1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 1: It's three point thirty in the afternoon and you have 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: hit a wall. We've just had a long, very cerebral 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: meeting and now you've got to back it up with 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: some pretty intellectually demanding writing work. But you're exhausted. Now, 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: before you reach for the can of red bull or 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 1: that block of chocolate, you might want to have a 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: listen to what Holly Ransom has to say about energy. 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: Holly is a full Bright scholar and the author of 9 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: The Leading Edge, and she says that there's a different 10 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: way to perk up when you're running low on energy. 11 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: The red bulls, the half later cups of coffee, and 12 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: the sugary snacks might feel like they're working, but they're 13 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: really just numbing the signals your body is trying to 14 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: send you. So how can we manage our energy levels naturally? 15 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: My name is doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: and the founder of Behave val Science Consultancy Inventium, and 17 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: this is how I work, a show about how to 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: help you do your best work. On Today is my 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: Favorite Tip episode, we go back to an interview from 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: the past and I pick out my favorite tip from 21 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: the interview. In today's show, I speak with Holly Ransom 22 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: about why and how she does an energy audit. 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 2: An energy audit for me is as simple as get 24 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 2: a notebook and have a page where you just write 25 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 2: some bullet points of things, being curious about your energy 26 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 2: and what you observe. So I know, naturally I'm a 27 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 2: really very much high energy in the morning. I absolutely 28 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 2: hit a wall. In the kind of mid to late afternoon. 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 2: I'm just a no go between about like three point 30 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 2: thirty and five or three and five, like it's a 31 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 2: really dead zone for me. And then I have this 32 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 2: incredible burst of energy and kind of the mid evening 33 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 2: again as well. And so it's changed the way that 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 2: I think about structuring my days because, for example, I 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 2: try to make sure I never get up and get 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 2: straight on email. And that was something I learned from, 37 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 2: you know, Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 38 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 2: You know that learning that difference between urgent and important 39 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 2: and making sure that the urgent doesn't take the place 40 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 2: of the important. So when I get up and I've 41 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 2: got energy to go, I want to be putting into 42 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 2: things that are important. They're going to be stuff that 43 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 2: are to do with my goals that are going to 44 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 2: help me step towards things that really matter to me. 45 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 2: They're things that I've got to put a lot of 46 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: thought into. Maybe it's a proposal for a new idea. 47 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: Maybe it's thinking through how I could structure up a 48 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 2: collaboration with someone I'm really excited about working with. But 49 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 2: it's not going to be sitting through my emails, or 50 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: it's not going to be choosing to audit my expenses 51 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 2: or something like that. You know, They're going to be 52 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 2: things I know I have to do them absolutely, but 53 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 2: I'm going to try and do them at points in 54 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 2: the day where I've got a natural kind of energy 55 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 2: low or I'm not needing as much of kind of 56 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: the energy I bring to bear on other topics or 57 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 2: need to bring to bear on other topics. I think 58 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 2: the other thing I've noticed is, you know, and this 59 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 2: is true of what we've learned for some time about 60 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 2: attention spans and stuff like that, Like I do see 61 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 2: that I'm at the end of ninety minutes often needing 62 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 2: just a little bit of a perk up and a reboot. 63 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 2: So that's where I've started inserting these micro brakes. Whether 64 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 2: it is as simple as I'm going to do ten 65 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 2: jump squads, like literally in the room I'm still in, 66 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 2: just to re energize and shake my body awake. Sometimes 67 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 2: if it's been a particularly you know, intense like cerebral meeting, 68 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 2: or I'm just feeling a little bit drained mentally, I'll 69 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 2: sit there and I'll do ten deep breaths. You know, 70 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 2: where one of those apple watches where it can do 71 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,119 Speaker 2: them for you, or it can guide you through them 72 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 2: in terms of the ease of doing that. So just 73 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 2: finding those little ways of intervening in those moments, because 74 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 2: all of us have got things in the day that 75 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 2: do drainers. We can't avoid any of that. It's about 76 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 2: how we strategize and put these things around that so 77 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 2: that we can re energize ourselves and come out of 78 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 2: those logs. And we don't need red bulls and you know, 79 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 2: the three point thirty eightis snacks and things like that 80 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 2: to do it, because ofterently, all we're doing there is 81 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 2: is kind of numbing a sensation our body is trying 82 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 2: to tell us and using kind of an artificial way 83 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 2: of kind of pushing through it. So thinking about how 84 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 2: to actually start to be the energy for ourselves. It's 85 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 2: just been a really profound way that I've shifted managing 86 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 2: my day and week in the last six years, probably, 87 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 2: and I couldn't be more happy with the results, and 88 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 2: I couldn't be a bigger believer in this idea. 89 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: Now when I think of you, Holly, I'm like, it's 90 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: hard to imagine you having these low energy periods because 91 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: I feel like you're such a high energy, high achieving person. 92 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: But what do you do to switch off or relax? 93 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: Do you have rituals or practices around that? 94 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, And it's something I have historically. Like I say, 95 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 2: this is something that I've learned in my more recent history, 96 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 2: so the last five or so years. It's definitely not 97 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 2: something I was all that good add in my sort 98 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 2: of early twenties. So it's been a learned habit and 99 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 2: something I've come to understand that if you don't look 100 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 2: after yourself and you don't really properly recharge that productive 101 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 2: downtime where you're actually allowing yourself to restore, you're very 102 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 2: hard to do anything at any kind of intensity for 103 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 2: any serious length of time. And I guess, as well 104 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 2: as the stats on what we see about burnout probably 105 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 2: suggest a lot of us are struggling with the same thing, 106 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 2: you know. For me switching off, I've become a lot 107 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 2: better at it, and I think it's the great intervention 108 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,559 Speaker 2: of my partner. We're really good about not letting work 109 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 2: blur into the evenings and really safeguarding our weekends, and 110 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 2: I think that's been really good, the discipline and the 111 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 2: accountability we give each other in that it doesn't mean 112 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 2: every now and again something urgently pops up, sure, but 113 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,679 Speaker 2: on the whole weekends of weekends, weekends of a quality 114 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 2: time there for friends, there for being active, there for 115 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 2: getting out and being part of whether a sport or 116 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 2: cultural events. We try and make sure that their time 117 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 2: out so that when we start Monday again, we're really 118 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 2: hitting the ground running with the energy that we need 119 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 2: for that week ahead. I think one of the other 120 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 2: things we've been playing with this year that I've found 121 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 2: really beneficial is phone free Friday nights, which sounds so silly, 122 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 2: but that idea of the of switching off from a week, 123 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 2: putting the phone down at five o'clock and not turning 124 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 2: it on till Saturday morning, and just that absence of notification, 125 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:10,600 Speaker 2: that ability to properly switch off because the work week 126 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 2: isn't continuing to linger into your Friday night and then 127 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 2: you know, spill over into the weekend. I've just really 128 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 2: enjoyed that complete disconnect from tech. You know, it's only 129 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 2: for what it would it be, I guess eighteen hours 130 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 2: or something like that we really turn it off for. 131 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 2: But that's been fantastic. So I encourage people to find 132 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 2: little ways of putting tech breaks into because we've just 133 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 2: found that to be really beneficial and you just realize 134 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 2: how how connected you out of the thing the rest 135 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 2: of the time. So that ability to properly disconnect has 136 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 2: been a great one. 137 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: That is it for today. Now, if you're looking for 138 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: more tips to improve the way that you work, I 139 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: write a short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things 140 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: that I've discovered that helped me work better, which range 141 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: from interesting research findings through the gadgets that I'm loving. 142 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: You can sign up for that at Howiwork dot cotwork 143 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: dot co. How I Work is produced by Inventium with 144 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: production support from Dead Set Studios, and thank you to 145 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: Martin Nimba, who does the audio mix for every episode 146 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: and makes everything sound so much better than it would 147 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: have otherwise. See you next time.