What's your energy right now?

Excuse the the stutters, stumbles, and stammers: here’s a one-take recording of this edition if you prefer to listen: Spotify link

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I'm low energy. And since I'm in the process of writing and sending this particular edition of the newsletter, I recognize it.

It's been a somewhere-between-a-two-and-three-hour-heads-down-thinking-session for a deliverable. Mostly enjoyable. Some frustration. The kind that comes with starting down several different paths only to realize it's not quite right.

And now I'm at the point where I need to transition from the thinking to the spreadsheet/document/slide creation. But I don't have the energy to do that type of work right this moment.

So I don't.

If you haven't already, go ahead and answer the question in the subject: What's your energy right now?

Developing awareness of your energy state helps you recognize what sustains or depletes you, make conscious choices about how you spend your capacity, and understand when you're working with your natural rhythms versus against them.

Awareness of your energy helps you manage your energy.

In their book, The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz make the argument that instead of managing our time, that old productivity improving standby, we're better off managing our energy. Because time is finite. And energy, well managed, is renewable.

It's a solid argument.

Yes, I believe inspiration is for amateurs. (Thank you Chuck Close.) And yes, the organizations we work for often make self-motivating more difficult than it need be. But here's what's also true: it's easier to do the work we need to do, energy giving or not, when we're feeling energized to do it. So here's a "card" (a set of questions and activities) I've created to help you Notice. Explore. Try a Change. with your energy at work. Let me know how it lands.

ENERGY

"Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance." - Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Developing awareness of your energy state helps you recognize what sustains or depletes you, make conscious choices about how you spend your capacity, and understand when you're working with your natural rhythms versus against them.

Notice 

• What is your energy level right now?

• When you complete a task or interaction, do you feel more energized or more depleted?

• When during your workday do you feel most alert, focused, or creative?

• Does the same type of task feel different depending on when you do it, who's involved, or where you are?

Explore 

Energy Check-ins: At work transitions (starting rounds, meetings, breaks, patient visits), pause and notice your energy in the moment. Track it on a scale of 1-5 if you like. After a few days, look for patterns—when do you consistently feel energized versus depleted?

Questions to Ask an AI Chatbot 

• How can I identify my personal peak performance timing patterns?

• What are effective methods for tracking daily energy and focus patterns?

• How do ultradian rhythms affect work performance throughout the day?

Try a Change 

Based on what you've noticed, try scheduling one important task during a time when you typically feel energized. Notice whether the work feels different.

Go Deeper 

• What consistently gives you energy at work, and what takes it away?

• How might your current schedule be working with or against your natural rhythms?

• What would change if you treated your energy patterns as design constraints rather than inconveniences?

Around The Water Cooler ⛲

“To generate ideas, get better at noticing.” Oliver Burkeman

This was an intriguing, at times boosterish, look into NYU Langone’s changes. I do have a few questions, like: How do you monitor that many metrics? And for the folks who work there: How’s work? How big data and an A-list board turned struggling NYU Langone into a $14 billion hospital powerhouse

The myth of multi-tasking

Thanks for reading. Hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

How To Work is healthcare-focused work design inspiration (from the experts!) to nudge your perspectives and practices into better alignment with the world of work as it is, and away from what it was. Here’s my take on what we’re working through.