Introduction

In my previous article, I challenged outdated notions about time management and introduced a more sustainable approach to leadership—one rooted in energy-based planning that honors our humanity and real capacity. That piece explored the why behind energy management, using real-world case studies to reveal the hidden costs of time-centric productivity and the power of people-centered change. (You can read it here if you missed it.)

This article picks up where that one left off, shifting the focus from theory to practice.

Because the truth is this: Having a solid grasp on time is meaningless if your resources (energies) are scattered, misdirected, or even worse, are always low on reserves.

Now that you understand the importance of energy, let’s talk about how to manage it. I’ll walk you through three proven strategies to help you reclaim your energy, and by extension, your productivity and ongoing success. Because contrary to what hustle culture teaches us, it is actually possible to make simple changes to the way you work and get more time back for personal/family care, hobbies, and being an overall legendary boss.

Are you ready to restore your focus and disrupt the cycles that lead to burnout? Let’s dive in so you can make the most of your personal power, all while balancing out the harms of traditional corporate systems.

Strategy 1: Replenish Your Energy Regularly

Before you can effectively lead any projects or teams, you have to understand and honor your own needs, limitations, and motivations. Because perfection doesn’t exist and we must acknowledge the realities of being human in today’s world. We all have flaws, self-interests, and circumstances that influence how we think and act. And we can’t give what we don’t have. That’s why we begin with a self-audit to understand where your own energetic needs and gaps lie, and to explore ways to restore these drains on your energy.

Below is a brief list of activities that can support your different types of energy. Review them carefully while asking yourself the following two questions:

Which types of energy feel the most compromised at this time?
Which activities do I want to focus on to replenish myself?

Physical Energy:

Sleep - establish a consistent sleep schedule (naps are great too)
Nutrition - include nutrient-rich meals and snacks in your diet
Exercise - engage in moderate daily activity like walking / stretching
Rest / Relaxation - schedule intentional short breaks to recharge daily

Mental Energy:

Deep Work - set specific times to work on priorities without distractions
Journaling - take 5-10 minutes daily to reflect / organize your thoughts
Meditation - establish a daily meditation practice for clarity and less stress
Learning - dedicate time to learning or reading something stimulating

Emotional Energy:

Self-Talk - practice using supportive / compassionate internal dialogue
Mindfulness - pause throughout the day to notice feelings without judgment
Affirmations - build emotional resilience with positive affirmations
Community - connect with people who uplift and inspire you

Spiritual Energy:

Awareness - pause regularly to simply observe internal / external activity
Acceptance - practice releasing resistance and accepting reality as is
Forgiveness - release burdens by forgiving yourself and others openly
Prayer - make time to connect with your sense of purpose, faith, or spirituality

Creative Energy:

Self-Expression - engage in activities that allow your authentic expression
Pleasure - prioritize simple pleasures like hobbies or things that spark joy
Movement - take a walk, dance, or play sports to inspire creative thinking
Stillness - allow quiet, unstructured time to receive fresh perspectives / ideas

Once you’ve determined what you will do to help yourself, take a moment to review your current routines and schedule, then adjust how you will spend your time to include just ONE of your chosen activities.

REMINDER: Your goal here is not perfection but immediate progress. It is now up to you to prioritize your wellbeing and long-term success. Which requires adaptability and iteration. Give yourself a few weeks to settle into these changes, then review and adjust as needed.

Strategy 2: Set Clear Boundaries, With Yourself And Others

You’ve likely heard the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Unfortunately, that is not how things work, especially when you are leading a project or team. Because people are watching you, and in their minds, your actions hold more weight than your intentions. You set the standards. You are their model. And if you’re not modeling the things you say are important, then don’t be surprised to find your team behaving the same way.

Organizational culture is the sum of a people’s values, beliefs, and contributions. As a leader, you are at the forefront of said culture, and your actions either help to protect or deteriorate it.

Knowing this, you can begin to shift the way your team works by setting new standards and boundaries, and communicating them clearly. Below are a few examples to get you started:

General Guidelines for Business Hours

Daily start/end times
Policy for working or non-working lunch
Expectations for handling emergencies outside business hours

General Guidelines for Communications

Situations that are best discussed in emails vs DMs
Situations where a quick text or call is better
Autoresponders for when out-of-office
Expectations for handling communications while on vacation/leave

General Guidelines for Meetings & Scheduling

Preferred internal vs. external meeting days
Maximum hours available for meetings in a day
Expectations for on-screen vs off-screen meetings
Minimum hours needed for projects in a day
Reserved blocks of time for recurring admin work (emails/projects/research)

Before implementing these standards and boundaries, be sure to check in with HR for any potential conflicts in policy and administration. I also strongly suggest you discuss these with your team to get their input and buy-in. Although, some of these can be left to personal preference and simply need to be communicated.

Finally, if you are not in a position to be making such decisions, you can still sit down with your manager to discuss what can be done to protect your energy and productivity. It never hurts to ask.

Strategy 3: Assess Your Resources Before Saying Yes

I share this final strategy with you to help you manage the pressures to perform and compare. Because if left unchecked, these pressures become stifling motivations that slowly kill both careers and souls.

As I like to frequently remind us—We are not robots. Which means that we cannot constantly produce and achieve without facing dire consequences:

Constantly saying “yes” to more projects and interactions without regards to your own physical, mental, and emotional bandwidth leads to burnout

Constantly failing to reach deadlines because of impossible expectations (from self and/or others) leads to a loss of self-confidence and dissatisfaction with your work

Similarly, the pressure to compare yourself with others also deteriorates your well-being and ability, because what works for one person may not work for another due to individual needs.

This ties into your energetic foundations—

Your energy is affected by the foods you eat, by the quality of your sleep and daily activity, and by the people and environment that surround you.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter how well a particular system or process works for a colleague if their living situation is drastically different from your own. You can very well try to force something that doesn’t fit or that feels unnatural to you, but over time you will come to find that it only leads to frustration and resentment.

There are two important insights we can take away from this:

1. We cannot expect ourselves to consistently perform beyond our ability—beyond the limits of our resources and energy.

AND

2. We cannot truly compare our performance to others without taking internal and external factors into consideration.

Understanding this, we must ask ourselves—Why do we continue to say yes to more work without first considering our actual ability and capacity?

Maybe, you immediately say yes to more projects and tasks because you care about your organization’s cause and want to make a difference in other peoples lives.

Maybe, you say yes because you want others to recognize the importance of your work.

Or maybe, you say yes because you’re going after that next bonus or promotion.

Regardless of whether you do it for compassion, recognition, or ambition, these are all valid reasons for wanting to push the work forward. But does it make sense to carelessly do so if it will result in said downfalls (burnout, loss of self-confidence, dissatisfaction with your work, feelings of frustration and resentment)?

If you’re like me, then you will still want to do good work but not at the expense of your own health, happiness, and long-term success. Thankfully, it is possible to do so by adopting intentional pauses rather than immediate responses.

The next time you are approached with a request for a new project, client, or task, try answering with one of the following phrases:

“Let me check my current commitments and resources first, and I’ll confirm by tomorrow.”

“I’d love to help, but I need to evaluate my current workload before committing.”

“I appreciate you asking. Can we revisit this request once I’ve assessed my availability?”

This gives you the necessary space to realistically assess your capacity and capability, during which you can further explore alternatives like:

Delegating: Trust your capable team members to share responsibilities, empowering them and protecting your energy.

Deferring: Suggest revisiting less urgent tasks at a later, more feasible date.

Re-prioritizing: Adjust your current commitments thoughtfully to create space for genuinely important requests.

By consistently incorporating these phrases and assessments into your daily work, you foster clearer boundaries, sustainable productivity, and deeper trust with your team and stakeholders. All without sacrificing compassion, effectiveness, or your personal wellbeing.

Common Objections & Solutions

As you practice managing your energy and setting boundaries, you may find yourself brushing up against common limiting beliefs. Below are a few examples with reminders to help shift your thinking:

“I can’t slow down.”

Slowing down isn’t about losing momentum. It’s about creating space for sustained productivity. Practicing short, intentional pauses will help you to recharge and to work with intention, improving your decisions and overall efficiency.

“My organization doesn’t allow boundaries.”

Boundaries don't have to be rigid or confrontational. Start small, by blocking off brief periods in your calendar labeled "planning" or "focus time." The key to this is having clear communication around these protected periods, which will gradually shape expectations and organizational culture.

“Everyone expects me to always be available.”

Availability is not the same as effectiveness. By transparently communicating your realistic response times and windows of availability, you clearly define when you can be fully present. Your team and stakeholders will appreciate this level of clarity, engagement, and consistency.

While these objections may feel real, solutions do exist. Remember—

Honoring your energy is not selfish; it’s strategic.

It preserves your capacity, improves team effectiveness, and promotes organizational health. And by modeling healthy boundaries, you set a powerful example that inspires those around you to do the same.

The Real Driver of Sustainable Success? Your Energy.

If there’s one thing to take away from this article, it’s this:

You don’t need to master time—you need to manage your energy.

Your schedule, productivity, and leadership are only as strong as your capacity to show up with clarity, presence, and purpose. That starts with replenishing your own reserves, setting clear boundaries, and making intentional decisions about what (and who) gets your energy.

These small but powerful shifts aren’t just about personal wellbeing. They’re about creating a ripple effect. Because when you honor your energy, you model a new way forward for your team and organization, one that values sustainability over sacrifice, clarity over chaos, and purpose over pressure.

So let’s stop glorifying exhaustion and start building systems—within ourselves and our workplaces—that actually support the people doing the work.

The future of leadership is not time-bound. It is energy-led.

Start Now: 5 Actions To Reclaim Your Energy And Lead Smarter

Choose one type of energy to replenish this week—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or creative—and commit to a small daily activity that supports it.

Set or update one boundary—whether around communication, meeting limits, or focus time—and communicate it clearly to your team.

Use an intentional pause before saying yes to new requests: “Let me check my current capacity and I’ll get back to you.”

Delegate or defer one task currently on your plate to protect your focus and energy.

Reflect weekly on where your energy went, and where you want it to go next.

Ready To Put This Into Practice?

I created a free toolkit to help you get started with protecting your energy and finding a rhythm that supports both your professional goals and personal wellbeing.

✨ 3 Tools to Master Work-Life Balance

Avoid burnout and reclaim your peace with practical tools designed to help you work smarter, not harder. Inside, you will find:

Step-by-step instructions to apply the strategies from this article

A simple spreadsheet template to track your bandwidth and reset your schedule

Prompts to help you reflect and prioritize with clarity

➡️ Get the free toolkit here and take your first step toward a more balanced, sustainable way of leading.

With you on this journey,

Cinthia

3 Strategies For Managing Your Energy Like A Pro