Energy management

Energy Management

Scope

Covers

• Managing energy (cognitive/emotional/attention), not just time
• Identifying energy drivers and energy drains and redesigning your week accordingly
• Expanding “zone of genius” time via delegation, elimination, automation, and clearer boundaries
• Creating micro-recovery routines (buffers, transitions, meeting hygiene) and a low-energy-day protocol
• Running a 2-week pilot to validate changes and iterate

When to use

• “I’m exhausted / close to burnout. Help me redesign my week for energy.”
• “Audit my calendar and help me spend more time in my zone of genius.”
• “I want a system to track what gives me energy vs drains me after each interaction.”
• “Create meeting norms and boundaries so I stop hemorrhaging energy.”

When NOT to use

• You need a time/task management system (timeboxing, capture, to-do lists) without an energy focus — use personal-productivity (this pack optimizes energy; that pack optimizes time)
• You are dealing with imposter syndrome and self-doubt, not energy depletion — use managing-imposter-syndrome
• You need better 1:1 meeting structures with your reports — use running-effective-1-1s
• You need a delegation framework for distributing work — use delegating-work (this pack identifies what to offload; that pack covers how to delegate effectively)
• You are in an acute physical/mental health crisis or need medical advice. Seek professional help and follow your company policy
• You need HR/legal guidance (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, threats, investigations)
• Your environment is unsafe or coercive; prioritize safety and support systems first. This skill can help document constraints and draft a negotiation plan, but it won’t “optimize” an unsafe situation

Inputs

Minimum required

• Your role + core responsibilities (and whether you manage people)
• The time horizon: a 2-week pilot + what “better” means in 4–8 weeks
• Current pain (2–5 concrete examples of what’s draining you) + desired outcome
• A representative week (calendar text dump, recurring meetings list, or narrative)
• Constraints/non-negotiables (time zones, caregiving, deadlines, on-call, travel, “can’t move” meetings)

Missing-info strategy

• Ask up to 5 questions from references/INTAKE.md (3–5 at a time).
• If calendar detail is unavailable, proceed with a 7-day energy log first and provide a conservative default-week plan with explicit assumptions.
• Do not request secrets, credentials, or sensitive personal health details.

Outputs (deliverables)

Produce an Energy Management Operating System Pack (Markdown in-chat; or as files if requested) in this order:

1. Context snapshot (goal, constraints, assumptions, success definition)
2. Energy Drivers & Drains Map (top drivers/drains + levers)
3. Calendar Energy Audit (time buckets + “zone of genius” estimate)
4. Zone of Genius Expansion Plan (stop/delegate/automate/defer list)
5. Energy-Aligned Default Week (time blocks + meeting rules)
6. Recovery + Transition Plan (buffers, micro-breaks, low-energy-day protocol)
7. 2-Week Pilot + Experiment Tracker (what changes, how we measure)
8. Risks / Open questions / Next steps (always included)

Templates: references/TEMPLATES.md
Expanded guidance: references/WORKFLOW.md

Workflow (8 steps)

1) Intake + objective + safety boundaries

• Inputs: user context; references/INTAKE.md.
• Actions: Clarify the goal in 4–8 weeks (e.g., “end week with energy”, “reduce decision fatigue”, “make space for deep work”). Confirm boundaries (not medical/HR/legal). Choose scope: full OS pack vs subset.
• Outputs: Context snapshot (draft) + assumptions/unknowns.
• Checks: Success is measurable enough to evaluate after 4 weeks (even with qualitative measures).

2) Capture baseline energy signals (7-day log + quick retro)

• Inputs: last 1–2 weeks memory; calendar if available.
• Actions: Create a lightweight energy log structure. If you have calendar data, do a quick retro: list the top 10 activities/interactions and mark “energized” vs “sapped” after each.
• Outputs: Energy Log (starter) + initial “suspected drivers/drains” list.
• Checks: At least 5 concrete drivers/drains are identified (not vague labels like “people”).

3) Build the Energy Drivers & Drains Map (with levers)

• Inputs: Energy Log + retro list.
• Actions: Consolidate into a map: drivers, drains, triggers, and controllable levers (eliminate, delegate, redesign, time-shift, batch, buffer, prepare, recover).
• Outputs: Drivers & Drains Map + “top 3 change levers” to try first.
• Checks: Each top drain has at least one specific lever and a next action.

4) Audit the calendar for “zone of genius” vs “energy tax”

• Inputs: representative week calendar (or estimate).
• Actions: Bucket time into: (A) Zone of genius / high leverage, (B) Necessary but neutral, (C) Energy drains, (D) Recovery/admin. Identify the bottom bucket(s) to reduce.
• Outputs: Calendar Energy Audit + zone-of-genius estimate and biggest offenders (meetings, context switching, decision load).
• Checks: The audit produces 3–5 candidate deletions/redesigns with owners and dates.

5) Expand zone of genius via stop/delegate/automate/defer

• Inputs: audit offenders; constraints; stakeholders.
• Actions: Turn drains into an offload plan: what to stop, what to delegate, what to automate, what to defer. For delegation, specify decision rights and guardrails (don’t just “hand it off”).
• Outputs: Zone of Genius Expansion Plan + 2–3 delegation briefs (as needed).
• Checks: At least 2 concrete “energy taxes” are removed or redesigned in the next 2 weeks.

6) Design an energy-aligned default week + meeting hygiene

• Inputs: your energy curve (high/medium/low), constraints, offload plan.
• Actions: Create a default week with time blocks aligned to energy (deep work in high-energy windows; admin in low-energy windows). Add meeting hygiene: buffers, batching, agendas/decisions, shorter defaults (25/50), async-first updates.
• Outputs: Energy-Aligned Default Week + Meeting Rules.
• Checks: The plan reduces fragmentation (fewer context switches) and includes buffers between high-load blocks.

7) Add recovery + transitions (and a low-energy-day protocol)

• Inputs: work patterns; remote/hybrid context.
• Actions: Define micro-recovery routines (between-meeting buffer, decompression, movement, sensory breaks) and “low-energy day” rules (minimum viable day, what to postpone, how to communicate). Include optional “neurological load” aids for remote work (e.g., standing, doodling/fidgeting, walking calls) without making medical claims.
• Outputs: Recovery + Transition Plan + Low-Energy-Day Protocol.
• Checks: Recovery actions are scheduled (not aspirational) and do not rely on willpower alone.

8) Run a 2-week pilot + measure + iterate

• Inputs: full draft pack.
• Actions: Define 2–4 experiments (time-shift, reduce meetings, add buffers, delegate, change meeting format). Decide what you’ll measure (daily energy rating, end-of-week energy, number of deep-work blocks, “drain count”). Run references/CHECKLISTS.md and score with references/RUBRIC.md. Add Risks / Open questions / Next steps.
• Outputs: Final Energy Management Operating System Pack + 2-week tracking sheet.
• Checks: Experiments have clear decision rules: keep / modify / stop after 2 weeks.

Quality gate (required)

• Run references/CHECKLISTS.md and score with references/RUBRIC.md.
• Always include: Risks, Open questions, Next steps.

Examples

Example 1 (meeting overload): “I’m a product leader in back-to-back meetings and I’m exhausted. Audit my week and give me a default schedule + meeting rules + delegation plan.”
Expected: drivers/drains map, calendar audit, offload plan, default week, meeting hygiene rules, 2-week pilot.

Example 2 (role fit signals): “After certain calls I feel energized, after others I feel drained. Help me build a tracking system and use it to redesign my scope.”
Expected: energy log + drivers/drains map, patterns, specific levers (time-shift/batch/delegate), and a 2-week experiment tracker.

Boundary example (medical crisis): “I’m having panic attacks and can’t sleep; fix my energy.” Response: do not provide medical advice; encourage professional help. Offer a minimal work-boundary plan (reduce commitments, document constraints, notify stakeholders) and a tracking template only if appropriate.

Anti-patterns

1. Coping without changing — Adding recovery rituals (meditation, walks, breathing) without addressing the structural drains (back-to-back meetings, poor delegation, scope creep). Recovery is necessary but insufficient; the drivers/drains map must produce concrete structural changes.
2. ”Zone of genius” fantasy — Trying to eliminate all non-genius work immediately. Some drains are non-negotiable (compliance, hiring, stakeholder management). The expansion plan must distinguish between drains you can remove now vs. drains you must redesign or time-shift.
3. Calendar redesign without stakeholder buy-in — Blocking focus time and declining meetings without communicating the change to your team and manager. Every calendar change needs a communication plan, or it will be overridden within a week.
4. Energy tracking without action — Building an elaborate logging system that produces insights but no behavior changes. The 2-week pilot must pair every observation with a specific experiment (change one thing, measure the effect, decide to keep/modify/stop).