Does Your Work Rob You of Your Energy?
As I started writing this post the first words that popped into my head were “energy vampires”. Energy vampires are people who literally “suck the energy out of us” by constantly complaining and criticizing everything and everybody.
We all know someone like that either at work or in our personal life. I’ve found that setting boundaries helps…letting the person “vent” for a short period of time and then telling them that it’s time to focus on something else. In more extreme cases I’ve actually stopped being friends with people who fall into this category. Not so easy if the “vampire” is a family member, a co-worker, or worse, your boss.
In this post I’m going to share some information about energy and energy management from my book The Dynamic Introvert: Leading Quietly with Passion and Purpose. And although the book was written with introverts in mind I think that the ideas will be of interest to introverts and extroverts alike.
In our 24/7 world many of us struggle to find enough energy to get through the day. Increasingly an understanding of energy is necessary if we are to accomplish all of the things we need or want to do. Introverts have unique challenges when it comes to managing our energy. We are often made to feel that we should be more like extroverts, but we need to give ourselves permission to recharge in ways that work for us.
We can increase our physical energy by trying to live a balanced life: exercising, eating properly, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water and nurturing our relationships. Authors Jim Loehr and Tony Swartz have some recommendations for boosting personal energy in their book The Power of Full Engagement.
Loehr and Swartz argue that our physical energy provides the foundation without with we cannot achieve full capacity in all areas of our lives and this is especially critical in today’s rapidly changing, fast-paced organizations.
Perhaps the most valuable message I took away for The Power of Full Engagement is the need to balance both stress and recovery. We need to stress our bodies by challenging ourselves mentally and physically but we also need time to rest throughout the day.
This applies to all of us but the introverts amongst us may need to learn how to “pulse”—to move between spending energy and renewing energy and we need to do this consciously.
Becoming conscious of our energy requirements and being able to manage our personal energy will powerfully impact the ways in which we deal with the challenges that will face as we progress in our careers.
If you find that your work is robbing you of your energy now is the time to do something about it!
