I don’t know about you but my 2017 is off and running: fast. When it comes to managing my time, growth, “busy”ness and the expectations of others, two things have become majorly important. They are boundaries and renewal, or what I call receiving time. Tony Schwartz, co-author of The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time, says a CEO is a company’s Chief Energy Officer. I like that a lot. Building on the science of high performance, he talks about how energy can be expanded, renewed and used more efficiently because it is inside of you. The Chief Energy Officer serves as a fuel giver, mobilizer and source of focus, inspiration and sustainability inside a company.

Human beings weren’t built to operate like computers, on high speed, continuously for long periods of time. The energy of go, go, go and work, work, work, can drive growth forward for a time but can easily convert to the negative energy of fight or flight when you’re tired or overwhelmed. That fight or flight energy is contagious and you literally become a “threat” to your team and/or your clients, a performance killer. Working with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy, Schwartz suggests we complete an Energy Audit to see how we’re spending our own.

Are you working at a pace that is making you numb to the consequences of your choices? Or worse are you unaware that the majority of your decisions are unconscious? Are you comfortable taking breaks during the day? Do you feel a strong sense of purpose at work? Are you in integrity with your calendar when it comes to keeping appointments with yourself? When you’re not in the performance zone, where do you spend your thoughts? Survival energy has been normalized in much of the culture of work but it is not sustaining.

So where are you at? Is it time for an audit?