The Athletic Executive:

Your #1 Management Job: Your Energy

What Can You Learn from Professional Athletes?

Who’s got the tougher job, you or a professional athlete?

Well, how many "game days" do you have each week -- days where you need to be sharp and bring your “A” game to your business?

Compare that to football, basketball, and hockey players.

OK, baseball players play as many "games" as you each week.  But let's add this element: off season.

Baseball players and virtually all other sports have 4-5 month off from those games.

When is your off season?

Just because your job is more demanding than pro athletes’ doesn't mean you can't learn from them. 

What Champion Athletes Know

Athletes know they play their best when they’re energized, alert, and “in the zone.”  They also know that when their energy is flat, they stink.

They know they’ll be fired if their performance is inconsistent and that at the heart of consistently excellent performance is having consistently excellent energy.

Top athletes make a study of their energy levels. 

If Roger Clemens plays this year, he’ll have a great year. 

We know this because he knows exactly what he needs to do each day to be great every 5^th day when he takes the mound. 

Over the years he’s figured out the workouts and mental approach he needs to take in order to be consistently excellent, and since he pays close attention to his energy levels he’ll be constantly refining his routines and making adjustments along the way.

Plus, he actually does what he knows he needs to do.  (Knowledge of what to do is of zero value – it’s what you do that counts.  For example, most people know how to lose their extra pounds – diet and exercise – but few actually act on that knowledge.)

Tampa resident Derek Jeter does what he needs to do to bring his “A” game nearly every day for 162 games, and then be even better in the pressure-packed playoffs.

He manages his energy expertly both between and during games.

Research by sport psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr found that top tennis players are better at managing their energy during a match than lesser players. 

Specifically, top players get more relaxed and are more disciplined with their focus in the 15 seconds between points than lesser players.

Their actions between the points gives them more energy during the points – a huge advantage over the course of a 3 or 4 hour match.

What You Know

Like an athlete, when your energy is good, you’re good.  You’re sharp, quick, decisive.

When your energy is down, you stink.  You drag, suffer, procrastinate, hesitate, and avoid necessary conflict.  Bottom line: You’re vulnerable.

Like an athlete, your performance is fueled by your energy. 

To be consistently excellent, you need to figure out what you need to do to consistently be energized and how to make adjustments to your energy throughout the day.

Your actions throughout the day can either give you more energy or drain you of your most precious resource.

How to Manage Your Energy

Here are some fundamentals on how to best manage your energy:

Eat for Energy 

Pay attention to the relationship between what, when and how you eat and your energy levels.  Every body is different and affected differently by different foods.

A good test is to eat one food, wait 45 minutes, and see if you feel better or worse than you did before you ate it.  Then eat or don’t eat that food accordingly.

Other powerful eating guidelines include:

* Grocery shop around the outside walls of the store.  Generally, the foods down the isles are less energy friendly.

* Eat foods that will go bad if left out, and eat them before they go bad.

* Chew your food really well.  One of you biggest energy consumers is you digestive system.  The better you chew your food, the less work your digestive system has to do, freeing up energy for other things, like your job.

* Eat with the “zone” in mind. A big meal spikes your glucose levels above your optimal performance level, then sends them crashing to below your optimal performance level.  Think of trying to keep your body’s glucose levels steady, eating less but more frequently.

* Skipping breakfast is a mistake, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.  It takes you below your optimal glucose level.

Exercise for Energy

You can get the exercise you need in 15 minutes.  New research and loads of experience are showing that short, fast, anaerobic exercise is as effective if not more effective than long, slow, distance training at building energy and losing weight.

For anaerobic, body-weight exercises, check out Tampa-based international exercise guru Matthew Furey’s programs at www.MattFurey.com

But all safe exercise is good.  Do what you know.  See accompanying article “What to Do While You’re Exercising” for more tips.

Sleep for Energy 

Figure out how much sleep you need to be at or near your best, and do what you need to do to get that amount.

At Work Exercises

Remember how top tennis players effectively use their brief down time?  What you do between meetings will determine how well you do during meetings.

Here are 4 exercises you can do at the office to re-charge your batteries:

The Rectangle Breath

You can do this powerful exercise during a meeting as well as between them.   

• Sit with your feet flat on the floor and lengthen your spine by pressing your butt into your chair. 
• Breathe in through your nose to a count of 6.  Draw the air easily into your belly to start the inhale, and then allow the air to fill your chest by the time you reach 6. 
• Hold the breath for 2 counts. 
• Exhale through your nose for 6 counts, squeezing your abs in slightly at the end to “empty” your belly. 
• Hold your breath out for 2 counts.

Repeat 10 times.   Inhale and exhale through your nose each time.

You may want to imagine you are breathing a rectangular shape – the 6 counts are the long sides, the 2 counts the short sides.

(see http://www.BaseballConfidence.com/baseball_audio.html for this)

The French Connection

Remember this movie?  I don’t know if I even saw it but I vividly remember the poster for it: a guy getting shot in the back.  His chest

was pushed forward and his bent arms up in the air at his sides.

The big difference: this exercise gives you more life, that guy lost his.

• Start:  Stand or sit tall. 
• Begin with hands together close in front of your chest. 
• Tuck chin down and look at your hands.
• Action: Inhale powerfully through your nose, arch your back (as if you just got shot in the back), look up and open your arms to your sides, keeping your elbows bent.
• Exhale powerfully through your mouth and return to starting position.

Repeat 10 times at a somewhat rapid pace.

Down Dog

This is a classic yoga pose and gets my vote for the single best yoga position of all.  It stretches, strengthens, and re-charges.  Fast.

• Start on your hands and knees.  Hands directly under shoulders, arms and fingers extended.
• Press your hands into the floor and lift your butt and come gently up onto your toes.
• Experiment with how far your feet are from your hands.  Find what works for you right now.
• Relax your head and neck down.
• Breathe deeply, telling yourself to relax on each exhale.
• See if you can hold this position for 5 easy, complete breaths.

Down Dog position bonus stretch

• Inhale, lift your heels (come on to your tippy toes). 
• Push your hands into the floor and drift your butt back toward the wall behind you. 
• Exhale and lower your heels toward or to the floor.

Repeat 5 times.  Easy does it.  You’re re-charging, not competing.

Wall Sit

This simple move can re-vitalize you in just a few minutes.  You can do it while on one of those conference calls.

• Close your office door…
• Sit with butt flush up against the base of a wall and extend your legs up the wall so you’re lying at a 90 degree angle.
• Let your head relax on the floor.
• Breathe through your nose (perhaps the Rectangle Breath).

Try to gift yourself 5 minutes or more, but even 1 minute will help rejuvenate your system.

Try each of these exercises a few times to figure out how they work for you.

Your Challenge

You have the knowledge you need to improve your energy management and perform with consistent excellence.  Now the question is:  Will you be like Clemens, Jeter and top tennis players and take action?

Your business will not out perform you.  If you aren’t energized, your company won’t be either.

 For information about individual and team coaching to implement these ideas, contact

Dr. Tom Hanson

813-453-3467