---
name: "energy-management"
description: "Build an Energy Management Operating System Pack (energy drivers/drains map, calendar energy audit, zone-of-genius expansion plan, energy-aligned weekly schedule, recovery routines, and 2-week experiments). Use for sustainable leadership performance and burnout prevention. Category: Leadership."
---

# Energy Management

## Scope

**Covers**
- Managing **energy (cognitive/emotional/attention)**, not just time
- Identifying **energy drivers** and **energy drains** and redesigning your week accordingly
- Expanding “**zone of genius**” time via delegation, elimination, automation, and clearer boundaries
- Creating micro-recovery routines (buffers, transitions, meeting hygiene) and a low-energy-day protocol
- Running a **2-week pilot** to validate changes and iterate

**When to use**
- “I’m exhausted / close to burnout. Help me redesign my week for energy.”
- “Audit my calendar and help me spend more time in my zone of genius.”
- “I want a system to track what gives me energy vs drains me after each interaction.”
- “Create meeting norms and boundaries so I stop hemorrhaging energy.”

**When NOT to use**
- You are in an acute physical/mental health crisis or need medical advice. Seek professional help and follow your company policy.
- You need HR/legal guidance (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, threats, investigations).
- Your environment is unsafe or coercive; prioritize safety and support systems first. This skill can help document constraints and draft a negotiation plan, but it won’t “optimize” an unsafe situation.

## Inputs

**Minimum required**
- Your role + core responsibilities (and whether you manage people)
- The time horizon: a **2-week pilot** + what “better” means in **4–8 weeks**
- Current pain (2–5 concrete examples of what’s draining you) + desired outcome
- A representative week (calendar text dump, recurring meetings list, or narrative)
- Constraints/non-negotiables (time zones, caregiving, deadlines, on-call, travel, “can’t move” meetings)

**Missing-info strategy**
- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md) (3–5 at a time).
- If calendar detail is unavailable, proceed with a **7-day energy log first** and provide a conservative default-week plan with explicit assumptions.
- Do not request secrets, credentials, or sensitive personal health details.

## Outputs (deliverables)

Produce an **Energy Management Operating System Pack** (Markdown in-chat; or as files if requested) in this order:

1) **Context snapshot** (goal, constraints, assumptions, success definition)
2) **Energy Drivers & Drains Map** (top drivers/drains + levers)
3) **Calendar Energy Audit** (time buckets + “zone of genius” estimate)
4) **Zone of Genius Expansion Plan** (stop/delegate/automate/defer list)
5) **Energy-Aligned Default Week** (time blocks + meeting rules)
6) **Recovery + Transition Plan** (buffers, micro-breaks, low-energy-day protocol)
7) **2-Week Pilot + Experiment Tracker** (what changes, how we measure)
8) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)

Templates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)  
Expanded guidance: [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md)

## Workflow (8 steps)

### 1) Intake + objective + safety boundaries
- **Inputs:** user context; [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).
- **Actions:** Clarify the goal in 4–8 weeks (e.g., “end week with energy”, “reduce decision fatigue”, “make space for deep work”). Confirm boundaries (not medical/HR/legal). Choose scope: full OS pack vs subset.
- **Outputs:** Context snapshot (draft) + assumptions/unknowns.
- **Checks:** Success is measurable enough to evaluate after 4 weeks (even with qualitative measures).

### 2) Capture baseline energy signals (7-day log + quick retro)
- **Inputs:** last 1–2 weeks memory; calendar if available.
- **Actions:** Create a lightweight energy log structure. If you have calendar data, do a quick retro: list the top 10 activities/interactions and mark “energized” vs “sapped” after each.
- **Outputs:** Energy Log (starter) + initial “suspected drivers/drains” list.
- **Checks:** At least 5 concrete drivers/drains are identified (not vague labels like “people”).

### 3) Build the Energy Drivers & Drains Map (with levers)
- **Inputs:** Energy Log + retro list.
- **Actions:** Consolidate into a map: drivers, drains, triggers, and controllable levers (eliminate, delegate, redesign, time-shift, batch, buffer, prepare, recover).
- **Outputs:** Drivers & Drains Map + “top 3 change levers” to try first.
- **Checks:** Each top drain has at least one specific lever and a next action.

### 4) Audit the calendar for “zone of genius” vs “energy tax”
- **Inputs:** representative week calendar (or estimate).
- **Actions:** Bucket time into: (A) Zone of genius / high leverage, (B) Necessary but neutral, (C) Energy drains, (D) Recovery/admin. Identify the bottom bucket(s) to reduce.
- **Outputs:** Calendar Energy Audit + zone-of-genius estimate and biggest offenders (meetings, context switching, decision load).
- **Checks:** The audit produces 3–5 candidate deletions/redesigns with owners and dates.

### 5) Expand zone of genius via stop/delegate/automate/defer
- **Inputs:** audit offenders; constraints; stakeholders.
- **Actions:** Turn drains into an offload plan: what to stop, what to delegate, what to automate, what to defer. For delegation, specify decision rights and guardrails (don’t just “hand it off”).
- **Outputs:** Zone of Genius Expansion Plan + 2–3 delegation briefs (as needed).
- **Checks:** At least 2 concrete “energy taxes” are removed or redesigned in the next 2 weeks.

### 6) Design an energy-aligned default week + meeting hygiene
- **Inputs:** your energy curve (high/medium/low), constraints, offload plan.
- **Actions:** Create a default week with time blocks aligned to energy (deep work in high-energy windows; admin in low-energy windows). Add meeting hygiene: buffers, batching, agendas/decisions, shorter defaults (25/50), async-first updates.
- **Outputs:** Energy-Aligned Default Week + Meeting Rules.
- **Checks:** The plan reduces fragmentation (fewer context switches) and includes buffers between high-load blocks.

### 7) Add recovery + transitions (and a low-energy-day protocol)
- **Inputs:** work patterns; remote/hybrid context.
- **Actions:** Define micro-recovery routines (between-meeting buffer, decompression, movement, sensory breaks) and “low-energy day” rules (minimum viable day, what to postpone, how to communicate). Include optional “neurological load” aids for remote work (e.g., standing, doodling/fidgeting, walking calls) without making medical claims.
- **Outputs:** Recovery + Transition Plan + Low-Energy-Day Protocol.
- **Checks:** Recovery actions are scheduled (not aspirational) and do not rely on willpower alone.

### 8) Run a 2-week pilot + measure + iterate
- **Inputs:** full draft pack.
- **Actions:** Define 2–4 experiments (time-shift, reduce meetings, add buffers, delegate, change meeting format). Decide what you’ll measure (daily energy rating, end-of-week energy, number of deep-work blocks, “drain count”). Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Add **Risks / Open questions / Next steps**.
- **Outputs:** Final Energy Management Operating System Pack + 2-week tracking sheet.
- **Checks:** Experiments have clear decision rules: keep / modify / stop after 2 weeks.

## Quality gate (required)
- Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).
- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.

## Examples

**Example 1 (meeting overload):** “I’m a product leader in back-to-back meetings and I’m exhausted. Audit my week and give me a default schedule + meeting rules + delegation plan.”  
Expected: drivers/drains map, calendar audit, offload plan, default week, meeting hygiene rules, 2-week pilot.

**Example 2 (role fit signals):** “After certain calls I feel energized, after others I feel drained. Help me build a tracking system and use it to redesign my scope.”  
Expected: energy log + drivers/drains map, patterns, specific levers (time-shift/batch/delegate), and a 2-week experiment tracker.

**Boundary example (medical crisis):** “I’m having panic attacks and can’t sleep; fix my energy.”  
Response: do not provide medical advice; encourage professional help. Offer a minimal work-boundary plan (reduce commitments, document constraints, notify stakeholders) and a tracking template only if appropriate.