Energy Zappers
So far, you have:
✅ Visualised both your current workday and your ideal one to understand the gap between the two.
✅ Looked at where your level of satisfaction is in each area of your life through the wheel of life.
✅ Completed a self-care check-in and needs review to identify where you may want to take more care of yourself.
Now, let’s talk about work…
At the outset, we discussed that burnout is an occupational phenomenon and is a result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. In this exercise, naming your energy zappers, it is about amplifying what you found in the visualisation exercise and getting clear on what is contributing to workplace stress.
What are energy zappers?
Energy zappers at work can come in a myriad of forms. The bottom line though, is they zap energy and contribute to workplace stress which inevitably increases the risk of burnout when they are not addressed appropriately. Practical examples of energy zappers are:
- Clutter
- Unfinished work
- Spending time on tasks that you should not have to do
- Workflow
- Other people/staff attitudes
- Conversations left avoided
- Time management
- Situations that repeat themselves like groundhog day
- Crossed boundaries (or no boundaries!)
- Unmet needs (needing a holiday when you haven’t had one)
- Decisions not made
Exercise
In the materials section, print out and write down the specific things that are zapping your energy at work. Name for example the:
- process that isn’t working
- conversation/s you haven’t had
- decision that hasn’t been made
Then, rank them in order of energy zapping level. This may give you a clue on where you may want to start first when we get to the next section, Rebalance.