The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

by Jim Loehr

Great leaders are stewards of organizational energy. They begin by effectively managing their own energy. As leaders, they must mobilize, focus, invest, channel, renew and expand the energy of others. Full engagement is the energy state that best serves performance. Principle 1: Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Principle 2: Because energy diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal. Principle 3: To build capacity we must push beyond our normal limits, training in the same systematic way that elite athletes do. Principle 4: Positive energy rituals—highly specific routines for managing energy—are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance. Making change that lasts requires a three-step process: DefinePurpose, Face the Truth and Take Action.