A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ.
—JOHN STEINBECK
One of my challenges in writing this book has been to share interesting and informative stories without throwing any of my business clients under the bus. It’s easy to change details that prevent others from recognizing the client, but when a particular story highlights the absurd and senseless actions of those involved, you don’t even want them to recognize themselves. And with this particular story that’s not going to be possible. So under the bus we go.
I was asked to develop a training program for a large group of telephone customer service representatives. “They have a real attitude problem,” their director told me. “We need some training to make them more polite, more sensitive, and more friendly with our customers.”
OK, fair enough so far. And one of my standard practices when developing a program like this is to spend some time observing the group in their working environment. So I spent a full day on the bottom two floors of a nondescript office building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Their telephone customer service team took up all of the space on these two floors. Imagine row upon row of small beige cubicles, and I mean small—enough space for a chair, a workstation, and one filing cabinet.
They had plenty of empty cubicles because they expand CSR staffing by more than 40 percent during the holiday season, then scale back down quickly in mid-January every year. This was in August, so no one minded me sitting in one of the empty micro-cubicles for a day. I listened in on actual phone calls with customers, took notes, and toward the end of the day I even handled a few calls myself. I also had a chance to have lunch with a group of the CSRs and talk to others in the break room on the lower floor. I gained a realistic perspective on their working environment and had what I needed to make a strong training recommendation to the client.
The next morning I met with the director and his team of eight managers. “I’m not so sure you have a training issue, or an attitude issue,” I said. “I think you have an energy issue.”
I went on to explain that often what appears to be a bad attitude or low morale with employees is in fact just a natural reflection of their low energy. And telephone-bound workers in call centers are especially susceptible to the debilitating effects of low energy.
As I spoke to the group I could see them looking a little confused as I explained that there are four sources of energy that can help employees feel more engaged, motivated, and focused at work. The four energy sources are:
• Emotional Energy: Feeling recognized and valued as a unique human being, able to freely express thoughts and opinions in a “safe” environment.
• Aspirational Energy: Having a positive sense of potential growth and continuous improvement of career circumstances.
• Physical Energy: Being healthy and fit while working in an environment with natural light, fresh air, water, and easy access to healthy foods.
• Mental Energy: Staying challenged with work that requires intellectual engagement while also allowing for regular “downtime” to recharge the mind.
I described each of these to the director and his management team, then provided my observations from the day I had just spent with their telephone customer service representatives.
“You have everyone in tiny beige cubicles with strict rules about not adding personal items that would be visible to others,” I said. “Some employees commented that they feel like cattle, herded in at the beginning of a shift, expected to sit in their tiny cubicles and do their jobs efficiently, with no fun, no social chatter except during the strictly controlled break times, and no sense that they are human beings, not automatons. And some have said that they’ve seen others pay a price for speaking up about the working conditions. So everybody just puts their head down and does the work. Naturally, the emotional energy level is really, really low.”
I was watching the facial expressions of the group as I said this, looking for some reaction, even a negative one, but I got nothing. Just dead flat stares, even from the director. So I continued on. I wondered if someone was pressing a secret red button under the table to summon security and have me escorted from the building.
“Their aspirational energy isn’t any better. Nobody feels that they have any sort of career path or growth potential in the customer service job here. Essentially they work here until they find something better somewhere else,” I said. “And everyone has anxiety about the January layoffs.” I paused for their reaction but again, nothing but cricket sounds in the room.
“From the standpoint of physical energy, they sit for two hours in a cramped cubicle and then get a fifteen-minute break. There are no windows, and the fluorescent lighting is kind of bleak. The carpet is old and musty, the vending machines in the break room have nothing but junk, and there really is no easy access to healthy food or fresh water unless they bring their own.”
“But we do have a refrigerator on each floor where they can keep their own meals cold, plus a microwave,” one of the managers said.
“Have you seen the inside of those refrigerators lately?” I asked. “Or the microwave ovens? On both floors, they’re pretty gross.”
“Well whose fault is that? They should keep them clean,” the manager shot back. Clearly they were beginning to take my comments personally, so I decided to wrap up quickly.
“And finally, in terms of mental energy, you’ve got them all following strict scripts, so there really is not much thinking required. Hour after hour they listen to customer questions and complaints, quickly refer to the correct script, and then just say the words in front of them. I don’t think even Meryl Streep could act enthusiastic reading those scripts over and over again.”
I smiled at my own little joke. They didn’t.
“That’s the point,” one of them said. “We don’t want them having to think of the right answer, we have to know that they are delivering correct information with every call.”
Their reaction made it pretty clear that they weren’t buying what I was selling. I tried hard not to sound preachy or judgmental. I didn’t mention that none of them worked in a tiny cubicle on the bottom two floors. They all had windowed offices on an upper floor. I had visited that floor and took a look at their break room. Clean refrigerator, clean microwave oven, fresh water. There was even a small exercise room with three ellipticals and two treadmills. Hmm . . . but I didn’t mention any of that.
“I would love to deliver a customer service training program to your folks, because they seem like good workers who really want to do a great job,” I said to the managers. “But to be honest, right now I think the money would be better spent making adjustments to their working environment.”
“This is interesting,” the director said. “But we don’t have the budget or resources to make a bunch of changes like this.” He explained that with their high turnover rate, they couldn’t afford to invest too much on each individual CSR, because most of them would be gone within a year. I countered that I thought they could reduce turnover with a more energized work environment.
Crickets.
I was heading out of the building twenty minutes later, but at least I didn’t have a security escort. Now, any reasonable person would have just taken the hint and moved on because clearly any further effort with them would be a waste of time.
I’m not known as a typically reasonable person, so I followed up with an email that included a list of budget-conscious steps many call centers make to create a more energized work environment for their CSRs. Simple things like:
• Encouraging CSRs to decorate their cubicles and give their work space a “personality.”
• Celebrating individual birthdays, recognizing individual accomplishments, and doing other things to help workers feel valued as individuals.
They may not call it “emotional energy,” but this is exactly what they are trying to foster. Plus the best of them ensure that the physical working environment is clean, well-lighted, with easy access to fresh food and water. Some even have exercise facilities or outdoor walking paths so that people can get some physical activity during their breaks (fifteen minutes every sixty to ninety minutes is ideal). And an increasing number of forward-thinking companies are offering standing desks and/or ergonomic chairs to enhance physical energy.
In my follow-up email I included a link to research supporting the positive impact on productivity in a broad range of businesses when investments are made to enhance the physical, emotional, mental, and aspirational energy of employees.
You can view some of this research at www.workplacepoker.com/energy/.
There was no response to my email for two weeks, and then what I received was a request for my pricing to deliver a customer service workshop. No mention of my crazy energy ideas. I did end up facilitating a series of workshops for them that year, and the feedback was positive. But there were no changes to the working environment—although I heard that they did create a rotating assignment sheet to clean the break room refrigerators and microwaves.
A year later they asked me back again, and not surprisingly most of the workshop attendees were new to the company. And last year I facilitated a third series of workshops for them, same content, totally new participants. I’m not sure how I feel about all of it, but I do think the workshops help a little. This must be how country music singers feel when they go to a prison and give a free show for the inmates. It doesn’t really change anything, but it helps a little.
I’m thinking once they read this book I may not have to wrestle with the moral dilemma any longer.
I share this story with you primarily because I know that high-growth career trajectories are fueled by the kind of energy I’ve just described—emotional, mental, physical, and aspirational. And the most successful career climbers have developed habits and lifestyles to continuously enhance these energies. You may sometimes find yourself thinking, “Well of course she’s energized at work, because things are going so well for her.” And while that may be true, anyone can be energized when things are going really well. The most successful career climbers understand they are building energy reserves for when things aren’t going very well.
And let’s be honest—no matter how much you may like your job and the people you work with, sometimes the daily grind can wear you down. You don’t have to be sitting in a tiny beige cubicle in a basement in downtown Kansas City to have your internal fire dampened by the pace and pressure and vagaries of modern work life.
STARTING STRONG, BUT RUNNING OUT OF FUEL
Angela Brandt was a talented and hardworking marketing manager for Dynetron, an energy company based in Houston. She had developed her strong work ethic growing up as the only child of a cattle rancher and was the first in her family to go to college, graduating from the University of Texas at Austin. “I was used to pushing myself hard, getting to work early, staying late, doing whatever it takes without complaining,” she says. And her strong work ethic served her well at Dynetron, where she quickly established a reputation as someone who could be counted on to go the extra mile and get things done. She was promoted within her first two years, becoming the youngest (and only female) marketing manager at Dynetron. She seemed to be on course for a high-trajectory career eventually leading to a VP position in a high-growth company and a dynamic, expanding market.
But six years later not much had changed and she began to feel that her career progress had stalled out. “I was getting modest pay raises and nice bonuses each year, but was passed over for two promotions,” she told me in a telephone conversation.
When the current marketing director retired Angela felt she was surely a strong candidate for the position, and actually expected to be asked to apply. But no one approached her, so she applied through the standard internal system at Dynetron. And no one ever followed up with her. She made a call to the HR recruiter just to be sure her application had been received and got nothing more than a polite assurance that yes, her application had been received and there would be follow up if she was considered to be a viable candidate for the position. There was no follow up. She was frustrated and confounded, but didn’t have anyone she felt comfortable turning to for answers.
Feeling that her career at Dynetron was at a dead end, Angela began to look for opportunities elsewhere, applying for marketing director jobs in Austin, Houston, and Dallas. As she prepared for her first job interview she couldn’t help thinking about how sorry they would be once she left Dynetron. Maybe after she was on to bigger and better things they would finally know what they had missed out on. So there was more than a small “I’ll show them” chip on her shoulder and she was excited about moving on to something new. But the first interview didn’t produce a job offer. And while she continued to apply and interview for other jobs, that first failed interview had crushed her spirit more than she had expected. “I had gotten myself so worked up because it really seemed like a great fit. So when they didn’t even call me back, I felt defeated. I even tried to follow up with them but they didn’t return my calls. It felt like being jilted by someone after the first date. I hated it.”
So hardworking, talented, and energized Angela had gone from a high-trajectory career path to feeling flatlined in six years. What had changed? And was there anything she could do to get back on track? “I just lost my fire,” she says today. “It wasn’t any one thing, it was a whole combination of things that gradually built up.”
As her early career had progressed, Angela’s aspirational and emotional energy had been exceptionally high. In fact they were so high that it masked a decline in her physical and mental energy. After her first promotion she was energized by the new work, but after a couple of years in the same role, the work was no longer new and challenging for her. So her work began to require less mental energy, and changes in her lifestyle had definitely diminished her physical energy.
Many of us start our careers with the natural energy of youthful vitality, boundless ambition, and the optimism of inexperience. We look out on the horizon and see nothing but potential. We look good, feel good, and are ready to take on the world. But it is very easy to acquire habits of living, working, and thinking that begin to erode this natural vitality. And over the span of years, in a tough and demanding career, this erosion can begin to take a heavy toll.
Angela is a classic case in point. “Growing up I was basically an extra ranch hand for my father,” she says. “I could eat just about anything and stay rail thin. Plus I loved being outside, the sunshine, the fresh air, the physical nature of the work. At the end of each day you could look back and see the results of your labor. It was a great way to grow up.”
In college that began to change for Angela. She spent more time sitting than walking and moving. Her diet shifted to college-convenient fast foods. She put on some weight and lost some of her physical “fire,” but her aspirational and mental energy kept her going.
When she entered the corporate world her living habits shifted again, just naturally aligning with the habits of those around her. Most of her days were spent sitting at her desk or in meetings. She was a busy career-oriented single woman, so she ate out a lot. She discovered that pizza really did taste better with a cold beer. Restaurant dinners were more enjoyable with a glass or two of wine. And as she gained a few more pounds, year after year, her dress size increased and her physical energy decreased. But again, her aspirational and mental energy were high—she was energized by her career advancement and the new work kept her mind actively engaged—but this also tended to mask the decline of her physical energy.
HOW MODERN WORK DAMPENS OUR “FIRE”
Have you ever wondered why companies spend so much time and so many resources trying to get their employees motivated and engaged? Why is so much effort spent on boosting productivity? Most of us are naturally built to be engaged and productive, so what is happening to us that we need all of this additional “support” and encouragement?
Human beings are naturally energetic problem solvers. How do you think we survived in prehistoric times without claws, horns, fur, fangs, venom, or brute strength? Because we were nimble, mentally alert, fast-acting problem-solvers. Our bodies and minds are designed to be on the move, scanning an ever-changing landscape and staying alert for danger. In our natural state there are no fat (or even pudgy) humans because they get caught and eaten by predators. There are no unmotivated or disengaged natural humans because, again, they get caught and eaten by predators. And there are no dumb natural humans because, well, ditto.
Fast forward to the modern work environment. Sitting at a desk for hours. Sitting in meetings for hours. Staring at a computer screen, or a beige cubicle wall, most of the day. No sunshine. No fresh air. Rather than chasing and killing our food, we take the elevator down to the cafeteria and feast on a modern blend of refined flour and sugar, processed meat, mass-produced vegetables, preservative chemicals, and hydrogenated fats. And in terms of our physical energy or “fire,” we’ve been doing this so long now that it actually feels normal.
Beyond the lack of physical activity and the abundance of crappy food, the nature of modern white-collar work itself can be a fire killer. It is understandable that most businesses would seek to create workflow that does not depend too much on the individual creativity or unique talents of specific individuals. If your business is too dependent upon unique contributions available only from certain individuals, your success is always at risk. However, if you can structure your workflow so that if someone leaves you can easily replace them within a few weeks, this gives your business the stability it needs. So systems and processes become standardized, all of which is logical and good for business.
But this means that many of us are doing essentially the same work every day, which has been streamlined and structured to not depend upon any particular individual talent. So we struggle in jobs where we try to highlight our unique individual contributions, while at the same time knowing we could easily be replaced within a few weeks. And both our mental and emotional fires take a hit.
So our natural human drive to be unique works against the business imperative that we be easily replaceable. Of course there are still jobs that require creativity, innovation, and unique contributions, but those positions are increasingly rare.
So much of corporate success truly depends upon well-functioning teams working collaboratively within an informal structure that, again, your value as a unique individual contributor is dampened. Not eliminated of course, because strong individual contributors are needed to make things happen. But it is very easy to do fantastic work and have it absorbed into the overall team-based environment, never gaining significant recognition for your truly distinct, exceptional contribution. And over time this can erode your confidence, your passion for the work, your emotional “fire.” Because we all want to be known and recognized as uniquely valuable individuals, not simply valued cogs in the corporate machine.
Another splash of wet water is the sometimes arbitrary and unpredictable nature of the corporate game. Not every promotion is based upon competence. Not every decision is based upon a firm understanding of the facts. Not everyone can be trusted. And sometimes things happen that don’t make sense—and you’ll never know why. So think about the impact that has on the aspirational fire of some employees, especially the ones who are smart, talented, and hardworking, and expected business to be a fair and open meritocracy.
Imagine being a talented player on a soccer team where the rules sometimes change without notice. Scoring a goal might earn a point, or a penalty. Teammates might help, or sometimes not. Some teammates might actually trip you up, but then get rewarded with recognition for a scored goal that should have been yours. The “most valuable player” award sometimes goes to great players, sometimes not. How would you feel as one of the talented members of this team? Over time what would happen to your natural instinct to win?
The point of all this isn’t to lament about the awful state of the modern work environment (well, maybe a little) but to acknowledge that this environment can wear you down. In fact, it does wear most people down. And while that may not be a conscious objective for most businesses, in some ways the wearing down serves them. They want you to be motivated and ambitious—within certain limits. If you are too uppity or aggressive or “needy” in terms of your own ambitions, your aspirational fire, this can make the business uncomfortable. So they work to keep your ambitions in check.
Pay grades and salary ranges are structured to dampen any desire you might have to negotiate for higher compensation. Internal job promotion processes and limitations (must be in your current role for X years, must have approval from your direct supervisor, etc.) are designed to inhibit any aggressive career climbing tendencies. Modest career expectations are set, patience is rewarded (sometimes, sometimes not), and everyone is expected to get in the career line, like obedient steers in an office cattle chute. So if you are one of those people who want to do more and be more—a lot more—the corporate grind can wear you down. Think for a moment about how your own energy is impacted by your work environment.
• Your Emotional Energy: Is it hard to be recognized and valued as a unique contributor? Are you able to express your opinions openly in a “safe” environment? Can you truly be yourself, or do you need to put on a “work face” in order to get along?
• Your Aspirational Energy: Do you feel stalled or flatlined in your career ambitions? Are your ambitions kept in check by business policies and procedures? Is career progress unpredictable or irrational?
• Your Physical Energy: Does work diminish your health and fitness? Are you sedentary, sitting for hours at a time? Are you indoors with little or no sunlight? Do you have easy access to fresh food and water? Do you eat for health and energy, or to reduce stress?
• Your Mental Energy: Is your work mentally stimulating, or can you do most of it on autopilot? Are most work requirements systemized and predictable, the same day after day, not requiring you to use your full mental capacity?
If you find yourself at a place where you clearly see that your career “fire” isn’t what it used to be, you probably want to make a change, but it can be hard to know where to start. When in doubt, start with physical energy—this is the foundational energy upon which all of the others depend. Just to be clear, we are not necessarily talking about weight loss—we are focused here on physical energy, and there are many examples of relatively portly men and women with great physical energy. But it is also true that when you adopt more healthy habits at work you will tend to lose some weight.
When Angela found herself at the low point in her career she had all the classic burnout symptoms: twenty pounds overweight (on a good day), tired most of the time, unmotivated, unable to focus, bitchy.
She went back to her family ranch one weekend and decided to help her father with chores. She was looking forward to the fresh air and some stress-free physical exertion, but it didn’t work out that way. She had visited the ranch many times but hadn’t actually worked there for many years. After lifting her third bale of hay, she had to take a break. Her father patted her gently on the shoulder saying, “It’s OK, you’re a big-city girl now.”
“What the hell does that mean?” she snapped. “I’m not that big, am I?”
“Wait, no, I meant that you’re a girl, from the big city,” her father said. “Not a big girl from the city. I mean, you’re bigger than you used to be, but . . .”
She gave him a cold icy stare.
“I’m just digging the hole deeper, aren’t I?”
Angela nodded, but she also knew that he was just acknowledging reality. And it sparked a bit of an epiphany for her. Or maybe it just pissed her off.
For the next six months Angela began spending every weekend working cattle at the ranch. It gave her something new to focus on, even the aching muscles seemed to make her work at Dynetron more tolerable. Her career ambitions didn’t go away, but her most intense focus was on regaining her “ranch girl” energy and fitness. The food she ate on the ranch was simple, unprocessed, basic: fresh vegetables, water, meat. Back in Houston she tried to keep it simple as well, which meant more home cooking, fewer restaurants, almost nothing out of a box, and absolutely no fast food, sodas, energy drinks, beer, or wine.
“For the first month I felt a little worse each day,” she says. “Headaches, muscle pains, night sweats, sugar cravings—I had it all.” But eventually the tide turned and she began to feel a little better each day. The short version of this story is that Angela eventually got back to her “ranch girl” body, and more importantly she regained her energy, motivation, and focus. It is amazing sometimes how much the body leads the mind.
Today she is the director of marketing for another energy company in Dallas, happy and healthy and fully engaged in her career climb.
But most of us don’t have a family ranch we can go to every weekend. So what can you do if you recognize that perhaps your “fire” has diminished somewhat? If you’ve put on a few extra pounds since college, if you’re tired and irritable, or if you just can’t seem to muster up the mental, emotional, or aspirational energy you need to really fight for your career progress, physical energy is a great place to start.
Boost Your Physical Energy
I joined a gym and got three free personal training sessions. I don’t do well with personal trainers because (a) I don’t like taking orders from people, (b) I don’t like being pinched by those body-fat caliper things, and (c) if I’m going to strain and grunt I’d prefer to have a little privacy.
But I do like free stuff, so I did the three sessions and have to admit that the guy said something really smart about physical energy. “Your body is smart and efficient. It evolves into what you need it to be,” he said. “Your physical energy will adjust, upward or downward, to what your body and mind requires. So if you sit on your ass all day, your body will adjust to produce the amount of energy you need for that. Anything more would be a waste of energy.”
I thought this was borderline profound. Then I asked him, “If my body evolves in response to my needs, when will I be growing a third arm to hold my coffee cup?”
He was not amused.
But I did understand the point he was making. In order to generate more physical energy and vitality, our body has to NEED that energy. And the only way for our body to need that energy is to get it moving and pushing and straining and flexing. If you happen to be young and blessed with a naturally high metabolism, it may not take much to keep your physical energy level high, but now is the time to deeply ingrain good physical habits because eventually your metabolism begins to slow and poor habits begin to take their toll.
If you are beginning to see the early signs of vitality decline—modest weight gain, consuming energy drinks, tired in the morning, bored or sleepy at work in the afternoon—now is the time to take this seriously and make quick adjustments in your lifestyle.
And if, unfortunately, you are deep into a vitality decline, the path ahead will not be easy. But it is certainly possible to regain your vitality, your physical “fire,” your motivation and energy to drive a high-trajectory career.
It is definitely not easy to create a work life that fuels your fire because, as mentioned previously, the typical work environment actually dampens the flame. And there is no single right path or program—you will need to be the expert on you and your situation, and you will need to develop a plan of action to move in a new direction.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to physical energy, but there are a number of core elements that should always be included in whatever plan you develop for yourself. These elements should be structured and cemented into your lifestyle rather than treated as extra items you are adding on. This IS your life, not something “extra” that you have to do. Elements of your physical energy plan should include:
• Cardiovascular and strength training. At least forty-five minutes a day, at least five days a week.
• Restful sleep for a minimum of seven hours each night.
• Brief but regular “movement” breaks at specific intervals throughout the workday. Always leave your desk for these breaks. And don’t just go sit somewhere else, you should be in motion during these breaks.
Because these tend to diminish physical energy rather than boost it, you should eliminate or dramatically reduce from your diet: refined sugars, refined grains (flour, cornstarch, etc.), processed meats, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners.
OK, yeah yeah yeah—nothing new here, it’s true. And I’m not interested in nagging you about this because you’re either going to do it or not. You decide. But what I can tell you, without hesitation, is that if you are not committing to a regular physical energy routine, it is having an impact on your career progress. No question about it.
So your decision to NOT have a regular physical energy routine is in fact a decision to slow your career progress. But, again, it’s your choice.
I guess that does sound a little like nagging. Sorry.
YOUR MENTAL ENERGY—THE PRODUCTIVITY PARADOX
Ask a typical super-busy, hyper-ambitious colleague about his tasks and projects, and he may proudly walk you through everything he has accomplished recently and all of the other important things that need to get done before the week is finished. He probably plans to work part of the weekend because there is no way he is going to feel caught up by the end of the day on Friday. And he’ll let you know about his need to work over the weekend with a tone of proud martyrdom in his voice. “Gonna have to come in early on Saturday to finish up the Grainger files,” he’ll tell you before asking, “So, what do you have going on?”
You’ll feel compelled to be equally overwhelmed. “Yeah, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.” Both of you are convinced the other is working harder, longer hours so you push yourself to do more, more, more.
But this blind obsession with hyperproductivity may actually be hurting your career by diminishing your mental energy. Those who just power themselves through the workday, without making a conscious effort to rest/renew in a planned manner, will subconsciously “pace” their energy throughout the day just to be able to make it to the end. They will often overcompensate with coffee or other stimulants, which only delays the inevitable “crash.” This can be profoundly harmful to your actual productivity because:
• You stop discerning between low-value and high-value tasks, instead just powering through to get your task list completed.
• Sometimes you take comfort in doing mundane, relatively easy tasks, just to get the positive feeling of marking them off your list (even as more important tasks remain uncompleted).
• You instinctively distribute your energy and efforts at a moderate level spanning your whole workday, rather than pushing to your peak output at those moments when you need mental energy the most.
• You may create the illusion of productivity based upon output quantity, when in reality you are suboptimizing tasks that require creativity, innovation, or deeper thought.
The result is that you aren’t able to do your best work and you aren’t getting the rest you need to rejuvenate yourself either. Research and common sense have shown that the most authentically productive individuals give themselves brief moments for rest and mental restoration at regular intervals throughout the day. This allows them to operate at their “peak” energy level when it is needed most, knowing they will soon have an opportunity to rest and recover.
It is important to always have enough energy in reserve to be able to quickly dial up to your peak level during those unpredictable moments when you need to solve a sudden critical problem or address an unexpected important issue.
ALIGN WITH YOUR NATURAL MENTAL ENERGY CYCLE
You have a natural mental energy level that cycles throughout a typical workday. If you are paying attention moment by moment you can sense the degree to which you feel productive, alert, and engaged—or tired, blasé, and unfocused. But most of us either don’t notice or try to ignore this natural cycle, or we try to overcome it with coffee and other stimulants.
For most people, the natural daily mental energy cycle lasts ninety to one hundred twenty minutes. Every ninety minutes to two hours our energy baseline hits a peak or trough. And most of us experience deep sleepiness troughs at around 4:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. each day. Many creative thinkers report having more “deep-thinking energy” in the mornings than in the afternoons. And those who align their workday with their natural energy rhythm tend to perform better. This probably makes intuitive sense to you, but if you need proof, here are two relevant case studies:
A jewelry manufacturer made an adjustment to their factory assembly line that required workers to attach small semiprecious stones to a variety of objects. The assembly line was stopped every ninety minutes for a mandatory fifteen-minute break period. Within two days, the error rate had decreased by more than 50 percent and overall worker productivity increased by 22 percent.
A study of team innovation found that daylong “brainstorming” sessions were dramatically more productive when breaks were taken every two hours. Both in terms of the quantity and quality of ideas/innovations generated during the events, regular (but brief, no more than twenty minutes maximum) breaks were clearly more productive.
To truly fuel your mental fire, it is critical that you acknowledge your body’s natural energy rhythms and align your alternating periods of activity and relaxation to work in a sustainably productive way. While it may be necessary to occasionally push past or through a natural energy trough, this should never be a common practice. If you regularly push yourself to continue working through natural periods of low energy, you risk chronic tiredness and suboptimal mental performance. Here are the three most important concepts to take away from this:
• Work in ninety- to one-hundred-twenty-minute time blocks: You can schedule these time blocks within your daily calendar or set up alarms on your smartphone to remind you when a time block is coming to an end.
• After each work session, take fifteen-minute breaks: If the break is short, you will find it easy to pick up where you left off. But if the break goes on for more than twenty minutes you may have some difficulty in mental reengagement with whatever you were working on.
• Take a late-afternoon nap. Sometime between three p.m. and four p.m., take a twenty-minute nap. Use your smartphone alarm to ensure that the nap does not go longer. Research shows that a brief nap at this time of day will reenergize you, but a longer nap may make you drowsy for the rest of the day.
Intermittent breaks for mental renewal are so important that you should formally schedule them in your computer calendar system, or set up reminders on your smartphone. The length of renewal is less important than the quality. Even just a few minutes of truly “disconnecting” can generate a physical energy recovery. Take a quick walk, talk to a colleague (about something other than work), listen to music, or do anything else that feels comfortable and changes your “mental channel” for a few minutes.
GIVE YOUR BORED BRAIN SOME FOOD FOR (DEEP) THOUGHT
One of the things you may notice as you begin to manage the daily rhythm of work tasks and align them with your natural mental energy cycle is that mundane, repetitive, or “mind numbingly boring” tasks no longer provide any satisfaction at all. In fact they begin to have a clear negative impact on your mental energy.
Those who are still caught up in the hectic hyperproductive do-more-than-anyone-else mind-set generally appreciate having some repetitive or mundane tasks. These can serve as a stress reliever for them and they love the feeling of checking a few easy things off their (real or mental) to-do list. But the people who have learned to optimize their mental energy throughout the workday no longer get the same sort of boost—because they are not overwhelmed, they don’t need a stress reliever, and their mind reverts to its most natural state: wanting to solve interesting and challenging problems.
So what do you do if in fact your job consists of mostly simple, repetitive, boring tasks? First recognize the problem, then put that powerful and creative brain of yours to work figuring out clever ways to automate the mundane tasks, and at the same time put some of your creative energy into thinking of new, more engaging tasks you can complete that will bring equal or greater value to the business. This is rarely an easy thought process, which makes it a great way to get your brain fully engaged.
You can also find other interesting things to think about, preferably things that will have a positive impact on your career. If you put into practice many of the tactics and strategies we discussed in chapters 1 and 2, you will be giving your brain plenty of challenging and thought-provoking assignments. In fact one of the great things about focusing on reading people and understanding workplace culture is that it is a never-ending process. People are complex, plus there are always new people coming into the business, so you have plenty to keep your brain occupied and should never have another boring day at work again after you’ve decided to become a better people reader.
MENTAL ENERGY—QUICK TIPS
Leverage your natural “up time” for your most important and difficult projects. For most people this is in the morning, but whatever your personal energy rhythm may be, don’t waste your natural energy peak on simple or mundane tasks.
When you have a task that requires intense concentration, try leaving your office (where everyone knows how to find you) and finding an isolated space to complete the work.
When working on an important task or engaged in an important conversation, set your phone to go directly to voice mail so you can focus completely on the important task.
Rather than constantly hearing the “ping” of incoming email, check it just twice a day at regularly scheduled intervals. Schedule your email review time, focus fully on this task, and clear your in-box. Then don’t think about email until the next scheduled review period. Inform your coworkers of your new email response pattern. Let them know that if they need an instant response, they should call you.
Intentionally schedule time—set up a meeting with yourself—for more challenging work that requires deeper thinking.
Rather than start each day by reading emails, invest your first hour in whatever issue or project is most critical to your business (I’m betting it isn’t email response times).
YOUR EMOTIONAL ENERGY—FEELING KNOWN, VALUED, AND “SAFE”
It is hopefully obvious to you that you tend to perform best when you’re feeling emotionally positive and optimistic. What may not be obvious is the degree to which a lack of positive emotional energy can negatively impact your ability to perform well. You may be able to go through the motions, thinking that your inner turmoil is invisible to those around you, but the reality is that most people see it—and the quality of your work definitely suffers.
A person with strong emotional energy at work has confidence that:
• They know me.
• They value me.
• It’s safe to express myself authentically.
While most of us wear a “mask” at work to some degree, the more authentic we can be with our colleagues, the greater our emotional connection and energy in the workplace will be. We all instinctively yearn to be known as unique individuals, not merely a member of the tribe. In addition to being known, we want to be valued. Not just for the tasks we complete or the results we produce. We want to be inherently valued simply for who we are.
A workplace that does not allow for authentic self-expression, that forces individuals to check a part of themselves at the door, that does not highlight individual accomplishments and value people as people, not just completers of tasks—a business like this will never maximize the productivity of employees.
Each of us is able to tap into the energy of our unique human spirit when our everyday work and life activities are in alignment with what we value most and with what gives us a sense of meaning and purpose. If the work we are doing really matters to us, we have more natural energy, greater focus, and engagement.
But no matter what type of business environment you work within, even if it is tightly controlled and not especially employee-friendly or energizing, you can find ways to enhance your emotional energy.
• Find subtle ways to express your individuality without breaking any corporate rules.
• Ask questions of others to learn more about who they really are, then find ways to celebrate their individuality. Over time they will tend to do the same for you.
• Express appreciation of others. This practice benefits you as much as the other person. Verbal appreciation seems to have the greatest emotional impact (for both of you) but sending a handwritten note works also. Even a pleasant email can give someone a boost, especially if you copy others so they can see how much you appreciate the other person.
ASPIRATIONAL ENERGY—KEEPING YOUR LIFE (AND MIND) IN MOTION
Neither your body nor your mind is designed to sit still for long periods of time. Even when you are deeply sleeping, your body is at work repairing muscle tissue while your mind is processing the activity of the day.
This is why a stagnated career is so frustrating for most people. It isn’t just because we want to make more money or achieve more prestige—we instinctively want to keep moving, advancing, and growing.
• What is your compelling career vision for the next five years, the next twenty years?
• What impact do you want to have on the lives of others?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What do you want to be remembered for?
This is going to mean something different to virtually every person reading these words, but if you understand the core meaning, you can then decide what it specifically means for you. Sometimes it can help to hear the stories of others who have found a way to create new aspirational energy in their careers.
William Chenowith felt trapped. At the age of fifty-three he began to experience intense headaches and occasional chest pains. His doctor assured him that he wasn’t having heart attacks, although he was about forty pounds overweight and couldn’t remember the last time he saw a health club. The pain seemed to be stress-induced, and he had plenty of that, with a heavy travel schedule and the financial burden of two kids in college, along with a wife who had just gone back to school to “find herself.” He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he did know what it cost.
Two years later he had figured out how to medicate the pain away, but nothing else had changed. He hated his work, was annoyed with his kids, confused by his wife, and it seemed that there was nothing he could do about it. This was not the age to rethink one’s life, he told himself. He had never really enjoyed his work in commercial finance, but it had paid the bills. He figured if he could just coast these last few years, he would make it to retirement and be relatively comfortable. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in retirement, or who he wanted to do it with, but it had to be better than the corporate grind.
Another year later, nothing much had changed. Still trapped. Still coasting. Until the VP of Human Resources stopped in his office one morning with a grim expression on her face. “As you know, we have been restructuring the business,” she said. “And I need to talk to you about your severance package.”
A month later he was out of a job, with a severance package that would give him a safety net for a few months, but there was no way he could afford to retire at just the age of fifty-six. The job market was tight, and it seemed that he was going to have to accept at least a 30 percent pay cut, which he couldn’t afford with two kids and a wife still in college.
“I was trapped and broken down, physically, mentally, in every way,” Bill told me recently. “I hate to admit it but I even thought seriously about just ending it all. I had enough life insurance to make sure my family would be taken care of.”
Although he didn’t use these specific words, Bill had clearly lost his emotional, aspirational, and physical energy both at work and at home. He had little or no emotional connection with his family, no discernible positive vision for his future, either professionally or personally, and a body that was quickly breaking down. In terms of mental energy, he felt too burned out to do much about any of it.
Although Bill was pretty sure he was keeping it all bottled up inside, his family could see how difficult the situation was for him, and he was surprised by their reaction. Shocked, really. Both of his kids took part-time jobs to pay for a portion of their college expenses. His wife put her education on hold and found a job to bring in additional money. And they found other creative ways to reduce expenses, which significantly reduced the short-term financial pressure Bill was feeling.
The pressure was still there of course, but his family’s willingness to step forward and proactively help was unexpected and deeply appreciated. They were willing to make adjustments, not begrudgingly, but gratefully after all the support he had given them over the years, and this energized him profoundly.
If this was a movie I would cue the soaring orchestra music and cut to a shot of Bill and his family walking on a beach at sunset. But since this is a book I’ll just give you a list of the most critical events that occurred:
• With the short-term financial pressure eased, Bill decided to rethink his plans for the final decade of his career. The freedom to do this had a huge impact on his personal motivation and aspirational energy level.
• Bill and his wife together embarked on a nutrition and fitness journey that ultimately resulted in a forty-pound weight loss for him, a twenty-pound loss for her, more muscle aches than either had experienced in many years, and more fun than they had experienced together in decades.
• Bill came to a realization that he didn’t hate commercial finance, in fact he loved working with small business owners, optimizing their capital structure. What he had hated was the corporate grind he felt trapped in—so he decided to start his own commercial finance company targeting only small-business owners.
• Bill’s company was modestly successful—but Bill himself was incredibly thrilled with the results, and with the extra time he was now able to spend with his wife.
• Bill’s daughter is now working for the company. “I would never have considered working for the old version of my dad,” she says now. “But this new guy, he’s great to work for.”
Bill’s story is compelling, and scary at the same time. The corporate world had ground him down so far that he was actually contemplating suicide. Your own corporate grind is most likely not as dramatic, but you have to ask yourself, what are you doing to ensure that you achieve and keep the energy you need to get what you want out of life, both personally and professionally?
THE BEST CHANGES ARE USUALLY THE HARD ONES
Reese Riley was a thirty-eight-year-old operations manager for a fleet of corporate vehicles, married with two young children. Both she and her husband typically worked long hours, had no time during the week for exercise, but were both committed weekend triathletes. Both had been college athletes and knew how important exercise was to their overall physical and mental health. But for Reese it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain her commitment.
“After our second child, it seemed like I was always exhausted,” she says. She used to love her work, but it began to feel boring and overwhelming at the same time. She knew that she was not fully engaged with her family in the evenings, which of course made her feel guilty and dissatisfied. She slept poorly, began finding reasons to not exercise on weekends, and seldom ate healthy meals, instead grabbing a bite to eat on the run or while working at her desk. What made it worse was that her husband seemed to be just fine. He was as fit and trim as he had been in college, while she hadn’t lost the baby weight. He loved his job and was eager to go to work every day, but he was also very engaged at home, helping with the kids and actually doing more than his share of the household chores. Which also made her feel guilty—and annoyed.
The breaking point came at work. In the past, her annual performance reviews had always been stellar, so she was stunned when her manager rated her as “needs improvement” in several areas including “dependability” and “engagement.”
At home that evening she was preparing to tell her husband about the unfairly harsh review when he mentioned that his company had just renovated their office exercise facility and he was now going to be able to work out for forty-five minutes every weekday, during his lunch break. This pushed her over the edge. Her life was spiraling downward while his seemed to be getting better every day.
They went through six very difficult months trying to solve what seemed to be an impossible problem. She wanted to quit working, but they couldn’t afford it. Their marriage was in jeopardy and the stress was impacting their children. “I realized at a certain point that part of what was driving me crazy was that I was trying to solve the whole big mess all at once,” she says. “What finally saved me, and us, was just picking one thing, making one change, then building on that over time.”
The changes Reese and her husband made may not be right or relevant for you, but the step-by-step process they used could apply to almost any complex life problem you’re trying to solve. First, they set an earlier bedtime, turned off the television at nine p.m. and agreed that there would be no discussion of work, problems, or “issues” after that time as well. This was a very, very difficult change at first, but they started recording their favorite evening shows to watch on weekends, and their evenings became much more relaxing. Reese found herself waking up more rested and motivated—this was a gradual change, but at some point she remembers waking up in a good mood, looking forward to getting the kids off to school and driving to work. That was a big moment for her, and there were a number of other changes that helped to get her there.
Reese began to find opportunities for “micro-workouts” as she calls them. She began parking about a mile away from her office and briskly walking that distance each morning. This may sound crazy to you, but it worked for her. “The only downside is I forgot some important files in the car one morning,” she says. “So I had to hike all the way back to the car, then back to the office again, which gave me an extra two miles of walking that day.” Every progressive step forward helped her take the next step, make the next change.
The walking seemed to help with her stress, which in turn seemed to help her with food choices. She had always known what she should be doing in terms of diet and nutrition, but had just stopped making those choices. With her eating and exercise pattern trending in the right direction, Reese made a number of other changes over several months:
• She acquired a standing desk at work so that she would spend less time in a crouched, sitting posture.
• She eliminated diet sodas and “energy” drinks, replacing them with that magical elixir—water.
• She changed her eating habits from two big meals a day to smaller meals and light snacks every three hours.
• She took up yoga and found a studio within a fifteen-minute walk of her office. Her daily routine now includes a thirty-minute yoga session.
Reese still works long hours, but in less than three months she lost fifteen pounds, and over the next four months she lost all of her baby weight and then some. She and her husband have established certain “rituals” that help them both maintain their progress. Family dinnertime is now a must, helping them stay connected with their children. They insist on time with each other, and time with mutual friends, all of which helps to strengthen their connection and overall life satisfaction.
Today Reese will tell you that the hardest part for them was that first step, enforcing the “no TV, no work, no problem solving after nine p.m.” rule. Again this may or may not be relevant to you and your life situation, but the process they went through is something we can all learn from.
Like Reese, we all know what to do. We all know that nutrition, exercise, and restful sleep are critical to maintain our basic energy level as well as our ability to focus attention and manage our emotions. But many of us also allow the modern work environment to slowly erode our habits in these areas. This makes it more important that we develop formal rituals to help keep us on track.
WHERE TO START?
You could make the case that aspirational energy is the most fundamental and important of the four energy sources we have covered here (Physical, Emotional, Mental, Aspirational), but it is addressed last for a specific reason. I’ve found that for most people, developing solid habits for the first three is an important prerequisite before addressing the aspirational energy source.
Of course you can certainly begin thinking about your aspirational energy right away, but before you dig too deep, get your other energy habits in order. Once you have experienced the positive impact of the habits you’ve established in other areas, you will begin to more clearly see that being attentive to your aspirational needs can profoundly impact your productivity and satisfaction at work.
Author’s note: While I use the term “workplace poker” as a metaphor, I had a conversation about these energy concepts recently with a world-class poker player and he nodded his head vigorously, telling me that this was one of the secrets to his success. “These games go on for hours, sometimes days, so I make sure I’m in tip-top physical shape before a tournament.” He also mentioned that whenever there is a break he walks briskly up to his hotel room, takes a quick cold shower, then continues walking and moving until the game resumes. “I stay off my ass until the last possible moment,” he says. He feels that his personal energy management practices are just as important as his actual poker skill in terms of winning the toughest, longest (and most lucrative) poker tournaments.
THINK NOW
How would you instinctively rate your energy level in the four areas discussed here?
Are there specific energy-enhancing habits you know should be immediately adopted, or energy-diminishing habits you know should be immediately stopped? If so, no need to make a commitment immediately, but please write down those specific habits in this book now. Use the space provided.
Being fully honest and authentic with yourself, what has held you back from starting or stopping these habits? Again no need for commitment right now, but please write your answer in the space provided.
ACT SOON
Go to www.workplacepoker.com/energy/ and complete the personal energy assessment. This will give you an objective view of your current state along with customized recommendations based upon your assessment results.
When you have time and privacy for deep reflection, ask yourself the following questions (and for extra credit, write down your answers).
• “At my funeral, what do I want to be remembered for?”
• “If I could reach back in time and whisper into the ear of the younger me, what advice would I give to myself?”
• “Who am I today, who do I want to become, and how big is the gap?”
• “What do I truly enjoy at work? Where do I create the most value for the business? And what am I truly great at?”
• “Does this feel like the work I was meant to do? Why, or why not?”
• “Throughout my life, are my commitments of time and energy aligned with what is truly most important to me?”
Before you answer these last two questions, understand that if the solution was easy or obvious you would probably have already implemented it. So most likely this will not be easy or obvious, but if you are committed enough and creative enough, there is always a way.
• “Where is my life most out of alignment with my true value and priorities?”
• “What will I do about it?”
LONG-TERM THOUGHTS AND ACTION POINTS
Over time, the modern work environment can easily dampen one’s personal energy, vitality, and motivation.
• It is important to objectively assess your current level of physical vitality, and to take quick action if your “fire” has diminished over time.
• Making many modest changes can ultimately have the same positive health impact as making a single large, dramatic change.
• Physical energy habits can help to ensure that you are taking care of your body even in the face of a stressful work environment and schedules.
• Emotional energy habits can keep you emotionally positive and optimistic even in the face of career difficulties.
• Mental energy habits can help ensure that you are leveraging your natural “up time” in terms of thought, clarity, and creativity.
• Aspirational energy habits can keep you focused, motivated, and energized for the long haul of a tough career climb because you have a long-term vision aligned with your deepest values.