For Book Club, I've been reading The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
Over the last week I covered Chapters 1 through 5 and here are some of my thoughts
Chapter 1 - Fully Engaged: Energy not Time, Is Our Most Precious Resource
This chapter introduces the book and list the various types of energies that operate in harmony with each other -
- Physical
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual
These energy level need to be renewed and recharged. Capacity diminishes over time, jut like a regular battery.
Because energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal.
Chapter 2 - The Disengaged Life of Roger B
“The problem was that he found himself forever responding to other people’s issues and rarely setting his own agenda .... there seemed to be no time anymore for longer-term projects. Instead, Roger lived his life from email to email, demand to demand, crisis to crisis.”
Chapter 3 - The Pulse of High Performance: Balancing Stress and Recovery
The topic of this chapter is probably well known by now, but practiced infrequently. It is important to take breaks to recharge and recover. The pro athlete examples listed in this chapter were especially insightful. The quality and routine of the recovery and stopping points is a major differentiator in what makes one athlete better than another.
“You’re never fully engaged in what you’re doing at any given moment, because what you really want to do is finish it in order to get on to something else. You kind of skim along the surface of life. It’s very frustrating.”
Chapter 4 - Physical Energy: Fueling the Fire
This chapter certainly felt longer than the previous one, and it took me several short reading sprints through out the day to concentrate and complete it. The case studies and lessons within are what I took away from this chapter. Here are some of the relevant quotes
On eating small calorie meals at regular intervals -
high-glycemic foods such as muffins or sugary cereals spike energy for short periods but prompt a crash in as few as thirty minutes.
On Circadians And Sleep -
The final step in her ritual was to read for fifteen or twenty minutes—nonfiction. When she became absorbed in a novel, it tended to draw her in and keep her awake.
On Mental Recharging -
A classical music aficionado, he decided to put on his Walkman and listen to Beethoven or Mozart while he ate.
Bruce discovered yet another form of recovery during the time he spent with us: yoga and breathing. At 3:00 P.M., he closed the door to his office, took off his shoes, and went through his postures on the floor for ten minutes.
Chapter 5 - Emotional Energy: Transforming Threat into Challenge
The numerous interspersed case studies helped me get through this long chapter. The authors could have been less verbose in making their point. Nevertheless, I highlighted a few sections and here are my thoughts on some of them
It is important to recharge physical energy through exercise in spite of emotional upsets -
“I now [make] a conscious effort to regain my physiological balance quickly after an upset,” he explains. “I try not to stay stuck in negativity. My goal is to return my body to its normal, healthier state as soon as possible.”
With the changing nature of work in the pandemic, the following may no longer be relevant for everybody -
Gallup found that the key drivers of productivity for employees include whether they feel cared for by a supervisor or someone at work; whether they have received recognition or praise during the past seven days;
If this book was revised, the following quote would include Netflix and Social Media. I wish this chapter provided concrete alternatives though. The case studies only skimmed the surface and I couldn’t relate to some of the rituals that the authors devised for their clients.
For the most part, however, watching television is the mental and emotional equivalent of eating junk food.
Empathy has became a lot common in the workplace during the last two years, especially during the first months of the pandemic when most employees had a tough time adjusting to working from home. This is something that most people can relate to -
True empathy requires letting go of our own agendas, at least temporarily.