Deep Dive Series: The Power of No for Energy Management
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
One of my favorite podcasts is On Purpose with Jay Shetty. The April 4, 2025 episode of the podcast talked about morning habits to boost energy and focus. One of Jay’s pieces of advice is the art of saying no principle. According to Jay, saying no to low priority things is essential. He suggests we start small and practice saying no. Ask will this energize me or deplete me? We burn out because we look at activities and tasks as time and not energy. If we have time, we’ll do it. But just because we have the time doesn’t mean we’ll have the energy. For every invitation we receive, ask not only do I have the time, but also do I have the energy?
In my own life, the idea of energy management is a foreign concept for most people. This issue comes up frequently when people are planning family or friend group vacations. Planners are so excited about everyone being together that they plan activity after activity after activity, expecting everyone to be present at each event and giving no thought to the fact that there’s no way people will be able to keep up with the energy required for everything. My spouse and I are very aware of our typical energy levels, so we practice the art of saying no quite a bit when we know that if we try to power through beyond our capabilities that we’ll just be low energy, crabby downers. Energy management is an oft neglected self-knowledge data point that can make life so much easier when we add it to our decision-making skills. If you’ve never paid attention to your own energy levels, start taking note of when you get crabby during the day and how much activity you’ve done up to that point/the time of day/how long you’ve been going/and any other relevant patterns. Treat it as an experiment in knowing yourself better, and use the data you collect to help you more readily say no to anything that won’t get the best version of you because of low energy levels.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team