Manage Your Energy Level

Recently I wrote about the importance of having high-quality vacations. What I didn’t share is that I went on vacation completely drained, with zero level of internal resources and even a diagnosis from a neurologist 😵‍💫. It is a tough state to be in, I never want to feel like that again.

So I reflected on how to prevent burning out in the future.

First of all, I understand that's my fault - not heavy work, urgent issues, or company changes. It's primary responsibility of any leader to support their internal resource and energy. That's very important. Leader cannot work without enough energy level, as it's not possible to drive anything or meet business goals in that state.

Next, I started to study different recommendations what to do. The advice is usually very common: exercise, walk, eat well, and have time for hobbies. Unfortunately, I already knew that, but it didn't help me. My issue is that I don't notice the point where I am completely drained and it's too late to go for a walk.

So I need to control internal state somehow. As technical people, we know that to control something we need to measure something. One resource recommends Welltory app that makes personal health analysis based on heart rate variability (Garmin watches have similar features already built-in). Additionally it uses info about sleep, steps, stress level, and more from mostly any smart watch. Looks like a magic, but there is real science under that. This isn’t an ad—just sharing a tool I found useful 🙂.

I've been using the app for about 2 weeks now. The algorithm is still training (about 35% done), but I’m already using its basic features. I periodically make measurements and check overall state: green, orange or red. Based on this, I’ve started taking short recovery breaks at work to avoid hitting zero. Also I control overall health trend to understand if my daily routine needs additional corrections like more exercise, walk, etc.

Burnout is very common problem in our industry that's why I decided to share my experience on what can be helpful to control internal state and support good level of motivation and energy. Of course, 2 weeks are not enough to say the approach works. Put likes if the topic is interesting and I'll share my results in 1-2 months.

Stay healthy and take care of yourself.

#softskills #productivity