It Starts with Me
It Starts With Me
How I experience the day's events is up to me. I can’t control what happens or what I’m faced with however I can impact the way I react. I spent over 30 years working in a corporate work environment as a human resource leader. As I look back to the times I was most frustrated, it was because I added my own filter to what “should” happen or how I thought it was supposed to be. I was also unaware of how my energy level and my role in the interactions impacted the results.
I realize now that the way I experience each day is up to me. It starts with me getting clear with how I want to react to the events around me. I am working on a new habit of thinking about the energy I want to bring to any conversation or event. This is something I have control over.
Schwartz and Loehr, authors of The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal argue that: “Every one of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors has an energy consequence,” they write. “The ultimate measure of our lives is not how much time we spend on the planet, but rather how much energy we invest in the time that we have.”
I also realize how contagious my energy level is to others around me. I can recall when I was the head of human resources for a real estate development firm, I was fortunate to be provided with a coach. I was feeling down and complaining to my coach about my team and how they seemed to be down and acting irritable and moody. My coach helped me to realize they were reacting to my energy level. I was feeling irritable and moody and this impacted the way they felt.
At my next team meeting, I took responsibility and openly shared how I had been feeling and apologized to each of them. I began focusing more on my presence and the role I wanted to play. I also learned to unpack the way I was viewing a situation by listing the facts of the situation versus my interpretation or story. I shared this simple tool with my team and this helped to improve my mindset as well as my team’s interactions and energy level.
I also recall an experience with my boss at the time who was the CEO. We were very different and many times our interactions were rushed or tense. This made me believe that he didn’t “get” me; this thinking made me feel undervalued. My coach helped me to flip my perspective by considering all the pressures he was under as the CEO/owner making multi million dollar investments. This was a huge load to carry. I began to consider how I could support him better and at that point, this really turned our relationship around. He opened open up more after I asked questions and sought ways that I could provide value. We worked together rather than opposed. He had strengths where I had weaknesses and vice versa. We complimented each other and leveraged the synergy this created.
As we start out the week, how do you manage your energy level? Please share below so we can learn from each other.
