Are you burned out at work OR out of shape OR anxious OR feeling like you just go through the day without any soul?  If you said yes, you’re probably not feeling that life (or that work-life) balance thing.  I bet you think it’s only because you don’t have enough time.  Many of us think we don’t have enough time, but it’s really energy we lack.

In this five-part series, I’m going to walk you through how you can create more balance in your life via energy management vs. time management.

To be balanced, you need to be like a tree that has deep roots so you can withstand the high winds of life otherwise you’ll be uprooted easily.

I used to be a rotted, distressed and diseased tree with lopsided roots focused mostly on my career and was burning out my mental energy to sustain this focus.  But if high winds came in from any other area like physical or emotional, the rest of my life would suffer the consequences.

Technology revolutions increase burnout

As technology revolutions progress, our balance seems to get more out of whack.  For example, we’ve been transformed through the Information Revolution (introducing the Microsoft OS user interface), the Internet Revolution (here ya go… access to the web via Internet Service Providers, web browsers, virtual communities, smartphones) and now the Knowledge Revolution (this is cool… Web 2.0, blogs, YouTube, social media, apps).

In addition, through each revolution, we’ve become addicted to stress and work, which leads to burnout.  Unlike most addictions, workaholic is encouraged and worn like a badge of honor.  And life balance feels like it has become impossible.

But a balanced life is impossible, if you’re intentional.

The costs of burnout though are long-term.  Researchers say that those who describe themselves as workaholics have a significantly higher incidence of alcohol abuse, divorce, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, depression and more.  In Japan, they have a term called karoshi which translated means death from overwork.  It’s not an expression, it’s literal.  The term was invented in the late 70’s due to the increasing number of young people in Japan who were dying from heart attack and strokes.  This has continued with prominent executives suddenly dying with karoshi and even business suicide news reports.

No similar research on the occupational stress exists in the US, but the US does work more hours per year than Japanese and continues to trend up whereas Japanese is continuing to trend down.

Are you burned out now?  Here’s some of the symptoms:

• Tiredness
• Lack of focus
• Depression
• Angry or hostile
• Feeling hopeless
• Headaches, back/neck pain or digestive problems (somatizing, which is converting unconscious anxiety into physical symptoms; why?  you’re more likely to stimulate empathy from others for your back pain than for your anxiety)

As we progress through Knowledge Revolution and beyond, it’s critical that you take care of your body physically and emotionally, your brain mentally and your soul spiritually.

Today I’m much more balanced.   According to the book The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal.

Properly fuel these four energy sources for a balanced life

1. Spiritual

   • Not just religion if that’s what you’re thinking
   • Also add passion, purpose, a why to live

2. Mental

   • Focus with rhythmic rest/breaks

3. Physical

   • Sleep
   • Fitness
   • Nutrition

4. Emotional

   • Self-awareness
   • Self-control
   • Empathy
   • Interpersonal relationships
   • Resilience

Perform a simple baseline on all four energy sources

If you’re sufficiently motivated after reading this, now is the time to capitalize on that motivation and prepare for the series of posts on this specific topic.

FIRST, you need to have a way to measure where you are now, a Baseline.

One easy way to do this is to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 in each 4 energy sources.  Then give yourself an overall average or diagram this as a wheel to see how balanced you are.  I like the latter because if you can see if your wheel is dented.  If it is, then that will impact the rest of your driving experience.  That’s because one fuel source will drag the others down.  However, the inverse is good news.  Improving your numbers in any one energy source will positively uplift all the other sources.

For example, physical, mental and emotional are all interdependent.  If your physical numbers are low because of too little sleep or not enough exercise, then you’ll have problems concentrating which impacts your mental numbers.  Or if your emotional numbers are low because of anxiety, burnout or anger then you’ll have problems focusing which impacts your mental numbers.  You want to be balanced in all four energy sources.  However, I recommend focusing on improving one energy source at a time because again changes in one domain will affect all other domains.

Which energy source is the most valuable?

The left side of the graphic below shows you were most people prioritize depositing energy.  However, the right side is where you get the highest return on your energy investment (ROeI).

In this five-part series, I’m going to walk you through how you can create more balance in your life via energy management vs. time management.  Starting first, with your spiritual energy source.

So, get ready to feel more balanced.  More productive.  You’ll be in good company with athletes, surgeons, soldiers or C-level people like Sheryl Sandberg or Richard Branson, who all rely on energy management vs. time management to achieve their goals.

Question: Which energy source did you rate your lowest and your highest? You can leave a comment below.