If you want to work on your health and/or performance, the words energy & mindset come to mind. But how can you influence these in both positive and less positive ways? We explain it using the 'Energy Mindset Quadrant' from the book Work Smart Play Smart.co.uk
The energy mindset quadrant
The original model was developed by journalist Tony Schwartz and psychologist Jim Loehr in 2001.[1] We have made it a little more practical which, in our humble opinion, makes it more recognizable in your daily life. The model is based on your amount of energy and the positivity of your mindset. When you put the two against each other, you get four quadrants.
Performance zone
The best place to sit is the performance zone. This is where your energy is high and your mindset is positive. You can get the most work done here, make the best choices and, perhaps most importantly, this is where you can concentrate best. Also, have the opportunity to get into flow. A kind of state of mental superpower. In flow, you perform better, get more done, make fewer mistakes and work takes the least amount of energy. Moreover, flow also gives you a positive feeling.[1] We return to this in more detail in the chapter on focus (ed. in the book Work Smart Play Smart.co.uk). In it we explain how to achieve flow faster and more often, because there are simple techniques for this as well.
Irritation Zone
You can, on the whole, perform for about sixty to ninety minutes. After that, your energy and therefore your performance really wane. You know the feeling when you are exercising hard. You have given everything and you notice that you start to get tired. You don't know if you will make it to the finish line or if you will be able to finish that last set. You begin to doubt. When you have to get that final motivation out of yourself, it's often tremendously difficult. If you have a personal trainer next to you or a team around you, they often help you get more out of yourself than you thought possible. In fact, you often have more energy and stamina than you think. You carry on with your willpower, but your energy diminishes rapidly.
When you are at work, you don't notice this as much. You can go on longer without really realizing that your energy level is going down. Then again, first your positive mindset deteriorates. Motivation decreases, you become less solution-oriented and your concentration decreases. You become less focused and you end up in the irritation zone. As in Meyerson's story. Hard and long work, late sessions, lots of stress, poor communication and increasing annoyance in the team. Especially if you have slept badly, worked too much, performed continuously at the top of your game, you are more easily irritated, don't always communicate clearly (although you may think you do), are more likely to make mistakes and have a shorter fuse. You don't even have to notice this yourself. When I mention this during a presentation, someone invariably shouts cheerfully, "Aah! Now I know what zone my partner has been in for the past few years."
The person who shouts this can always count on an applause of recognition, even once on a standing ovation, but actually it is very negative. Indeed, people can remain in the irritation zone for years. Each time they can escape just in time from general exhaustion through a vacation or perhaps a new job somewhere else. Then at first things go well again for a while until the novelty wears off. Then the motivation subsides again, with the energy right after.
We all waste an enormous amount of time this wayEspecially during lockdown, most people have been working way too long and too hard in a combination of adrenaline and survival instincts. That's fine for a while, but then the effectiveness wanes. We deliver the same thing, but it takes longer, takes more effort and may not be the thing you would have done best at all.
Burnout
With any luck, things eventually go wrong. From the irritation zone you lapse into burnout. I say "luck," because for many it is salvation. The opportunity to finally turn their lives around and move forward in the right direction. People who experience burnout have often been running from themselves for years. Therefore, it is also simply silly to see people who have suffered burnout as weak. It is doubtful, however, whether they have set the right priorities. They are often people who have tried to keep too many balls high. The work-life combination thus comes under pressure. At some point the monkey mind takes over completely and clouds all logical thinking. You just start working harder. And also make more mistakes, become cynical and lose all puff. You don't take the time to eat healthily and exercise, and you sleep worse. Because: as long as you show that you work hard, at least they can't say anything about it.
Hence also "happiness. People forget how much potency they waste in the irritation zone. You could almost say they are suffering their lives. They keep going down the same road. Without thinking of how to do it smarter, because that takes energy. Rather known misery, than unknown happiness.
Yet there is now a lot of research showing that having a positive mindset, the aforementioned growth mindset, also makes you more resistant to burnout and other mental challenges. In any case, the right mindset helps you recover better afterwards. Indeed, the phrase: What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger certainly applies here. Post-traumatic growth, as this phenomenon is called, shows that you can become more powerful in life after an intense experience or major event.[2] Literally stronger through misery, as also described in the book of the same name by therapist Anja Jongkind and researcher Greet Vonk.[3] So in the end, the biggest risk is not that you end up in burnout. The biggest risk is that you will linger in the irritation zone for far too long.
By the way, it is a misconception that only people who are dissatisfied with their work, can't cope with the work or just work severely below their level (bore-out) can get overworked or burnout. Even if you love your work and are inspired, you can lose motivation and pass yourself by. Resilience is therefore not created by constantly holding on, but rather by letting go once in a while. We don't work too hard, we recharge too little.[4]
Recharge
So that's the last quadrant. Whether you are in the performance zone, the irritation zone or in burnout, the way back to performance is always through recharging. Consciously taking a rest. Smartly relaxing. Because recharging is also something you can do right and wrong. In chapter 5 we look at how you can do this optimally.
So to avoid that irritation zone, you have to pay close attention to your energy. Only, as you read earlier: when we experience a lot of stress and high workload, our ratio goes out the door first. We forget to take good care of ourselves. We neglect the very energy sources we need even more.
Like a car, we need fuel to function properly. In an old barrel, it doesn't really matter what you put in, it plods along anyway. However, you can imagine that Max Verstappen wants only the very best ratio of fuel in his Formula 1 car. The same goes for himself. To perform optimally, he is very conscious about his own energy balance. His training, nutrition, breathing, relaxation, it all contributes to the final result on the track.[5] So if you have determined your future state, you know where you want to go and why that is important to you, you have the right mindset to actually get there, then you then need the right energy to take action and follow through.
The fuel we need to do this consists largely of food, water and respiration. For my previous book, I worked with a team of experts to develop our knowledge about these external energy sources. If you'd like to review that, you can find it in the ebook Recharge. You get those for free with my new book Work Smart Play Smart.co.uk.
Resources[1] Csikszentmihályi, M. (1988), The flow experience and its significance for human psychology, in Csikszentmihályi, M. (ed.), Optimal experience: psychological studies of flow in consciousness, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 15, ISBN 978-0-521-43809-4[2] Jongkind, A., & Vonk, G. (2020, March) Stronger through misery. S2 Publishers.[3] idem[4] Achor, S., & Gielan, M. (2016, June 24). Resilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure[[5]](https://hashtagrecharge.com/nl/energie-mindset-quadrant-uit-het-boek-work-smart-play-smart/#_ftnref5) Meens, S. (2015, Feb. 13). A day in the life of Max Verstappen. Verstappen.com. https://verstappen.com/en/article/2009[[1]](https://hashtagrecharge.com/nl/energie-mindset-quadrant-uit-het-boek-work-smart-play-smart/#_ftnref1) Schwartz, T., & McCarthy, C. (2007, October). Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2007/10/manage-your-energy-not-your-time.
