As leaders we energise our organisations; we are the multipliers who increase the overall energy and drive within our teams.
But to do this we must have energy ourselves, which means we need to find the time to recharge and re-energise.
As someone who is naturally energetic, this wasn’t something that I felt I had to worry about too much. But thats not true, sure I had more energy than most, but my energy levels used to drop just as everyone else’s did, and when they dropped I wasn’t performing at the best level I could.
We do not always realise when our reserves are low, it’s something that can just creep up on us.
But others notice it, especially our teams; they are constantly looking to us for leadership and guidance, and they see this subtle drops in energy levels. If they become sustained then they can cause some concern in them, which is why we need to take care to keep our energy levels up.
The more energetic we are, the more energy we can generate within our teams, so a drop in our energy can result in an overall drop in energy of the team.
What drains our energy is different for different people, and so is what re-charges us: for some people it’s that stress drains them, but for others they feed off of stress; some people recharge through rest and relaxation, whereas others recharge through sports.
We are all different, but the one thing we do all share – whether we like to believe it or not – is that we all need to recharge, no matter how strong we would like to think we are.
We need to ensure that we include re-energising within our plans, we need to set time aside for it. For sure we can all put in a long shift from time to time, but its not healthy, whats much better is to maintain a good energy level.
No matter what we think about how busy we are, there is always time to recharge, we just need to plan for it, and include it within our days. We need to ensure that we do this, no one else will do it for us.
I know some people may see this as a weakness, remember Gordon Gecko in Wall Street saying ‘lunch is for wimps’. Well, in my opinion, maintaining our energy levels so we can operate at maximum performance is not wimpy, in fact its the opposite. We are keeping our selves strong.
As leaders it’s also important for us to monitor the energy levels of our teams, we are responsible for their health and well being, as well as for the performance. There is a double benefit in this, as not only will we able to take care of our teams, but if we notice a drop in their energy this might also be a sign that our own energy is dropping and that we need to recharge.
As I mentioned earlier, I am someone with naturally high energy levels, so this was a difficult lesson for me to learn, but having taken this advice and finding the time to recharge, I find that I am not only more effective, but more importantly, I find that when I get home I have more energy for my family.
Find the time to recharge and reenergise, it benefits everyone, your teams, yourselves and even your families.
How do you re-energise?
Gordon Tredgold
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NICE WORDS,,, but for me on the long run i lose power and interest , what is your recommendations to got over this , it is not about energy ,it is a physiological effect .
Mohamed, unfortunately thats just the ways some people are, they love ‘the thrill of the chase’ and then lose interest. The good thing is to know this and have an exit strategy, if possible, give 110% of effort up to that point and then move onto something else. It’s a bit like a footballer who can only play for 60-70 minutes, he needs to let the coach know that he needs to be substituted for that last 15-20 mins.
If this is not possible then you need to see it as a football game and want to be there when the final whistle blows. ITs great to be involved in a great game, but it only feels like a win when the final whistle blows and you need to want to see it through to the end. You need to learn to want to be there to share in that victory
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I effectively utilize my benefit time off for traveling to places I’ve never been. Vacations are great. Staycations are boring.
Edd, fully agree, i spent a week in Egypt by the pool – and if i hadn’t been finishing my book i would have been dead bored, i need to visit and see stuff
hey
I work from morning to evening and once I get back home, I am dead tired!! I have no energy to go out or chill out or anything, what do you suggest ??
This is my new job and its kind of hectic, so how do I power up to keep pushing…
I would suggest that you look at diet, cut out carbs, and drink more water. I would suggest you start to do some exercise and look to reduce the amount of time at work and increase the output.
I know that sounds easy to say and hard to do, but it needs to be done.