Episode 530 – “Find Your Peak Energy Window”

This episode teaches leaders how to discover and use their personal peak energy window to maximize productivity, decision-making, and focus throughout the day.

Host: Paul Falavolito
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This
is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
It's episode five thirty. Let me start with a simple truth.
Not all hours are created equal. You've probably heard people
say I'm a morning person or I work best at night,

(00:44):
But how many leaders actually know when they perform at
their best. I'm not talking about preference. I'm talking about
peak energy. That window of time when your brain is sharp,
your folks is locked in, and you're operating at your
highest level. This is what I call your peak energy window.

(01:09):
Every one of us has it. It's the period of
the day where your most alert, most creative, and most
capable of making high quality decisions. The challenge is most
leaders never take the time to identify it. Instead, they
run on autopilot, reacting to emails, meetings, and phone calls

(01:32):
without ever aligning their toughest work with their best energy.
So what do you say we change that today? Step one,
track yourself for one week. This isn't about guesswork for
one week. I want you to be intentional. Every two hours,
write down how your energy feels on a scale from

(01:56):
one to ten. Don't overthink it, just note the number.
When are you sluggish, When are you dialed in and unstoppable?
When does your creativity spike? And then by the end
of the week you'll have a simple pattern. You'll start
to see that certain times consistently fall in your high

(02:18):
energy range. That's your window. Step two is protect that
window once you find it, defend it like your job
depends on it. Because it does. That's not the time
for routine meetings or small tasks. That's your strategic time.

(02:38):
That's when you work on the business, not in it.
Use that block to do deep work planning, decision making,
designing strategy, or thinking through people issues. And if someone
tries to book a meeting in your peak window, politely

(02:59):
move it. As a leader, your job isn't to be
available all the time. It's to be effective at the
right time. And then step three shift your routine around it.
This is where most leaders fail. They discover their window,
but never adapt their day to match it. If your

(03:20):
peak energy hits between seven and ten am, that's when
you should be doing your highest level thinking, push your
email and calls to the afternoon. If you find your
focus lights up around three pm, then plan your important
projects then and use your mourning for easier administrative work.

(03:41):
In other words, build your day around your energy, not
your calendar. And step four be aware of the crash.
Every peak has a valley. After your energy window closes,
you'll hit a dip. That's natural. That's when you handle
the simple stuff for applying to emails, checking tasks, follow

(04:04):
up on small details. You don't need creativity or deep
focus during that dip, just maintenance. The key is awareness.
You're not lazy during that crash. Your body and brain
are just naturally recharging. Instead of fighting it, work with it.

(04:25):
Step five optimize your team. If you're leading a team,
recognize that not everyone shares your same window. You might
be firing on all cylinders at eight am while someone
else doesn't hit stride until ten am. Don't assume your
energy pattern is the standard. When you understand each person's window,

(04:48):
you can assign tasks and schedule meetings in ways that
bring out their best and ask them directly when do
you feel most productive during the day, And you'll be
surprised how many people have never been asked that question.
This single adjustment can improve morale, engagement, and output across

(05:10):
the board. Step six, Test and adjust Your window can
change over time. Life events, health, age, sleep patterns can
all shift it. Revisit this once every few months. Do
another energy audit. Stay flexible. The goal isn't to find

(05:32):
one perfect system, it's to stay aligned with who you
are today. In step seven, create an energy ritual before
your peak window begins. Create a small ritual that signals
to your brain that it's time to go into high
performance mode. That might mean pouring your favorite coffee, closing

(05:55):
the door, putting on instrumental music, or opening a clean
note pad. Over time, that ritual becomes a trigger for
your brain to activate focus faster. So here's the challenge
for this week. Track your energy every two hours for

(06:15):
seven days. Identify your peak window, schedule your most important
work inside of that window, and then guard it. Don't
let distractions invade it. So when you align your leadership
energy with your leadership priorities, you'll stop feeling like you're

(06:39):
constantly behind. You'll notice that the same tasks take half
the time and produce double the results. The best leaders
don't just manage time. They manage energy. You have a window,
find it, protect it, and build your leadership ship rhythm

(07:00):
around it. This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast
and I thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
com