How much energy do you have in your ‘energy tank’? Are you full of fuel, or running on fumes?
My coaching clients often come to me ready for a fresh start. Tired and disillusioned, they want help defining a new purpose and vision. But when we dig into their lives, we discover they’re living in high stress—sometimes nearing burnout. They describe themselves as ‘running on fumes’ or ‘treading water’. Sometimes it can feel like a miracle just to make it through the day.
A change would almost certainly do them a world of good. But I’ve found that, when we go down the path of envisioning a new future, they get stuck. Either they are unable to let themselves dream, or, even if they know what they want to do, they are paralysed by fear and unable to take even the smallest step towards it (such as sharing that dream with a friend).
This makes complete sense—when your nervous system is in fight-or-flight, you literally cannot access the parts of your brain needed for creative thinking and optimism. That’s why the first question I almost always ask my clients these days is: “How much space do you have in your life?” How aware are you of your own level of energy, and what’s energy-giving vs. energy-draining in your day?
This isn’t just about needing a vacation or indulging in the occasional act of self-care. What’s happening is much more fundamental, and understanding the neuroscience behind it changes everything about how we approach career transitions.
The case for managing your energy
Research on the nervous system shows that we can be in one of three states: rest and digest, fight-or-flight, or total shutdown. From an evolutionary perspective, some level of activation (fight or flight) is healthy for our survival – our nervous system detects a threat and then determines an appropriate response. The problem is, our threat-detection system codes all sorts non-physical threats with the same level of priority as threats to our physical survival, e.g. threats to our identity, sense of belonging, sense of status or self-worth. And so many of us are in near-constant states of stress, with cortisol and adrenaline pumping through our body, that we reach a point where we can’t handle any more and go into total collapse (burnout).
Naturally, the world looks very different depending on which state we are in. When we are in “rest and digest” (what polyvagal theory calls “ventral vagal”), we are able to think clearly. We see others as allies, and the world is full of possibilities. Contrast this with “fight or flight” (when the sympathetic nervous system is activated), where we are in a real survival state and others are either with us or against us, and the world is dangerous or threatening in some way. Or “freeze/shutdown” mode, where we just feel hopeless.
In my coaching sessions, we usually create some version of this graphic together and talk about how this relates to their own experience of life. Often, my clients find they are more often than not living in fight or flight, often crossing over into freeze. It’s quite a tough place to be. From those places, aside from all of the physical effects on our bodies, it is impossible to be optimistic or think creatively.
Prioritize Your Energy
The effect of our nervous system on our capacity for positive, creative, thinking is why the first step in any career transition is always creating space so you can come back into the “green zone”. Two of the best ways to do this are to do an energy audit, and to start doing things that bring you joy.
Energy Audits
The first step in prioritizing your energy is developing some level of awareness about it. Doing this sort of “energy audit” can be hugely revealing for many people. One friend recently said to me: “I realised that not only does my job completely drain my energy, but I have to go into my energy reserves just to make it through the day, which means I don’t have energy to devote to other parts of my life at all. I’m just exhausted at the end of each day.”
By doing an energy audit, we start to see more clearly what gives us energy, what drains our energy, and how the choices we make affect our energy levels. Perhaps you’ve been saying yes to requests that you would rather say no to (see my post on Boundaries if this is a challenge for you!). Perhaps, as an introvert, you need more alone time than your schedule currently allows. Perhaps the type of work you’re doing is not making use of your strengths.
There is no best way to do an energy audit. The simplest way is just to track, for a week, your energy levels at the beginning and end of each day, and the activities that (a) boosted or (b) drained your energy. You can do this whenever is most convenient for you: some people do this at the beginning of the day, looking back on the previous day; others do it quickly before they sign off for the evening. You can limit the scope to your job, or you can expand it to include everything you do in your day.
At the end of the week, look back over your notes and reflect on the following questions:
- Looking back over your week, what patterns are you noticing?
- Which activities typically boost your energy?
- Which activities typically drain your energy?
- What adjustments do you want to make, or what experiments do you want to try?
If you repeat this exercise for a few weeks in a row, each time setting some micro-experiments to try, you will hopefully notice not only a change in your energy levels, but also in your outlook on life.
Sparking Joy
Remember that Marie Kondo book / philosophy of going through your belongings and asking “Does it spark joy?” (and if not, donate it or throw it out)? The same could almost be said about how we choose to use our time. Of course, we can’t just ‘throw out’ any activity that doesn’t spark joy (or can we?) – but we can actively do more things that spark joy for us.
Doing something that brings you joy is one of the top recommendations for people going through burnout. Beyond rest and recovery, joyful activities encourage the production of more oxytocin and dopamine in your system, helping you get back into that green zone.
There is no one ‘best’ joyful activity, of course. For some people, it’s about reconnecting with something they used to love to do when they were younger (singing in a choir, painting, going rock climbing). For others, it’s learning a new activity (guitar, riding a motorcycle). The options are endless (for me, it’s usually watching a comedy special on Netflix – there is no better cure for overwhelm than laughter!).
Pets are also a great source of joy (and a cure for loneliness). If you aren’t in a position to have your own pet, consider offering to take a neighbor’s dog for a walk, volunteering at an animal shelter, or, if possible, going for a walk where you can see and visit with animals outside (horses are wonderful, wise healers).
If you’re ready for a career change but feel stuck, start by filling your energy tank first. I know this can feel counterintuitive, especially when you’re desperate to make a change and every day in your current situation feels unbearable. But I promise you, the time you invest in getting back into the green zone will pay dividends. You’ll find it easier to imagine what you want, to take those first scary steps, and to handle the inevitable bumps along the way. After all, crossing the river by feeling the stones requires not just courage, but energy. Give yourself the fuel you need for the journey ahead.
