When time is scarce, energy is abundant

In preparation for a busier season, I started listening to the audiobook of The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. The premise of the book is to focus on managing your energy, not your time. That’s a punchy way of telling a busy person, “Be less busy, and make time to restore your energy.” It shifts their focus away from time, because they’re already scarce on it and struggling to deliver results. Instead, it suggests that the reader focuses on energy, which they can renew in abundance. It reminds me of a post my friend Peter Kang wrote, which I’ll excerpt in full below: “There are two wolves and they are always fighting… One wolf represents anger, envy, sorrow, and the other represents joy, peace, and love.” A grandfather tells his grandson. “Which wolf wins?” asks the grandson. “The one you feed,” says the grandfather. I heard variations of this parable over the years and didn’t think too much of it. “Ah nice, nice, I get it,” I would say. But in recent years,…