Your Time Isn't Your Most Limited Resource

For a long time, I thought I had a time-management problem. There was always more work than time. More emails. More meetings. More projects. More problems to solve. More people who needed something.

So, I did what a lot of high-performing people do. I got better at fitting it all in.

I became incredibly efficient, and when it still became too much, I pulled all-nighters. I could move fast, juggle competing priorities, squeeze something into almost any opening, and crank through an absurd amount of work.

And eventually?

I was absolutely drained.

...Not because I didn't know how to manage my time, but because I had failed to manage my energy!

I was pouring pieces of myself into everything, including things that were inconsequential, things that didn't deserve the amount of energy I was giving them, and things that weren't actually moving the priorities forward.

Eventually, I felt soul sucked. That experience changed the way I think about productivity.

There are 24 hours in every day, but those 24 hours are not created equal, and neither is everything asking for your attention.

Time and Energy Are Not the Same Resource

Think about two one-hour meetings:

One leaves you energized. You're excited about the work, your brain is firing, and you leave with momentum.

The other leaves you staring blankly at your computer afterward wondering what just happened to your will to live.

Same amount of time. Completely different cost.

That's energy.

And traditional time management doesn't always account for it. We organize calendars around how long something takes instead of asking what it takes out of us.

Some work requires intense concentration.

Some requires creativity.

Some requires patience.

Some requires emotional regulation.

Some requires us to navigate conflict.

Some work energizes us.

...And some work drains us far beyond the amount of time it occupies on the calendar.

Exceptional leaders need to understand both.

Not Everything Deserves Your Best Energy

This is where Week 38 connects directly back to the work that we have already done around priorities:

We established that not everything can be a priority.

We learned to intentionally say no.

We reduced unnecessary urgency.

We clarified who actually needs to make decisions.

All of that helps protect time.

But protecting time isn't enough if you continue pouring your best energy into things that don't matter.

I learned this the hard way.

There were things in my work that could consume an enormous amount of my emotional and mental energy if I allowed them to.

An irritating email.

An unnecessary disagreement.

A process that wasn't working.

Something someone said that rubbed me the wrong way.

A meeting that probably didn't need to exist.

A problem I didn't actually own.

None of those things necessarily consumed an entire day, yet I let some of them consume an entire day's energy.

That's different.

I could leave a 30-minute interaction and think about it for three hours.

I could spend mental energy solving a problem that wasn't actually mine to solve.

I could give something completely inconsequential the same emotional weight as something directly tied to my team's success.

Every single time I did that, something else got less of me.

That's the tradeoff we don't talk about enough: Every ounce of energy you give somewhere is energy you cannot give somewhere else.

Pay Attention to the Energy Hangover

An easy way to start managing your energy is to notice what I think of as the energy hangover.

What follows you after the task is over?

• There are things that technically take 20 minutes but occupy your brain for the next two hours.

• There are conversations you replay.

• Decisions you continue second-guessing.

• Problems you carry home.

• Meetings that leave you so mentally depleted that the important work you planned to do afterward never really happens.

That is part of the cost of the activity. If something repeatedly creates an energy hangover, pay attention.

Ask yourself: Does this deserve this much of me?

Sometimes the answer is yes.

Hard conversations can be exhausting and still incredibly important. Supporting an employee through something difficult may require enormous emotional energy and be exactly where your energy belongs. Leading through change can be draining and still be essential.

The goal isn't to avoid everything difficult. It is to stop spending premium energy on low-value things.

Know When You Do Your Best Work

Energy management also means understanding yourself. Some people do their best thinking first thing in the morning. Others hit their stride later. Some people can have six conversations back-to-back and feel fantastic. Others need ten minutes alone after an intense meeting before their brain can effectively move to something else.

Neither is wrong.

Self-awareness matters.

When are you most creative?

When are you most patient?

When can you concentrate deeply?

What kind of work energizes you?

What drains you?

What restores you?

Then, to the extent you have control over your schedule, match the work to the energy it requires.

If your brain is at its absolute best from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., maybe don't automatically donate those hours to email. Use that energy for the work that actually requires your best thinking.

Your calendar should not just reflect availability. It should reflect capacity.

Stop Treating Recovery Like a Reward

This is another lesson I learned later than I wish I had. Recovery is not something you earn after you've completely exhausted yourself... It is part of sustained performance.

We tend to think:

I'll take a break when this project is done.

I'll slow down after this week.

I'll use some vacation time when things settle down.

...Except something else always comes.

There will always be another project.

Another deadline.

Another busy season.

Another change.

Another problem.

If your strategy is to recover when the work stops, you may be waiting a very long time. Recovery has to happen inside the work, too.

Take the walk.

Close the laptop for lunch.

Leave some space between difficult meetings.

Use your vacation time.

Give yourself ten minutes to reset after something emotionally demanding.

Protect the parts of your life that replenish you.

That isn't laziness. It's maintenance.

You wouldn't brag about running a piece of equipment continuously without maintaining it until the motor burned out so we shouldn't glorify doing that to people either.

Leaders Manage the Team's Energy Too

This isn't only personal. Your leadership decisions consume your team's energy.

Think about that.

Every new priority.

Every unnecessary meeting.

Every “quick question.”

Every manufactured emergency.

Every confusing directive.

Every change without explanation.

Every project that gets started and abandoned.

Every issue that gets discussed over and over without resolution.

Those things create an energy cost!

Earlier in my leadership career, I was probably much more focused on whether someone technically had time to take something on.

Now I think the better question is: Do they have the capacity?

Those are not necessarily the same thing. Someone might have two open hours on their calendar and absolutely no meaningful cognitive capacity left after spending the morning navigating conflict, facilitating a difficult meeting, or solving a complicated problem.

Exceptional leaders learn to notice that.

Sometimes protecting your team means removing work. Sometimes it means moving a deadline. Sometimes it means giving people breathing room after an intense season. And sometimes it simply means not passing your own stress downstream.

Energy Is Contagious

Last week, we talked about how people read their leaders during change. The same applies here... Energy travels.

When you are frantic, people feel it. When you treat everything like an emergency, people absorb it. When you are emotionally depleted for months on end, it becomes harder to show up with patience, curiosity, creativity, and empathy.

But steadiness travels too. So does enthusiasm, optimism, and calmness.

This doesn't mean you need to show up bouncing off the walls with positive energy every morning... Actually, please don't... that sounds exhausting too! :)

It means recognizing that how you manage yourself affects the environment everyone else is working in.

Spend Your Energy on Purpose

You cannot give everything your best, which I actually find that incredibly freeing now because the goal isn't to have unlimited energy.

The goal is to become more intentional about where the energy you do have goes.

Your people deserve some of it.

Your highest priorities deserve some of it.

The problems only you can solve deserve some of it.

Your relationships deserve some of it.

And you deserve some of it too.

The inconsequential stuff? It can have what's left. Or maybe it gets nothing at all.

I spent years becoming incredibly good at managing my calendar while allowing far too many things access to my energy. Eventually, I learned that getting everything done isn't necessarily a sign of exceptional leadership.

Sometimes exceptional leadership is recognizing when simply does not deserve that much of you.

Protect your energy.

Be intentional about where you spend it.

Your time determines what you can fit into your day, and your energy determines what version of you shows up for it.