Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
Available at Amazon (book), Audible (instant audiobook download), your local library, and other retailers.
For me, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz hit an absolute home-run with this book, which I found by accident–it had been mis-placed on a shelf at my local Office Max. I will not be shy about this: I love this book. I will be talking about this book for the rest of my life.
The introduction electrified me:
We live in digital time. Our pace is rushed, rapid fire and relentless. Facing crushing workloads, we try to cram as much as possible into every day. We�re wired up, but we�re melting down. Time management is no longer a viable solution… Managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness and life balance.
I found this book at a time in my life where I had accomplished an incredible feat–losing 126 pounds and regaining my health. Never before that transformation had I ever considered that my nutrition and my exercise affected so much of my life.
Prior to that, I worked as a programmer for a few companies during the late-90’s dot-com gold-rush. That was a thrill, but at the end of the day, I was worn-out, tired, and practically useless.
By the time this book found me, I was doing some incredible work, but I was fearful of falling back into the repetetive, life-killing routines I had so recently escaped.
Even working as an Herbalife coach–helping others understand the power of wellness, I was running into barriers again. Not so much with my health as much as with my ability to keep focused on what was really important to me in the long-run. I was feeling empty and drained after long coaching sessions or trainings. The couch was becoming my friend again, and I knew that needed to stop.
This book, especially the audiobook version, gave what I felt as practical, sensible advice based on reasonably good science, and enough real-life scenarios to really help me see how it could fit me. Sure, not everybody likes this book (as you can see from the comments on Amazon), but those people seem to be looking for a list of ingredients (like the label on the side of a cereal box) rather than real-life case-studies. No problem–we all learn differently.
The first differences I found after I began devouring this book were the perception changes I realized about my day–the habits I had, the routines I had created (and the ones I fell victim to). I also realized more of the connection between our physical-selves and our mental, emotional and spiritual ones. I loved how simply they walk through the leap from understanding how to strengthen you physical muscles to strengthening your emotional, mental and spiritual ones.
What I eventually discovered from the book was a new zest for life. Everyday things suddenly had a newness about them–a texture that I hadn’t noticed before. Time with my family was more fun, I felt really useful to my community and connected with my neighbors, and finishing a great work day was as exhilirating as ever. It was like I had been slowly suffocating through my life because I wasn’t truly, deeply connected to the things that my inner-self knows are really most-important–my deepest-held values.
Thanks Tony & Jim!
Learn more about the business Loehr and Schwartz run, the Human Performance Institute, at www.thepoweroffullengagement.com
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