Last week was about finding our word/phrase to be our NorthStar.  This week is about surge protectors and protecting ourselves from being overloaded.

I’m assuming you have a surge protector or two at home.  Surge protectors are often used to protect certain appliances from becoming fried from a power surge.  Mine is connected to my tv and computer.  At the most basic level, the surge protector works by either blocking the surge or by reducing the voltage to a point where it doesn’t damage the device it is protecting.

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything.  I don’t know about you, but 2021 was another wild year and there was a lot of hardcore sprinting that last month with personal travel, holiday stress, work travel, putting in a lot of hours to finish up projects, and handling life stuff.  I had the last two weeks of December off, and I struggled to recharge for the first week.  I realized I was fried.  I had ran so hard for so long that I was having issues recovering.  I wish that I would have had a personal surge protector throughout the year to keep me from getting overloaded. 

With all that in mind, I’m looking at 2022 and the chaos will continue (see what I did there 😉).  I’ve been back for 1.5 weeks.  I already have too many emails, too many meetings, and more than enough important work to do.  Sound familiar?  Life is going to continue to be busy and who knows what will happen with Omicron.  I’m beginning to see that if I’m not careful, I’m going to jump back into the madness and get overwhelmed again by another power surge.  Does anyone else feel this way?  I know if I don’t pause right now and set up what I need to avoid being overloaded, I’m just going to get burnt out again.  I need to take the time to install a personal surge protector.

Challenge 1: How can you build your own personal surge protector to keep you from getting fried?

Challenge 2: If you’re a leader with official power and authority, what are you SPECIFICALLY doing to create an environment where people won’t be overloaded?

Bonus thoughts:  Here are some things I’m doing to build my personal surge protector. 

• Invested the time (2-3 hours) to organize my work.  This included sifting through my long to-do list to identify priorities and confirm them with my boss.  Also thought through what needs to be delivered, when, and what quality is required.  Then, I created project plans.  If things are turned into clear tasks, I can invest energy in knocking out the tasks vs. being overwhelmed with trying to sort everything out. (#organizethepantry)
• Invested the time in setting up my personal and professional work calendars to ensure my time is spent on the right things.
• I booked my vacation time and planned out my race schedule for the years, so I have things to look forward to.
• Started talking to my wife about the boundaries we should consider putting into place for our time and activities to make things a bit easier for our family. 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry