The Battery Test

The Battery Test

“Does it charge my batteries or does it drain ‘em?”
Harry Shiavone

The Screen Tests described in these three successive posts illustrate an easy way to help you identify the best people and opportunities for you. The beautiful thing is that the insights you come up with will be unique to you and will lead you to the people you want to work with and to your best opportunities.

Have you ever noticed that the days are too short to accomplish all the things that really matter to you? Or that much of the work you spend your time on is either boring or you’re not particularly good at it? Would you like a simple method to clear out the things you don’t like doing? I stumbled upon this concept in a brief conversation years ago.

While at a Strategic Coach® workshop, led by Dan Sullivan, I sat next to Harry, a man I’d never seen before or since, yet he had an immediate and permanent impact on me. Harry told me that he was going to retire in order to have more time to fish. Harry said, “You can’t fish on a schedule.” He had developed a simple test for how he spent his time, and it was this: “If it charges my batteries, I do it, and if it drains ‘em, I don’t.”

That hit me like a lightning bolt. I thought of so many things that drained my batteries instead of charging them. Upon my return to work, I promptly resigned from three boards and delegated or deleted anything in my office that was not a good use of my time. Thinking back on it, I was on those boards for reasons that did not advance the worthy causes they represented. I was there solely for business contacts, the wrong motive to be on any board. Join a board or volunteer for causes that charge your batteries, and give it your all.

Even worthwhile endeavors can drain your batteries when you are tired or stressed out. We all have personal obligations. Doing the dishes or going to a school meeting on a Tuesday night after a long workday isn’t necessarily fun, but I choose to do those things because they are part of the larger meaning and purpose in my life. And that charges my batteries.

Now whenever I am about to embark on a new venture or engage a new client I ask myself, “Will this charge my batteries or will it drain ‘em?” And I make my decision based on that simple test.

Are you ready to have a whole lot more energy?