A self-guided framework
The Energy Audit
A shortened version of the mapping exercise from half-day one, laid out here so you can try it on your own before attending, or use it with a team that hasn't been through the full workshop.
Before you start
This takes about a week, not an afternoon
An energy audit is only useful if it reflects a real week rather than an idealized one. Resist the urge to fill it out based on how you think your week should go. The value is in the gap between the plan and the actual pattern, and that gap only shows up with a few days of honest observation.
You don't need special software or an app for this. A notebook, a printed grid, or a simple spreadsheet works fine. What matters is checking in with yourself at roughly the same points each day.
The five steps
Run this over the course of one working week
Track, three or four times a day
At roughly 9am, 1pm, and 4pm, rate your focus and alertness on a simple one-to-five scale. No overthinking. A quick gut rating is more accurate than a considered one, since the point is to capture how you actually feel, not how you'd like to feel.
Identify the pattern, not the exception
After four or five days, look for the window that shows up consistently as your sharpest, and the window that shows up consistently as your flattest. Ignore the one unusual day caused by a bad night's sleep or an early flight.
Compare the pattern to your actual calendar
Pull up the same week in your calendar and mark what was scheduled during your sharpest window. Be specific. Was it a recurring status meeting? A block of email? The task that most needed your judgment?
Redesign one thing, not everything
Pick a single change for the following week. Move one recurring low-stakes meeting out of your prime window, or move one piece of high-leverage work into it. A single change is more likely to stick than an ambitious overhaul.
Share the method with your team, not just the result
The audit works best when a few people on a team run it independently and compare notes. Collective energy patterns rarely line up perfectly, and that mismatch is exactly what a meeting-design conversation needs to account for.
A note on limits
What this exercise can and can't tell you
An energy audit is a self-report tool. It reflects perception, not a physiological measurement, and perception can be shaped by sleep debt, stress, caffeine timing, and a dozen other short-term factors. Treat the results as a useful starting pattern, not a fixed biological fact about yourself.
It also isn't a diagnostic tool for burnout, in yourself or anyone else. If a team member's audit shows a consistently flat pattern across an entire week with no real peak, that's worth a conversation, not a worksheet. The full workshop spends a separate half-day session specifically on recognizing those signals and responding to them appropriately.
Want to go deeper than a worksheet?
The full workshop builds on this exact exercise across two half-days, with a facilitator and a small group to compare notes with.
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