Energy Drains and Energy Gains

The people you spend time with either drain your energy and deplete your internal energy reserves, or they help you to recharge your batteries by virtue of their own outgoing personality and attitude.

Think about the last few appointments you had scheduled with different individuals. Did you look forward to some meetings more than others?

I’ll bet the ones you looked forward to were with positive people you felt good being around, and no matter how long the meeting was and how much time you spent with them you walked away feeling renewed and refreshed. Even though you burned brain power and calories meeting with them, you felt more energized after the meeting than you did going into it.

On the other hand, I’ll bet there were a few appointments with people you were not looking forward to. Perhaps you even dreaded the meeting and contemplated canceling it altogether. The person you were going to meet likely had a negative attitude and a sour personality. You always feel tired, perhaps even exhausted, after spending any amount of time with them. The rest of your day may have even been ruined because their negativity infected you. No matter how brightly the sun is shining or how many birds are singing in the flowering trees — the sky seemed more cloudy, the colors duller, and… don’t those look like storm clouds on the horizon?

I have three words of advice for those meetings with the first type of person:
Meet More Often.

I also have three words of advice for the second type of person:
Stop Meeting Them!

Your time is precious.

Your energy needs to be conserved and focused on those things that bring you the most joy and the best results.

You have a finite number of hours in the day. Spend those hours with the people who make your days better, and let those other people fly away on their dark leathery bat-like wings to go cast a shadow on someone else’s day.