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CarterBaldwin Partner Susan Scott explores the “Human Energy Crisis” and uncovers why managing energy, not time, is the key to sustained high performance.
In a recent meeting an industry colleague pulled out the latest version of his brand of PDA. He demonstrated the bells and whistles and swore that his use of the device was the key to his successful management of every area of his life. He attributed his success to better time management.
I used to believe that my PDA was the key to balancing my life as well as it allowed me to multi-task while remaining in touch and managing responsibilities. Imagine my horror upon learning that a recent University of London study showed that over time, constant email checking on a PDA while engaged in meetings and other activities (e.g. driving) can result in an IQ falling by as much as 10 points. When you are multi-tasking you are not fully engaged in anything and the brain drain is equivalent to missing an entire night of sleep. Who can afford that kind of loss over time? How can highly successful executives maintain their best performance with this type of “learned” handicap?
In today’s fast-paced business environment, I think that “time management” is an incomplete concept and is, more appropriately, simply just one tactic in each executive’s personal strategy for success. Success requires sustaining high performance in all areas of our lives. Is it possible for executives to perform at optimal levels while juggling multi-faceted lives that include components like work responsibilities, child-rearing, elderly-care, household issues, community involvement, fitness programs and spiritual time? Ultimately, without giving conscious thought to our precise behavior, we do few of these things well.
The newest thinking and one of the best practices in coaching for improved executive results is that of Energy Management technology. The concept supporting this technology leans heavily upon generally accepted truths about human nature and performance that can be found in sports or in the military. In Energy Management technology, a human being is fundamentally an energy/life support system for completing a mission.
Each of us has our own mission. We have to know exactly where we are going at every moment to remain focused on our mission. Missions change. At every stage of our lives how are we managing our energy in the service of our mission? Your current habits and routines are your training program. Mission success is based upon the quality, quantity, focus and force we bring to our activities.
One of the leaders in Energy Management technology is The Human Performance Institute (HPI). To sustain high performance in our lives/missions, HPI instructs that managing energy, not time, is the key to sustained high performance. This is because in their work with executives, they have concluded that executives suffer from a “Human Energy Crisis” that can be resolved through energy management training, expanding energy capacity, and increasing energy management skills.
Concepts stressed in managing energy include:
- The investment of time by itself does not lead to expanded growth (presentee-ism).
- Time becomes valuable in its intersection with energy.
- What matters most is not the time you spend, but the energy you bring to the time you have.
HPI suggests that executives, like athletes and soldiers, need to train in order to develop an extraordinary source of energy that can be applied to each person’s mission more effectively. The organization teaches that Four Energy Management Principles govern the system and ultimately determine your mission success.
Energy Management Principle #1:
Full Engagement requires drawing on four distinct but connected dimensions of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Engage the spirit, mind, heart and body.
Energy Management Principle #2:
Full Engagement requires that we balance energy expenditure (investment) with energy recovery. Fully engage when it really matters; strategically disengage when it doesn’t matter.
Energy Management Principle #3:
Full Engagement requires that we push beyond our normal limits, training like an elite athlete every day. The things that receive the greatest quantity, highest quality, most precise focus (intensity) of energy grow the most. The place where you focus your energy will excel. If you focus on criticism, then you will become an expert at criticizing.
Energy Management Principle #4:
Full Engagement requires positive rituals – precise behaviors that become automatic over time. Only 5% of our behaviors are consciously self-regulated. Behavior is largely a function of habit and routine. Rituals are acquired with repetition. We manage energy by habit, not by will power or self-discipline; therefore use our limited self-discipline to build energy management rituals that become automatic.
If you are having trouble seeing this as relevant, think about the following HPI finding. In comparing professional athletes to “corporate athletes,” HPI concluded that the demands on an executive’s energy exceed anything they see in professional sports. A professional athlete works 4 to 5 hours a day for an average of 5 to 7 years. They practice constantly but they also have an “off season.” “Corporate athletes” train while they are doing and work 8 to 12 hour days for 25 to 40 years.
Concepts and terms copyrighted by Human Performance Institute
For more information on Energy Management technology, go to www.energyforperformance.com
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