Do some days leave us buzzing with energy and accomplishment, while others sap us dry? The difference often isn’t the workload, it’s which activities act as chargers for us, and which are drainers.
This idea is central to mental-fitness frameworks like Positive Intelligence, i.e. we can’t perform at our best or feel truly well if our daily life is filled with energy drainers. The good news is, with a little awareness and a few micro-practices, we can tip the scales toward chargers and protect our energy from burnout.
Below is a gentle, practical guide we invite you to try today.
What are chargers and drainers?
- Chargers are activities or interactions that energise us, i.e. we feel brighter during and after them. Examples: giving a talk, coaching a colleague, creative problem-solving, time outdoors.
- Drainers are activities that deplete us, i.e. we feel tired, flat or irritated during and after them. Examples: repetitive admin, tense meetings, tasks that clash with our strengths or values.
Chargers and drainers are personal. What charges one person may drain another. Our job is to discover our unique pattern.
Why this matters for performance and wellbeing
Running a day filled with drainers is like trying to keep our phone charged with a damaged cable: we’ll be running on empty. Over time, an unfavorable charger : drainer ratio reduces our focus, creativity and resilience, i.e. the very ingredients of sustainable success and happiness.
Small changes to increase chargers and reduce the intensity of drainers are high-impact strategies. We don’t need to overhaul our life, i.e. we need to manage energy intentionally.
Step 1: Do a 24-hour energy audit (simple, fast)
Try this one-day experiment:
- Keep a notepad or phone note during one full workday.
- Every 60–90 minutes, jot one line: the activity + how we felt during and after it (charged / neutral / drained).
- At the end of the day, circle 3 chargers and 3 drainers.
Quick prompts:
- Charger example: “Led client session — energized during & after.”
- Drainer example: “Reconciled invoices — drained during & after.”
This small audit builds our baseline awareness, i.e. the first essential step.
Step 2: Improve our charger : drainer ratio (three practical strategies)
A. Reduce or remove drainers where possible
- Delegate: Ask a colleague or outsource tasks that consistently drain you. Often a drainer is someone else’s charger.
- Restructure: Batch drainers into a single block rather than scattering them across the day. Fewer context switches = less energy loss.
- Say No / Set Boundaries: Protect time for high-value, energising work by declining or limiting low-value requests.
B. Increase time spent on chargers
- Schedule chargers into our calendar first (block time for them like any important meeting).
- Design micro-charger moments, 10–20 min activities that reliably lift our energy (a walk outside, a 15-minute creative sprint, a quick mentoring chat).
C. Reduce intensity of unavoidable drainers (with PQ repping)
When we can’t remove a drainer, shift how we experience it using short PQ-style micro-practices (we call these PQ reps, i.e. mindfulness grounding exercises). These are attention-shifts that change our nervous system response and make the task less depleting.
Two PQ reps to try right away:
- Tactile PQ rep (for repetitive tasks)
While sorting papers, deliberately notice the texture, temperature and weight of each sheet for 20–30 seconds. Make it a micro-game (count items, notice patterns). The slight, sensory re-orientation reduces the mental heaviness of the task. - Visual PQ rep (for draining people or meetings)
In a difficult conversation, quietly notice one neutral visual detail — the colour of an item on the table, the pattern on a notebook, the lighting in the room — for 20 seconds. This takes our attention out of reactive storylines and grounds us, reducing the draining emotional charge.
Do a PQ rep as soon as we notice the “drainer feeling” rising: pause 10s → do the rep 20–30s → resume what we are doing.
* PQ reps are mindfulness grounding exercises.
Step 3: Turn insights into habits (a resilient 7-day plan)
This is an example of a simple weekly plan to test changes:
- Day 1: Complete the 24-hour energy audit. Identify top 3 chargers and top 3 drainers.
- Days 2–7: Each day commit to one micro-action:
- Block 30 minutes for a charger.
- Delegate or batch one drainer.
- Use a PQ rep on at least one unavoidable drainer.
- Journal briefly at the end of the day: one win, one insight.
At the end of 7 days, review what changed in our energy and performance.
Quick coaching prompts (for personal reflection)
- Which activity in my week consistently energises me? How can I do more of it?
- Which activity drains me most? Who could help, or how can I change it?
- When I feel drained, what thought or Saboteur voice (inner critic) usually appears? What Sage question would shift me? (e.g., “What’s useful here?”)
Example mini case (how this works in practice)
Wendy : Learning about special needs support strategies charges me, i.e. I feel energised afterwards. Doing digital marketing tasks drains me, I procrastinate then grit thru it. Solution: Wendy blocks a daily 30-minute “audio clip” slot as she travels to work (charger), shares digital design tasks with her colleague (ask for help and reduce load), and when she must do , she uses a visual PQ rep (appreciating the colour, pattern, design of the digital image) to reduce the drainer intensity.
Small design choices like these add up into a more energised, resilient week.
Prefer guided practice? Join our small-group workshop where we practice PQ reps, guided visualisation, and build a personalised resilience plan. Limited seats to ensure safe, focused learning.
Our two cents worth…
Energy is a resource. Awareness is our first leadership act, i.e. when we know what charges and what drains us, we can design a life that supports performance and wellbeing. Start with one day of observation, try one PQ wrap the next time you feel drained, and build from there.
If you want support tailoring this approach to your work and temperament, we are happy to support. Email jsp.wyeo@gmail.com or check our workshops page.
* blog content inspired and adapted by post from https://www.positiveintelligence.com/