Energy is important for everything you do. When someone gets a burnout, we think that he/she spent too much energy. On the other hand, we all know people who seem to have endless energy without getting burned out. How do they manage? In the music business, everyone I know more personally who is working there for more than 10 years has had a burn-out.
To start with, it’s important to know what activities give you energy and what activities take your energy. This is very individual, different for every person. My sister thrives on activities in a group. It gives her energy, she needs some group-activities every weekend. With me it works quite different. I feel exhausted after I’ve spent hours participating in a group. It’s one-on-one meetings that give me energy. After every group-activity I plan some time for myself to recover. How is that for you? Does it depend per situation or group?
Energy is about taking care of yourself, your body and mind. You probably know the paradox that you get energy from jogging and fitness. It supports your body and your mind. Spending time in nature, doing yoga, or meditate also helps. For me it’s a mix of gym and yoga every morning and I take the bicycle to the office.
Have you ever experienced working in a flow, the moments when you are hyper concentrated and everything goes easy and effortless? You forget about time when you are in a flow. If you know this, you also know that you can gain energy from work too, from working in a flow. It feels SO good! The biggest killer for the flow is multitasking. Often you can’t avoid it, that’s why you certainly shouldn’t plan it. Multitasking is an energy-killer.