problem on our hands (and I know many who’ve felt even worse about themselves after reading that issue).

What if the problem is not getting a better handle on your time, but rethinking the way you invest in your energy reserves and expenditures? We are talking about self care—something that many of us feel guilt-ridden about unless we do it in the wee hours of the morning or night or reduce hours to an absolute minimum: exercise, preparing a meal, taking a break sans the screen time, meditation and prayer, sleep and cut-the-cord-to-the-office vacation time. Incorporating more of these things into your life could not only save you mentally and physically, but actually make you more effective at solving complex problems, more resilient in the face of challenge, help you be a more caring friend, colleague and partner—and most importantly, have something within you left to give to others. When your energy is low, it doesn’t matter how much time you have–the resulting feelings of frustration, irritation and exhaustion leave you feeling defeated and ultimately less effective.

With that, we wanted to bring back an oldie, but a goodie from HBR, “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.” We recommend taking a 15 min break from whatever you’re doing to read this article and make a promise to yourself to create a new habit today that’s an investment in your energy reserves.