⚡️ Today’s level up ⚡️

In this edition, I get into why managing your energy is just as important, if not more important, than managing time. Then I share a helpful system for better energy management so you can perform at your best each day.

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Hey everyone 👋 ,

As we learned last week, time is a finite resource – we’re all given the same 1,440 minutes each day. But having this time means nothing if your energy is low. So the key differentiator you hold as a top performer is how effective you are at managing and leveraging your energy.

Today’s system helps you rethink energy management in a new way and leverage it effectively by thinking and treating yourself like a pro athlete.

Let’s go!

Read time: <5 minutes

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The way we’re working isn’t working

Quick test…

How much battery is left on your computer?

How about your phone?

Now…how about you?

The sad thing is you can probably identify how much battery is left on your devices a lot easier than you can of yourself.

Sure, there are signs of burnout and illness that show up, but chances are they get ignored due to mounting pressures and fast-approaching deadlines (thanks a lot hustle culture) and are acted on way too late (the grass looks a little greener at that other company, am I right?).

For years, I went hard in sales. I subscribed to hustle culture, activity around the clock, and adopted a “rest when I die” attitude.

It landed me in the hospital with a mini-stroke in 2011.

What did I care about while I laid in the hospital bed, half blind because the stroke impaired my vision, and my wife was freaking out?

Work.

I typed away to my boss on my BlackBerry Torch making sure my accounts were being taken care of and that she could cover me on my largest account.

I guess Elon would’ve been proud…that was the epitome of being “extremely hardcore.”

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A new way emerged (slowly)

You would’ve thought a brush with death would have been a wake up call (I had just turned 32 a few weeks before the stroke), but sadly it wasn’t.

I got back into my old ways, moved on from that television advertising sales job, got into SaaS, and then eventually climbed my way from SMB, to mid-market, to enterprise, and then strategic accounts back in 2018.

I was successful in each of those roles, and for 24 months from 2018 – 2019, I built an $11M a year book of business (ARR). Good, but man, was I exhausted.

My life was:

– Being on a flight 20 days a month

– 4-5 hours of sleep was the norm, not the exception

– Drinking alcohol just about daily (why say no to free drinks in first class)?

I tried, I really did, to be healthier.

But the bad habits are tough to break when it’s high stress and you’re constantly on the go.

I know many of you reading this can relate.

As the pandemic put an abrupt halt on that lifestyle (for everyone), I was drawn to developing a consistent daily schedule (similar to my days with a Romanian professional soccer team as a 20 year old).

Up at 7am → Breakfast → Team talk in the locker room → Team training → Shower → Lunch → Nap at the apartment → Small group or strength & conditioning training in the afternoon → Dinner → Relax back at the apartment or a walk through town → Asleep by 11pm → Repeat

Wanting to replicate that, but to the benefit of my SaaS selling performance, I started diving deep on improving myself in core areas:

– Sleep

– Writing

– Philosophy

– Life design

– Habit formation

The speed and the payoff became abundantly clear

From 2020 – 2021, I was able to close an additional $16M in ARR (45% more), and it was closed within 18 active selling months (in 25% less time).

It came down to redesigning a better way to personally operate, and that started with defining new personal principles.

When it came to better energy management, that looked a lot like what The Energy Project has been helping large companies design for decades:

Outcomes > hours

Working against outcomes was a lot more freeing than working around the clock.

But how do you manage this when there is a seemingly endless list of things to do?

Design your calendar around the most important things and then use the rest of your calendar for “buffer” blocks.

Some ideas to explore could be:

– Time boxing (Try Finder, Keeper, Doer)

– Day themes (Mondays for strategy and Fridays for review for instance)

– The bare minimums (1 Most Important Task, 1 Connect, 1 Knowledge Share)

→ Want help? Check out The 12 Week Year.

Absorbed focus, real renewal

I found that the most fulfilling and energizing work was when I could be deeply immersed in it.

Multi-tasking doesn’t work.

A great time for scheduling deep work is 90 minutes after waking, and depending on your sleep debt, for 2 – 3 hours before you start to dip.

→ Need help? Read Deep Work and download Rise.

Leaders as Chief Energy Officers

The people around us matter.

They are either adding or draining our energy, so audit your circle wisely.

Your leader should be shielding you from company drama, politics, and removing roadblocks while aiding in your growth.

→ Not the case? Tell them to follow Sean Burke and you might need to evaluate finding a new gig.

Take personal responsibility for how you feel and how you show up

There is no magic bullet, and no one’s coming to save you.

Your energy is yours, so you need to protect it, harness it, and leverage it as your differentiator.

For me, that took looking at the behaviors that affected my energy and making small changes that increased it.

→ Want help? Try wearing a WHOOP for a few months.

Schedule time to rest, reflect, refuel, and prioritize

I follow PREP each day to keep me on track:

– Plan: Prioritize my tasks and agenda for tomorrow

– Rest: Relax and recharge after that’s done using the 10-3-2-1 rule

– Effort: Apply 100% effort on the most important task before my first meeting

– Perform: Track, review, and measure my performance using visual progress tracking

→ Need guidance and accountability? Join The Make More Hustle Less Club and get my Personal Operating System Blueprint as a bonus.

Seeing more, excluding less

“Addition through subtraction” applies here.

Use the power of a habit tracker to understand what works and doesn’t work for you.

Then eliminate the stuff that doesn’t and keep fueling the stuff that does.

→ Feeling stuck? Try my free Thrive Space habit tracker.

Sellers are told we’re the athletes of the corporate world.

Isn’t it time we started acting like it?

See you next time!

When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Get the exact system I’ve used to go from earning $200K to over $1M a year in SaaS sales without burning out here. (2,600+ students)

2. Join a community of Purpose-Curious™ sellers in the Make More Hustle Less Club where we develop a personal operating system together here. (400+ members)

3. Book a 1:1 strategy session to map out your best year in SaaS sales here. (My hourly rate increases on January 1st)

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