7 Signs You’re Over-Extending Your Energies

One of the assessment tools I use helps leaders understand their brain preferences – and brain preferences, unless consciously considered, can translate into behaviours.

One of the ‘styles’ is the Energizer.

The leader who is passionate, enthused, full of ideas and willing to jump in and solve problems with a practical solution.

They rally people to get moving and get things done. But in their enthusiasm, they may overextend themselves – creating burnout and stress, not just for themselves, but for those around them.

It’s a classic case of spreading yourself too thin.

What are seven signs you might be heading that way?

You’re talking about yourself in the third person. ”Here’s someone who doesn’t know how to say ‘no’.”

You’re dreaming of the mundane. If you wake up crafting an email in your mind you might be overexerting your subconscious.

Your texts look like cryptic ‘find the missing word’ puzzles. If vague, disjointed, missing crucial grammar and overly short, your brain may be exhausted.

Slow walkers drive you crazy. If you find yourself inwardly cursing the amblers in front of you, your patience (and perspective?) are seriously depleted.

Your sense of humour changes. Where before you were playfully teasing, now you’re cynically sarcastic.

You lose everyday objects in unusual places. If you find your phone in the fridge or your keys in medicine cabinet your brain might be overloaded and misfiling information.

You remember random facts but not whether you’ve eaten. If you’re able to recite who wore what on a recent red carpet, but not what you had for lunch – or whether you even ate lunch – your priorities may be misplaced.

Of course, there are other more obvious signs, which you already know, but which possibly bear repeating:

• You keep saying ‘yes’ to everything that comes your way.
• You step in to take over a project that’s not moving at your preferred pace.
• You feel overwhelmed at the sight of your to-do list- and don’t know where to start.
• You start conversations with: ”This is what you need to do (even before a cursory, ‘Hi, how are you?’)”
• You feel ‘switched off’ from typical emotions: You aren’t feeling anything – just detachment or numbness.
• You’re constantly drained: No matter how much you sleep, you don’t feel rested or refreshed.
• Your work quality is declining: The pile of work is preventing deep focus and adequate attention.
• Elevated procrastination: You’re not just putting things off, you’re avoiding tasks altogether.
• People don’t look pleased to see you: Your team members and colleagues are worried by the prospect you may offload on them, criticize their work, or just bring their mood down.

What to do?

Just like butter on bread, when you spread it too thinly, it has no impact. And so it is with leadership.

Ask yourself: How much of a positive impact is my behaviour having – on my own all round success and on that of my team?

Here are seven tips to address the compulsion.

Ruthlessly audit your commitments: Do you really need to give your energy to this? I mean, really?

Prioritize recovery: Ask any athlete – rest is essential for peak performance. Schedule it.

Single-task: Multi-tasking is a myth. Focus on one thing at a time.

Micro-breaks: Five minutes for a walk and stretch. Two minutes to close your eyes and totally switch off. It recenters, re-energizes and de-stresses you.

Be your best friend: Listen to the advice you would give a best friend in this situation – and act on it.

Daily Stand-Ups: Just as in the agile world, take a few minutes to check-in with your own status every day. How are you really feeling? Is there any action you need to take?

Bigger Questions

Here are some bigger questions around leadership that you might also want to consider.

Do you really delegate?

If you believe you can do this better (and probably you can), then remind yourself, that’s not your job – it’s to help your team members do this better.

Is your perfectionism out of control?

What is fit for purpose? If you’re expecting more than that and jumping in to resolve, can you reign in your habit?

Are you suffering from ‘Pleaser Syndrome’?

If you are still on the quest to make others happy, remind yourself that giving of yourself is good – on three conditions:

• If your giving is in alignment with your goals and purpose
• If giving to others doesn’t impact your deliverables
• If those you give to also reciprocate as required.

As Adam Grant noted in ‘Give and Take’, givers are simultaneously the highest and lowest performers in organizations. The highest performers follow those guidelines.

Finally, you can spread yourself too thin for some amount of time, but know when you need to focus your energies on a smaller surface area.

You don’t want to be that leader who lacks impact.