When people meet me they remark that I don’t appear to be very energetic. Their expectation of someone with energy is someone who is loud and extroverted. I’m generally calm and efficient in conversation.
I used to compare myself with some of my sales friends. I often thought maybe I should be more extroverted. But what I learnt is that while in public they have the loud frenetic energy that gets people excited (or annoyed), by the end of the day when everyone goes home, they are often spent and exhausted. A friend of mine remarked that she finds she is literally giving her energy away all day and she wishes she could learn to focus more.
Energy needs to be directed and focused into useful activity.
Olympic athletes can be loud or quiet but their energy is focused on one thing, winning.
Why there is this misconception, is that there are two types of Energy: Hard Energy and Soft Energy. Hard Energy is kinetic, it’s loud, it’s infectious. The energy that you get in a Tony Robbins Seminars.
Soft Energy is the energy you get from yoga, Tai chi or relaxation, think of the Dalai Lama, it is calming, uplifting and radiating. Both have their uses. But generating Hard Energy can be exhausting after awhile. The ability to tap into Soft energy will be better for your wellbeing in the long run as you learn to relax and let go of stress.
Energy is fuel, so when you have sufficient stamina to perform at your best consistently throughout the day then you’ve won the energy game.
If you’re in a start-up, work in banking, corporate law or strategy consultingt, there are times when you just need to hit that deadline and put in the late hours. This is where the ability to harness energy comes in. No good if you’ve dissapated it all earlier in the day.
If you would like to learn effective ways to focus your energy, sleep better, and get more done check out my book The Energy Equation, how to be a top performer without burning yourself out.
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