Rather Than Managing Your Time, Consider Managing Your Energy

Recently, he says, this mindset shift has started to spill rapidly into the workplace, influencing a change in the definition of success.

“Achievement is no longer enough to be successful,” Sunderland says. “People also want to feel happy at the same time. Before, people were concerned only with thinking (mental energy) and doing (physical energy). But that success formula no longer works. Today, it’s essential to add feelings (emotional energy) and inner self-experience (spiritual energy) into the mix for people to learn how to be able to connect to and manage their energy.”

There are obviously several forms of energy—physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc. How are these various forms of energy interdependent?

Sunderland says all forms of human energy exist in relation to one another. “When these energies are in sync with each other, people’s energy will be in flow. People who maintain good health will be able to track those feelings (emotional energy) that flow through their bodies (physical energy), which is an essential skill to help increase energy awareness. With greater levels of energy awareness, people can grow their self-acceptance (emotional energy), which enhances their self-confidence.” He says that as confidence builds, people experience greater clarity of thought (mental energy) and they are able to increase their ability to speak truth (spiritual energy), amplifying their creative energy. “When people can speak their truth,” he says, “their self-acceptance grows, as does their capacity to love themselves, making them more likely to maintain good health.”

Some people seem to hijack their own energy. Sunderland explains how that works.

“When people are controlled by their emotions, they lose their ability to manage their energy,” he says. “People’s life stories are the roots of what later in life become their fears and self-limiting belief systems. These protective systems were created by them during a time of need. Many of these roots are hidden in their unconscious.”

On the journey to unlock their trapped energy, he says, people can seek out those fears and limitations, work on them, and search for ways to integrate and transcend them.

“There are a few telltale signs that your energy has been hijacked,” Sunderland says. “To name one, think about the voices in our heads. When we are overwhelmed, these voices can become louder and in extreme cases difficult to live with. One of these voices is the one I call ‘The Critic’” You would be amazed at how common The Critic is among the senior leaders I work with and how much energy gets highjacked when it’s in control.”

How do people’s management of their own energy affect their performance in the workplace?

“When people have a healthy sense of belonging, they feel safe and are able to develop a balance between the giving and the taking at the workplace,” Sunderland says. “When this happens, creative energy flows effortlessly, and along with it, their performance will stand out. On the contrary, when people feel unsafe, they will waste energy in protecting themselves from rejection, or they will likely look to control or please others. Either way, they will likely lose their ability to create healthy boundaries, bringing the giving and the taking out of balance in the workplace, and when this happens, energy gets stuck or bleeds, affecting the performance in the workplace.”