Preserve Your Energy!

Tip – Preserve your energy (see my top 5 tips below). Avoid back to back meetings & constant ‘camera-on’ calls. 30 mins between calls gives you resting, thinking and follow up time.

How do you preserve your energy?

People have described me as a “crazy dynamo”, and I often hear things like…

“Wow you have soooooo much energy”

“How much coffee do you drink before you host an event?

“How do you keep your energy levels going for 90 minutes?”

The simple answer to this is….I’ve learnt (through many failures) to preserve my energy. 

The truth is, if you want to perform well, you have to consciously put time and effort into preserving your energy, so you have some well needed “OOMPH!”

I write about this in chapter 23 of my book Goodbye Glossophobia

Like any normal human being, I am exhausted after a 90-minute LIVE event. I sometimes lie down in a dark room with a Yoga-style-eye-pillow over my face to recharge my batteries.

Confession. I used to cram in meetings, calls and several events per day. Then I realised I only had so much capacity.

The other week my client was about to dial in to a live event we were hosting together at around 5pm and I was shocked to hear she was “just finishing another important Teams call” just before we tuned in for the tech check.

I could tell her mind wasn’t in the zone and she didn’t have any ‘room’ to focus, think, breathe or re-charge her batteries for the event. As a result, she was flustered, a bit fumbly and not as fluent as she could have been.  If only she’d spent a few extra minutes on ….chilling time. She would have been so much better.

I used to do it myself. It might sound familiar to you. I used to cram in calls, the 10 o’clock zoom, the extra quick VAT discussion with my accountant at 10.30am, a new business call with a senior client at 11am, then a brainstorm with L&D at noon… 

My diary was FILLED to the brim back to back with no thinking time, follow up time, focus time or even feeding time. Some days I didn’t even have time to go to the loo! (WC) Have you ever fallen foul of back to backs?

I had to stop it. I had to stop cramming. I had to preserve my energy.

Just because your diary says “FREE” it doesn’t mean your brain is.

I realised I was running out of bandwidth, and I can see many of my client falling into the same trap.

One time when I was producing a live show at the BBC I thought it was a good idea to go for a very important promotion-panel interview at 10am having produced a live show from 6am-9am.  At the time I didn’t think I was sabotaging my career by NOT giving myself the bandwidth to perform at the best of my ability. I thought one hour was enough to re-charge my batteries. I was wrong. My brain was tired. I’d been up since 3.45am.

I was so focussed on other people and making sure the show was in good shape, I clean forgot to nurture my own needs. This taught me a harsh lesson.  

Funnily enough, I didn’t perform well on that occasion, and I didn’t get the position.

When it comes to pitching, chairing a board meeting or speaking in public – you really do need to be at the top of your game so you MUST, MUST, MUST, give yourself time, the right kind of time, to prepare and get into the zone.

After nearly 2 years of lockdown, back to back ZOOM-DOOM diary days and hundreds of client anecdotes and tip sharing, here are...

5 ways to preserve your energy and PERFORM better every day!

1 – Take Breaks. The gaps between calls are almost as important as the calls themselves. Your brain needs time to digest and THINK.

Shorten ALL meetings. Leave ‘follow up’ gaps in the diary.

2 – Have a power nap. In Daniel Pink’s book, “Time” he talks about a “nappuccino”. As someone who used to get up to produce a live show at the BBC at 3.45am,  I became the queen of the power nap. The rule? It’s got to be under 30 mins, so you don’t fall into a deep sleep. If you have a coffee before your nap, you wake up with a double whammy effect, hence ‘nappuccino’! Try it, it’s great.

3 – Cut the Caffeine. Saying that. Big tip. Avoid Caffeine just before your pitch, meeting or moment of high performance. Why? It will make your heart rate go up which can cause shaking, jitters, and blushing and your mouth is much more likely to go dry. Drink water if you want natural energy.

4 – One “gig” a day. I used to cram in more than one important ‘set piece’ per day. It could be an event, a pitch or a top level meeting. Sometimes I’d get the train to the location – could be London to Leeds or a flight to Budapest or Brussels and I’d perform on stage or do the podcast that same day! 

Unless you have a very relaxed journey and a break/nap/ shower with plenty of downtime, DON’T cram in travel, meetings, phone calls and energy zapping activities. If you want to perform well at the event or pitch, give yourself at least an hour of focus and downtime before you strut your stuff. (I’m still working on this)

5 – Eat smart. When you’re nervous or performing at the top of your game the last thing you want to do is eat. I’ve tried everything.

I find eating early in the day is good, but not too much. Food can ZAP your energy. You want something that fills you up enough to stop your tummy rumbling, like energy bars, nuts or fruit.

Also, if you are dressed for the occasion, you don’t want sloppy soup or sauce splattered down your front!

 I often advise my clients to eat porridge for breakfast on the day of a big panel or job interview.  SLOW releasing energy that won’t ‘repeat’ on you if you get anxious. Ever had a funny tummy before your BIG on-air moment?  Yes, me too. Porridge or a banana are super safe and sensible! 

 If you’d like to chat about how perform with bags of energy and oomph when it really counts I’ve helped hundreds of clients nail their interviews, keynotes and pitches. Get in touch for a free chat – drop me a message.

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