The Energy Audit: Stop Leaking Your Life
You aren't just 'tired.' You are leaking energy into things that don't matter. Here is how to find the leaks and plug them.
The Energy Audit: Stop Leaking Your Life
You wake up tired. You go to work tired. You come home tired. You look at your day, and you didn't dig ditches. You didn't run a marathon. You just... existed. Why are you so exhausted?
Because you are leaking. You are treating your energy like it is infinite. It is not. It is a battery. And you have apps running in the background that are draining you to 0% by noon.
Energy vs. Ego
Most of us design our lives for our Ego. We take the job that sounds impressive. We join the committee that looks good on LinkedIn. We say yes to the party because we want to be "liked."
We rarely design our lives for our Energy. We rarely ask: "Does this actually fuel me? Or does it drain me?"
In Chapter 9 of Your Own Lane, I introduce the Energy Audit. It is a brutal look at where your life force is actually going.
The 3 Categories
Take your calendar from last week. Go through every single appointment, task, and interaction. Mark them:
1. Green (Gains) These things gave you energy. You left feeling lighter, inspired, or in flow. * Deep work. * Coffee with a close friend. * Exercise.
2. Yellow (Neutral) Maintenance. Neither good nor bad. * Commuting. * Grocery shopping. * Answering routine emails.
3. Red (Drains) These things stole from you. You left feeling heavy, anxious, or annoyed. * The meeting that could have been an email. * The friend who only talks about themselves. * The task you hate but think you "should" do.
The Successful Drain
Pay special attention to the Successful Drain. These are the most dangerous. This is the client who pays you a lot of money (Success!) but calls you at 10 PM and treats you like dirt (Drain!). This is the "Status" event where you look cool (Success!) but feel insecure and fake (Drain!).
We tolerate these because the Ego loves the reward. But the Energy pays the tax. If your life is full of Successful Drains, you will have a nice bank account and a nervous breakdown.
Plug the Leaks
You cannot eliminate every Red item. Life has taxes. But you can minimize them.
Delegate:* Can someone else do it? Delete:* Does it need to happen at all? Discuss:* Can you change the dynamic? ("I can't take calls after 6 PM.")
More importantly, you need to maximize the Greens. Most high-performers view Green activities (Rest, Play, Creativity) as "Rewards" they get only after the work is done. Wrong. Green activities are Fuel. If you don't refuel the car, it doesn't matter how fast you want to drive. You aren't going anywhere.
Protect the Asset
You are the asset. Not your job. Not your brand. You. If your energy is gone, everything else collapses.
Stop managing your time. Start managing your energy. Time is fixed (24 hours). Energy is variable. You can get more done in 2 hours of high energy than 8 hours of low energy.
Prioritize the flow. Kill the leaks. Drive the car.