During my second year of business school, I took a leadership development class.
While it had nothing to do with marketing, sales, finance or any of the usual MBA buzzwords, it may have been the best class I took.
There were many reasons why it was a great course. My professor was great and the class had a great chemistry.
We also read a book called “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
Curiously enough, I was at another inflection point and it turned out to be exactly what I needed.
We know, both in an academic sense and an instinctual level that if we treat ourselves well, we will be capable of getting more and better results from the world.
The book’s main treatise is that “fully engaged energy”, not time, is our most precious resource.
At it’s most basic, “fully engaged energy” is made up of four separate, but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
And here is something important: energy is consumed by both use and lack of use. If we do not engage in activities that consume some portions of our energies, we end up lethargic and slow. On the other hand, we can also overextend our energies and get injured or sick.
It’s a delicate balance and I’m sad to say there is no magic bullet. Everyone is different.
The key is to find our baselines. Then decide what, if anything, we wish to change about those capacities.
After that, making lasting change is a three-step process: defining our purpose, facing the truth, and taking action.
Tomorrow, let’s get further down the rabbit hole with those topics.
In the meantime, live triumphantly.
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