I often get the question “How do I get everything done and how do I handle everything?” Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to that question, but one thing I work very hard on is ”handling energy theif”. An energy thief can be many different things, but to me the most common are:
- I think I’m past the deadline for something (almost always, these deadlines are set up for myself).
- When I feel that I don’t really know how to solve a problem or a challenge.
- When I consider that a decision is important, but I need to deal with someone and the counterparty feel that the decision equally important.
An energy theif is something that I have a hard time letting go of, which make it difficult for me to focus on something else. For example. Right now we need to ”handle” our car situation at home. Buy a new one and sell the old one? Renovate the old one? Buy new or buy used, etc. This is a decision that both my partner and I need to decide on, but because I drive the car 9/10 times, it’s mostly my decision. The crux, however, is that he owns our current car.
This challenge comes with many choices; how long will the decision take? how much do we want to put into a car? how much will we drive the next year, how far? Will our choice of car affect how much we drive? etc. This is clearly a decision we have been thinking about for a while, but since we would have to buy new winter tires for our current car, by December 1st due to Swedish law, we need to decide soon, or we need to buy new tires.
This is a clear energy thief as I cannot stop thinking about it, and above all, it makes me incredibly ineffective, which clearly drives stress. If I’m going to make an analysis of web traffic, I’ll analyze the car budget, if I review the communication for a customer, I’ll consider the pros and cons of our different choices.
I should have done it before, but it took me all of yesterday to understand what an energy thief this has been for me. So you know what, today I”m making the decision so that I can let go of this energy thief.
So when you realize you have an energy thief. Handle it first, it will reduce stress and make you more efficient.