Energy management: What’s your daily “spend?”
I’ve been sort of obsessed lately with the idea of personal energy management.
As founders and as leaders, we need to have enough bandwidth to do our own work - and then we need to have additional capacity to support others. We need to be careful how we monitor ourselves so we have energy left over to lead our team and manage others - especially during uncertainty or when the stakes are high which, as startups, is most of the time.
So, how much energy do you use on an average day?
A friend of mine recently used a cash analogy that has been transformative for me, personally, helping me think differently about the choices I make about my energy use every day.
Here it is:
Imagine that every day, when you wake up, you get $100 to spend on everything you do all day, energetically. At the end of the day, how much cash do you have left over? At the end of a week, what are you spending and what are you saving?
Think about it this way: Having a kid is an immediate $20 spend, having a dog is another $5, running a startup is easily a $50 spend and so on. When the day is done and you’re rolling into bed, how much cash do you have left over?
I recently realized that, as a single mom, a homeowner, and a CEO, I probably burn through like $98 of my $100 every day.
I think I do a pretty darn good job of managing myself so that you wouldn’t know that I’m at nearly my maximum most days, but the problem with having such little margin is that I’m teetering way too close to capacity every day. It feels sustainable and fine most days - until a hiccup comes along. Like that yellow jacket bite I got this summer that sent me to the ER.
When everyday life operates at a $98 energy spend and then a sprint at work happens or my kid gets sick, I end up spending $105, which is over my energy budget. And the problem is that extra is extra costly -- it has to come from a "savings" reserve in me that takes time and effort to replenish.
Maybe you can relate?
As founders and leaders, we need to have more like $15-$20 left over each day to be able to show up for our team with our feet firmly under us, grounded. We need to have additional bandwidth every day to show up and set the vision, inspire others, and manage the team. We need to have wiggle room to absorb the unexpected and not have it derail us for the next two weeks - even if no one else knows how unbalanced you are but yourself.
So, the question I’ve been mulling over in my mind is:
How do you increase your margin? How do you go from spending $98 to only spending $80 a day?
I think it starts by doing an energy audit of your life; where does my energy go? I have noticed that there are four types of energy-consuming activities:
Busy energy cost
These are busywork tasks that take up time more than anything else. These are activities that aren’t hard but take up space and time. Some of those tasks can be outsourced or delegated or not done at all - like walking your dog or keeping your company’s books straight.
Accountability energy cost
Being the most accountable person for something - like a critical technical milestone - takes up bandwidth. You are the final decision maker and it’s a weight you carry with you even when things are going smoothly.
Invisible labor energy cost
Invisible labor is the unpaid, often unrecognized work that's required to manage a household or family, or to perform tasks in the workplace. It’s stuff like remembering that you’re running out of toilet paper or that it’s Bob’s birthday tomorrow and you need to get a card.
Emotional energy cost
These are the things that consume us because it is emotionally taxing. It’s things that bring up big feelings about our identity or values. Emotional energy is when you’re anxious about that board meeting or are really upset that your co-founder made an important decision without consulting you.
Problem-solving energy cost
I use up a lot of energy when I’m trying to solve a complex problem. I am mulling over solutions and I’m a puzzle brain sort of mindset. As a systems thinker, I’m always wondering about the most effective and efficient way to a solution.
Maybe there are more types of energy, but those are the big ones for me. So, much of your week is going to which types of energy activities?
I think that, for me, I’m still spending too much “cash” on emotional energy. I still care too much about some things I shouldn’t be holding onto and am wasting too much time wishing things were different instead of radically accepting reality. That’s the work I need to do this year. How do I not give a shit about some things that are consuming mental load and energy? That’s my work ahead of me with my own coach.
So, as you head into this new year, maybe it would help you to think about doing an energy audit of your own life. How much “money” are you spending every day? What’s your daily and weekly margin? What do you want to change so that you have enough buffer to maintain your balance even when the unexpected comes your way? I’d love to hear what you discover.
