How I shifted from Managing a Schedule to Managing my Energy
I used to believe that success was measured in hours. I wore exhaustion like a badge of honor.
The longer I worked... the more I achieved... the closer I thought I was to fulfillment. I chased productivity like it owed me something. I booked every available hour with back-to-back commitments... squeezed in “fun” networking events as if that would keep me sharp... and prided myself on never stopping.
But something cracked.
I don’t know if it was the late nights spent staring into the blue glow of a screen... or the way my body began quietly shutting down with headaches, irritability, and forgetfulness. Maybe it was how my relationship began feeling more like a to-do list than a safe space. Maybe it was the moment I looked in the mirror and realized... I didn't even recognize the woman looking back.
Burnout doesn’t arrive with a loud announcement. It creeps in slowly. It shows up as exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix... as disconnection from people you love... as brain fog and low motivation even for things you once enjoyed. The World Health Organization now recognizes burnout as a legitimate occupational phenomenon. It's marked by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).
For me, it felt like a slow unraveling. And I was unraveling quietly... while performing loudly.
Becoming a mother brought everything into sharper focus. Suddenly, I wasn’t just sacrificing my well-being... I was showing my child that this was the norm. That in order to be “successful,” you had to constantly betray your body and your joy. That wasn’t the legacy I wanted to leave behind.
So I began to question everything...
I went back to school to study Industrial-Organizational Psychology, hoping to better understand the systems I was part of... and the beliefs I was blindly obeying. I studied workplace culture, motivation theory, and the hidden drivers of burnout. I paired this with a deepening spiritual path... one that taught me to value stillness as much as motion.
And in that stillness... I found myself.
The first major shift was redefining what productivity meant. I stopped measuring my worth in output... and started honoring my capacity. I asked myself... What actually energizes me? What drains me?
Turns out, I didn’t tire from work that inspired me. I didn’t feel depleted after connecting deeply with clients or building meaningful projects. But I did feel drained by unnecessary meetings, arbitrary deadlines, and keeping up appearances.
So I gave myself permission to build a new model...
Three days per week for output. That’s it. Focused, intentional, and aligned action. Then two full days for input... rest, inspiration, learning, and reflection. These input days weren’t lazy or unproductive. They were essential. They helped me return to work filled... not frayed.
I began to delegate more. Say no more. Delete more. And everything shifted.
My creativity returned... not like a burst of lightning... but like the slow warmth of morning sun. My relationships deepened. My health began to repair itself. I remembered what it felt like to feel alive.
I wish more people knew that managing your energy is not a luxury. It is a necessity. According to research by Shirom and Melamed (2006), unmanaged burnout can significantly impact cardiovascular health and immune system function... linking emotional exhaustion directly to physical decline (Shirom & Melamed, 2006).
But here’s the good news... you can design a new way. You can rewrite the rules.
You are not a machine. You are a living system... and living systems need cycles. Need space. Need restoration.
Now, I still work. I still create. I still show up professionally. But I do it on my terms. I’m no longer just managing a calendar... I’m managing my energy. And I protect that energy with everything I’ve got.
Because a full glass doesn’t just serve me... it overflows into everything I touch.
Interested in the science?
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Shirom, A., & Melamed, S. (2006). A comparison of the construct validity of two burnout measures in two groups of professionals. International Journal of Stress Management, 13(2), 176–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/1072-5245.13.2.176
