Recharging
I’ve just driven up to the Lake District in our new electric car. Apart from feeling that I’ve been catapulted into the future (the dashboard is a hologram; our old car had manual windows..), I had to think consciously about how the way I drove impacted energy use, and where and when I needed to recharge it. That recharging decision had to be made in advance and prioritised over speed. It might have made the journey a bit longer and slower, but I knew we would finish it. Who wants to run down the battery to standstill between Motos on the A1?
It made me reflect on how often we take the opposite approach to our own lives, especially at work and in leadership. How often do we keep driving, regardless of energy levels, and end up limping along our personal highways? In my own life, and in conversations with clients, I notice that we often only start to prioritise our energy when we get to the hard shoulder of burn out.
What would it feel like to consciously manage our own energy levels? How would it feel to cruise rather than limp: reducing where possible that which drains us, and deliberately planning our rest and recharge?
Like many things, shifting to cruise control firstly requires self awareness. We must understand what drains, rests and energises us. Then we can start to reset the balance.
While it would be lovely to get rid of energy drains altogether (bureaucracy, social media, feeding the ‘machine’ or office politics often come up in conversations with clients), in reality we may have limited control over what we can simply stop doing. However, we do have control over the way and order in which we do things, and what we do alongside the drains to refuel.
Rest looks different for all of us. It might involve stillness, creativity or intense activity. Often we need to take rest (even micro moments) before we are ready to recharge. Stretching my electric car metaphor a little further, we have to stop in order to plug into a charging point.
Recharge also looks different for all, with a similarity: it frequently involves docking into our wider purpose and connecting to something bigger than ourselves. When depleted, we lose sight of that purpose, and a bit of rest and work is needed to rediscover and connect to it again.
Being active in nature is both my rest and my recharge. My futuristic drive to Cumbria brought me to the perfect place for that. The reality is that it is also the perfect place for Weather. Sometimes you need to stop battling the elements and give in. So this blog is brought to you from the sofa in front of the fire, to a soundscape of howling winds and my jacket re-waterproofing in the washing machine…
Questions for reflection
What drains your energy and how do you recharge it?
What prevents you recharging? What will you do to change that?
What one rest and one recharge action will you prioritise this week?
What could you schedule in regularly to make sure you don’t run out of charge half way down your metaphorical A1?
