It’s easy to start a new endeavor with seemingly endless energy. After all, you’re excited and motivated for the changes you’re enacting! But after a few weeks, this motivation starts to wane. Soon, you find yourself feeling burnt-out and exhausted, with little energy to achieve your goals.
Leaders who effectively manage their energy don’t just start strong; they stay strong. Here are some tips to help you better manage your energy.
Establish Lower and Upper Boundaries
Make sure your goals encourage efficiency and sustainable time management by creating lower and upper boundaries for your time working towards a specific endeavor. This ensures you have time to work on your initiatives without sacrificing your other obligations.
Your lower boundary is the minimum amount of time you’ll spend on a goal, while the upper boundary is the maximum time you’ll devote to this intent. The boundaries can be time constraints or refer to actions. For example, assume you want to increase your sales. Then, you can establish a lower boundary of four sales calls a day and an upper boundary of nine sales calls each day.
Work with Your Natural Tendencies
Do you give minimal resources to a project until you’re nearing the deadline? Or, do you devote all your attention to your new endeavors? See that your actions address your natural tendencies.
For those with tendencies to procrastinate, check that you’re adhering to your lower boundaries and making some headway. If your motivation wildly fluctuates, adhering to reasonable boundaries helps stabilize your energy.
Or, if you tend to have high energy, sticking to your upper boundaries will prevent the project from consuming you (and see that you have energy for other responsibilities).
Take Time to Rest
Rest and recovery are essential for your best efforts. Always build time into your schedule for personal development or relaxation.
If you have low energy, make sure you hit your lower boundaries before enjoying your much-needed break. Individuals with high energy should make sure their nonwork time encourages true relaxation.
Implementing energy management strategies requires focus and honest self-evaluation. But, with a bit of dedication and patience, you’ll improve your efficiency and build systems that encourage sustainable energy levels.