Anni in Conversation On Time & Energy

Leaders in Conversation with Anni Townend

In this conversation, I share my thoughts about time and energy.

For many years, I've been quoting Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We're Working, Isn't Working, that energy, not time, is our most precious resource. And I've been encouraging leaders and their teams to manage their energies, all four of them; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. And I continue to think that this is super important.

Increasingly, however, I'm beginning to realise that for me, it is both time and energy that are our most precious resources, and that they are inextricably and closely intertwined. It takes time to manage your energies to truly look after your well being. For leaders, making this time is key, in order for us to show up at our generous best, and indeed, to have the impact we want to have on those around us.

So I am now not only encouraging leaders to manage their energies, by noticing how they are in their bodies, their mindset, their emotions, and finally connecting with their values and beliefs, but also to make time for this in their busy calendars, to find micro moments in their every day. The author Joseph Baldacci and his great book of the same title, encourages leaders to step back to take these micro moments to stop, pause, breathe and to notice, often described as switching off in many ways. I think of it as switching on to ourselves to being self aware, and then making time to take care of ourselves.