Motivators vs. Energy Drainers for Clarity

A very simple model which seems to be really helpful to people. Looking at these areas separately often helps bring clarity on your current state and what is important in the future.

When to use: when you are trying to gain clarity generally or specifically on a topic, when there is a big or small decision to make or something you want to change but not exactly sure what that is. Some things are very clear, others might surprise you, often when there is a change of some kind there is a shift that has happened or needs to. Noticing what contributes to stress or even gives you drive or enjoy can help figure out what the next steps are and what to focus on. It can be very useful when making a career transition (before or after), trying to find work-life balance, trying to reduce stress, gain awareness of yourself and your preferences (which can shift slightly over time).

How to use: its useful to do this over a time period e.g. a week or two, noting down when you notice things as they happen or looking back at a day. Then setting aside time to reflect on situations and reviewing (with a coach can be useful). The “neutral” column can be interesting to see what goes in there, there is often not much there. An additional exercise to start shifting perspective is to look at where that shift might be needed in the energy drainers and think about how you can shift them into the neutral column, which takes a lot more thought, experimenting and practice. This exercise is also a useful one to do over time to see how things have changed.

Ask yourself:

·       what motivates me or what do I enjoy?

·       what do I feel neutral on, am ok or fine about?

·       what drains me, triggers me or stresses me?

These can be situations or things which happen – try and be as specific as you can, some things are mixed, so some parts of a topic can come up in several areas.

Questions to ask yourself when reflecting on the list:

1.       Does it seem complete? If not; what is missing?

2.       What trends or themes do you notice in different areas or as a whole?

3.       What did you notice while doing the exercise?

4.       What did it help with?

5.       What did you learn about yourself?

6.       Where do you want to do with this knowledge?

Where do you want to see a change in your professional or private life?