Trending Now
How to make an Herbalife Shake
 min read
We all feel it – that invisible force that propels us forward when we're passionate, focused, and aligned with our purpose. It's what makes some days flow effortlessly while others feel like wading through quicksand. This vital force is what I call "Growth Energy" – the renewable resource within us that fuels sustainable personal development, powers meaningful connections, and drives transformative impact. Unlike motivation that comes and goes, Growth Energy represents our capacity to consistently evolve, adapt, and thrive across all dimensions of life.
Growth Energy isn't just about working harder; it's about working smarter by channeling your natural resources toward what matters most. It's about developing the awareness to recognize where your energy is best invested and the discipline to protect it from unnecessary drains. In today's hyperconnected, always-on world, understanding and optimizing your Growth Energy isn't just beneficial—it's essential for sustainable success and wellbeing.
For decades, personal development focused primarily on willpower and discipline. We were told that success was simply a matter of "wanting it badly enough" and "pushing through." While determination certainly matters, this approach often led to burnout, diminishing returns, and ultimately, abandonment of meaningful goals. The science is clear: willpower is a finite resource that depletes with use.
In his groundbreaking book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr introduced a paradigm shift that changed how we think about personal performance. Loehr, who coached elite athletes before turning to business professionals, proposed that energy—not time—is our most precious resource. "The number of hours in a day is fixed," he wrote, "but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not."
This recognition marked the beginning of a new understanding: sustainable growth doesn't come from managing time alone, but from strategically managing our multidimensional energy reserves—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
In our current era of information overload, constant connectivity, and rapid change, the concept of Growth Energy has never been more relevant. We face unprecedented challenges:
• Digital overwhelm that fragments our attention and drains our mental energy
• Blurred boundaries between work and personal life that make true recovery difficult
• Complex global problems requiring creative solutions and sustained focus
• Accelerating pace of change demanding continuous adaptation and learning
These conditions make traditional approaches to productivity and self-improvement insufficient. We need a more holistic understanding of how to generate, conserve, and direct our personal energy toward meaningful growth.
Research from the Energy Project shows that 74% of employees experience an energy crisis during their workday. Similarly, a Gallup study found that only 15% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work—a clear indicator of misaligned energy. These statistics reveal an essential truth: without proper energy management, even the most ambitious goals remain unreachable.
1. Energy Audit: Begin by tracking your energy levels throughout the day for one week. Notice when you feel most energized and when you experience dips. Document activities, interactions, and environments that either boost or drain your energy. Look for patterns across physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions.
2. Identify Your Primary Energy Sources: Different people draw energy from different wells. Some are energized by social connection, others by solitary deep work. Some find energy in physical movement, others in creative expression. Recognize your unique energy sources and ensure they're part of your daily routine.
3. Establish Energy Rituals: Create deliberate practices that generate renewable energy. These might include morning exercise, strategic breaks throughout the day, mindfulness sessions, or connecting with loved ones. The key is consistency—these rituals should become non-negotiable parts of your schedule.
4. Design Recovery Periods: As Loehr emphasizes in The Power of Full Engagement, "The capacity to recover is actually more important than the capacity to endure." Build intentional recovery periods into your day, week, and year. This might mean taking short breaks between focused work sessions, implementing a true weekend without work, or planning vacations that allow for complete disengagement.
5. Align Energy with Purpose: Direct your highest energy periods toward your most important work—the tasks that align with your core values and long-term vision. Save lower-energy periods for administrative or less demanding activities.
Energy Vampires: These are the people, activities, or environments that consistently drain your Growth Energy without providing value in return. They might include negative colleagues, endless meetings, or cluttered physical spaces. The solution isn't always to eliminate these entirely (though sometimes that's necessary), but to create boundaries that protect your energy when engaging with them.
Digital Distraction: The average person checks their phone 96 times per day—about once every 10 minutes. Each check fragments attention and depletes mental energy. Combat this by implementing "tech boundaries" such as designated phone-free hours, notification settings that minimize interruptions, and digital sabbaticals.
The Urgency Trap: When everything feels urgent, we react rather than respond strategically, which quickly depletes our Growth Energy. Break this cycle by distinguishing between the truly urgent and the merely important. Use tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks and protect time for important but non-urgent activities that fuel long-term growth.
Perfectionism: The pursuit of perfection often leads to diminishing returns on energy investment. Adopt the 85% rule—aiming for excellence (about 85% of "perfect") rather than perfection allows you to complete tasks with quality while conserving energy for other priorities.
From Burnout to Breakthrough: Sarah's Story
Sarah, a marketing executive at a tech startup, was working 70-hour weeks trying to launch a new product line. Despite her dedication, results were inconsistent, and she found herself increasingly exhausted and creatively blocked. After learning about Growth Energy principles, she restructured her approach:
• She identified her peak creative energy period (7-10 AM) and protected it for strategic work
• She implemented 90-minute focused work blocks followed by 15-minute recovery periods
• She built physical activity into her day with morning yoga and midday walks
• She established clear work boundaries, ending her workday at 6 PM and keeping weekends work-free
Within three months, not only did her wellbeing improve dramatically, but her team launched two successful campaigns that outperformed previous efforts by 40%. By working with her natural energy rhythms rather than against them, Sarah accomplished more while working fewer hours.
Team Transformation: The Meridian Project
When David took over leadership of an underperforming product team, morale was low and deadlines were consistently missed. Rather than pushing for longer hours, David implemented Growth Energy principles across the team:
• He conducted an "energy audit" of team meetings and eliminated those that didn't provide clear value
• He established "focus Wednesdays" when no internal meetings were scheduled
• He encouraged team members to identify and work according to their energy peaks
• He normalized recovery by taking visible breaks himself and encouraging others to do the same
The results were remarkable: within six months, team productivity increased by 32%, employee satisfaction scores rose from 64% to 89%, and the team completed their product launch ahead of schedule.
Across various success stories, certain patterns emerge that reveal the core principles of effective Growth Energy management:
Quality trumps quantity. Those who master Growth Energy focus on the quality of their energy and attention rather than simply working more hours. They recognize that one hour of focused, high-energy work often produces better results than three hours of distracted, low-energy effort.
Rhythmic renewal is essential. Sustainable high performance comes from alternating between periods of focused engagement and strategic recovery. As Loehr writes, "To build capacity, we must stress a muscle beyond its normal range and then allow time for recovery."
Energy alignment multiplies effectiveness. When people align tasks with their natural energy patterns and core values, they experience what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls "flow"—a state of optimal experience where engagement is effortless and performance peaks.
External environment shapes internal energy. Those who successfully manage their Growth Energy actively design their physical spaces, digital environments, and social contexts to support rather than deplete their energy reserves.
Growth Energy isn't just a motivational concept—it's grounded in solid biological science. Our bodies and brains operate according to natural rhythms that significantly impact our capacity for growth and performance:
Ultradian Rhythms: Research by chronobiologists has identified that humans naturally operate in 90-120 minute cycles of high-to-low energy throughout the day. These "ultradian rhythms" govern our alertness, focus, and cognitive capacity. Working with these natural cycles rather than fighting against them dramatically improves performance and reduces energy depletion.
The Neurochemistry of Recovery: Studies from the University of California found that even brief periods of mental rest activate the brain's "default mode network," which plays a crucial role in creativity, memory consolidation, and learning integration. Regular activation of this network through strategic breaks enhances cognitive function and innovation.
Energy Transfer Between Domains: Research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology demonstrates that energy gains in one life domain (such as physical health) positively impact energy in other domains (such as work performance). This supports the multi-dimensional approach to energy management advocated in The Power of Full Engagement.
Positive Emotional Energy: Barbara Fredrickson's "broaden-and-build" theory shows that positive emotions not only feel good but actually expand our cognitive resources and build lasting personal resources. Cultivating positive emotional states therefore contributes directly to our Growth Energy reserves.
Dr. Matthew Walker, neuroscientist and author of Why We Sleep, emphasizes that sleep is perhaps our most powerful tool for energy renewal: "Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day."
Dr. Kelly McGonigal, health psychologist at Stanford University, highlights the role of stress mindset in energy management: "When we view stress as helpful rather than harmful, we create the biology of courage rather than fear, which fundamentally changes how we use our energy resources."
Dr. Daniel Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine, points to mindfulness as a critical Growth Energy practice: "Mindful awareness creates a kind of mental space that allows us to choose how we direct our attention and energy, rather than being driven by habitual reactions."
These expert perspectives converge on a key insight: our subjective experience and intentional practices significantly influence our objective energy capacity. How we think about, structure, and direct our energy matters as much as the physical resources we bring to the table.
Ready to transform your approach to energy management? Here's a 30-day protocol to build your Growth Energy capacity:
Days 1-7: Awareness
• Track your energy levels hourly on a scale of 1-10
• Identify activities, people, and environments that energize vs. drain you
• Document your natural daily energy patterns, noting peak and low periods
• Observe the relationship between sleep, nutrition, movement, and your energy
Days 8-14: Design
• Create a personalized ideal day template that aligns tasks with your energy patterns
• Design three energy-generating rituals for morning, midday, and evening
• Identify and commit to eliminating three major energy drains
• Establish clear boundaries to protect your energy (e.g., technology curfews, meeting limits)
Days 15-30: Implementation and Refinement
• Follow your energy-optimized schedule, adjusting as necessary
• Practice intentional recovery between periods of focused work
• Incorporate physical movement throughout your day
• Conduct end-of-day energy reviews to identify what worked and what needs adjustment
• Gradually extend high-energy periods through deliberate practice
To ensure your Growth Energy practices are effective, implement these measurement strategies:
Energy Journal: Maintain a daily log tracking energy levels, activities, and emotional states. Look for patterns that emerge over time.
Performance Metrics: Identify 2-3 key performance indicators in your work or personal projects and track them alongside your energy management practices. Notice correlations between energy optimization and improved results.
Recovery Quality Score: Rate the quality of your recovery periods on a scale of 1-10. What makes some recovery activities more rejuvenating than others?
Engagement Assessment: Regularly assess your level of engagement in key life domains (work, relationships, personal growth, community). Are you experiencing more flow states? Deeper connections? Greater learning?
Energy Return on Investment (EROI): For major activities, calculate your "energy return on investment" by dividing the energy gained by the energy expended. Focus on increasing activities with a positive EROI.
Remember that measuring progress isn't about perfection but about developing awareness and making incremental improvements. As Peter Drucker famously said, "What gets measured gets managed." By tracking your Growth Energy development, you make it a tangible resource that can be optimized over time.
Growth Energy represents a fundamental shift in how we approach personal and professional development. Rather than managing time alone, we manage our multidimensional energy—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Rather than pushing harder, we work smarter by aligning with our natural rhythms. Rather than sacrificing wellbeing for productivity, we recognize that true productivity emerges from wellbeing.
The principles outlined in The Power of Full Engagement and throughout this article offer a roadmap for sustainable growth in an increasingly demanding world. By understanding your unique energy patterns, establishing regenerative rituals, and strategically directing your energy toward what matters most, you unlock a renewable resource that fuels continuous evolution.
Your Growth Energy isn't just about what you accomplish—it's about who you become in the process. It's about showing up as your best self in service of your highest purpose. It's about creating a life characterized not by exhaustion and depletion, but by engagement and expansion.
The journey of optimizing your Growth Energy is ongoing. As your circumstances, goals, and priorities shift, so too will your energy management strategies. What remains constant is the fundamental insight that how you manage your energy determines the quality of your growth, the impact of your work, and ultimately, the fulfillment of your life.
Begin today. Start small. Pay attention. And watch as your capacity for growth, connection, and contribution expands in ways you might never have imagined possible.
Explore our product range today and discover how Herbalife can help you live a healthier, more active life.
Fill out the form below to take the first step towards your new lifestyle. Once submitted, you’ll receive an email with detailed instructions to help you get started.
