I’ve been reading an interesting book this week, The Power of Full Engagement, by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, which proposes a huge paradigm shift for those of us seeking life balance from better productivity, high performance, and improved time management.  The authors suggest that energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance and personal renewal.  It’s not the number of hours in our day, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us.  Ideally, we should be eager to get to work and happy to return home, with clear boundaries between the two.  We are asked to consider life, optimally, as a series of sprints, not a marathon.

Barriers to high performance (full engagement) include the squandering and misuse of energy by poor eating habits, the failure to seek recovery of energy once expended, negativity, and poor focus.  The heart of this work is grounded in 25 years working with high-profile athletes to improve performance.  A step-by-step program is presented to mobilize, balance, and expand the four sources of energy: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Interestingly, the authors utilize coaching processes as their roadmap for change: identification of values and purpose, identification of obstacles/barriers, action plans, and accountability.