Entrepreneurs need to attract resources like people, energy, money, time - and sometimes they need to decide to let them go. In this article we explore the energy resource and the art of managing it.
Stay energized
As an entrepreneur your energy could be considered your main resource. Without it there is nothing left. Still entrepreneurs tend to treat this resource as an endless source.
Entrepreneurs tend to be high performers and high energy people. They do have more of this resource than most others. Still it is a resource to manage. What if you drain it? What is left of your business if you run out of energy and can’t get out of bed? Knowing where to find energy, how to work with others’ and when to stop pouring it is essential skills to an entrepreneur.
In coaching we often work on topics of where the entrepreneur reloads batteries and find new energy. You need to have a well-equipped tool box of getting energy into your system, personally and on business level. In start-ups a lot of the energy within a company comes from a powerful vision and you as the beacon of it. This means you will need to stay energized and to energize systems around you.
Knowing what energizes you and how to refill is a core skill. It may not be traditional ways, entrepreneurs tend to be free spirits, thus you need to give yourself time to find your ways and use them. If mountain climbing is the thrill you need then go get it. If a day off on the couch, curtains down and tv off, is what you need then make space for it. You can’t order energy to come. You attract it by creating the environment in which your personal energy thrives.
Networking as energizer but beware of draining
Being an introvert or an extrovert may affect you deeply as an entrepreneur. In example the extrovert may walk home from a networking event refilled with new energy but get drained by the following four days of home bound follow up work while the introvert may be exhausted by the social gathering but get re-energized in the solitary work of reseraching leads and developing offers suited.
Attracting energy can be done by building your own support networks. Friends and family hopefully but not necessarily are part of them but in any case, you will need more. You will have good use of people around you who can share energy when you are low. Sharing office, having lunch meetings, breakfast gatherings, phone sessions, playing golf together. Forms can vary but entrepreneurs tend to have energizing networks around them and the successful ones stay energized enough to always show up able to share some while reloading.
Sometimes these energizing places turn into draining. Networks can fade out and no longer give you the boost you need or be filed by people with a different kind of energy. In example a lunching network started as a business exchange can turn into a social club and as you go along you realize these aren’t the kind of people I would spend my time socializing with if that had been my goal in coming here. Or you share office with people whose daily habits start to be so far apart from your own it is no longer an energizing experience to be around.
Don’t stay in old habits because the are short hand comfortable. Keep a close eye on your energy level and make sure you always have the extra energy to spare when a good opportunity comes your way – don’t waste too much of it on things not taking you where you want to be. There is always respectful options to stop energy pouring out where it shouldn’t.
Want to listen in other entreprenurs experiences and try out coaching tools to help you manage yours? Join our free webinar during ICF international coaching week.
