Ep 491 | The Energy Equation: Give More, Take Less, and Thrive

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Have you ever walked away from a conversation feeling completely drained, like you're, you're totally zapped after that conversation? On the flip side, have you ever walked from a conversation and you're totally fired up. Your energy is on a whole different level. The reality is this: energy plays a massive role in life and in business and in relationships. And we've got to think about this energy equation probably a bit more than we, than we presently do. And the energy equation is about giving more and about taking less. And as a result, you're net positive, and you're thriving. Earlier this week, we interviewed Mark Hodelick, the CEO of 29029. If you've been listening at all this week, then you know how much I thought about that interview. I thought Mark was spectacular, and there were just so many nuggets that came from our conversation. And one thing specifically that Mark shared that I wanted to double down on here in this particular episode Mark had listed at the very end his 3 truths. And one of those truths was to always attempt to be giving more energy than you take. Give more energy than you take. Now, I had never really heard the energy phrase stated in that way. The way I'd heard it in a similar vein was to surround yourself with people that give you energy. And remove those from your life that zap your energy. The idea here though is pretty much the same. Energy is incredibly important in business and life, relationships, health, and you want to be in a position where your energy is at a high because when you have high energy, it impacts all of these things that are important to you. When I think about energy that you give versus energy that you take, I think you want to aim to be a net giver of energy versus a taker. So for example, um, let's take, let's take Mark, uh, who again we just had interviewed. I, I've gotten to know Mark, uh, fairly well over the past couple years, having participated in some of the events, some of his events, having him, uh, come visit me at Metrix and speak in front of my audience. We've texted and called with one another. And I will tell you, there has yet to be an interaction with that guy where I don't feel like, man, I gotta up my volume, I gotta up my energy, because he is just an energy giver. Like, it's almost like he's a battery of sorts. Like, you get around the guy, you get in his, you know, circumference, and you can't help but become more animated, feel better, speak louder, you know, operate with more energy. In other words, Mark is an uplifter. As a leader and as a friend and as a mentor, he uplifts people, he energizes people. I think about his partner, Jesse Itzler, who most of us don't know on a personal level, But go, go take a look at any interview that guy does or anything he posts on social, specifically Instagram. You can't debate the fact that when you're hearing from that guy, when you're observing that guy, he's clearly giving energy versus taking it away. If you want better relationships, if you want better business deals, if you want more opportunities, be the person who brings the energy, not the one who drains it. That's my takeaway. There are lots of people in your world right now. Maybe it's a business partner, maybe it's a client, you know, maybe it's someone calling you today. Here's a test: when, when your phone is ringing, when your cell's ringing and that name is on your phone, do you get energized to pick up that call, or do you look at it and You know, kind of give the, uh, you know, maybe, maybe in your head you at least say that. It's not because you're talking about a bad person. The person very well may be a great person. But if you feel like, oh, I don't know if I want to take this call right now, or I should decline this call right now, there's a really good chance that's an individual that might be draining your energy. So I think we all therefore aspire I'm hoping to, to be energy givers versus drainers. What do energy givers do? Energy givers, when you think about the people in your world that give you energy, and I want you to, I want you to think about them right now, picture them in your mind. I'm going to bet they're positive individuals. Not that they don't have down days, but they're always optimistic or at least looking for optimism. They're probably supportive. They're rooting for you. They're cheering for you. They're the first one there to high-five you. I'm gonna bet they're solution-oriented. In other words, they're not complaining, they accept, and then they move on and they look for solution. And then lastly, energy givers, they inspire action, right? So they're positive, they're supportive, they're solution-oriented, and they inspire action. Now juxtapose that against a drainer. When you think about energy drainers, and we all have energy drainers in our life, and maybe from time to time we're a drainer, but when you think about those individuals that you, you know, may have right now in your world that you define as a drainer, my guess is that they're constantly negative. My guess is that they probably complain a bit more. I would guess that you know, they're not as supportive or they're not always dependable. I'm going to guess that they take a lot more than they give. Think about the last 5 conversations that you had. Think about them. Picture these conversations in your head right now. Maybe they were, assuming you're listening to this first thing in the morning, let's say the 5 last 5 conversations you had yesterday. Did those conversations lift you up, or did those conversations weigh you down? Now, the content is different than the individual. You may have been discussing challenging things, maybe content that was not as uplifting, but I'm talking specifically about the individual you were conversing with. Even if it was a challenging scenario, Energy givers help you see a positive path. Energy givers make you feel supported. Energy givers make you feel a strong desire to go figure out the solution versus, you know, those conversations you have where you really felt weighed down. My guess is you felt like, man, we are just not on the same page. Man, your negativity is wearing off on me. I think about, you know, this energy giver and energy taker, uh, conversation and the power of the, the circle around you, your environment. You are the average of the people around you. We talk about that quite a bit here at No Days Off, how important your environment is. You are the average of the energy around you too. So you have to strategically surround yourself with people who in fact energize you. And be careful of surrounding yourself with people who do the opposite. We can think about times where we've been around others, a group, and they, they, we couldn't help but be uplifted. And we could also probably think about times where we were a little down and maybe started complaining and everybody started joining into that complaint. And how did it feel? How did it go? Well, as the energy went down, you know, for that group, my energy goes down as well. So audit your relationships. Who's filling your tank and who's depleting it? So for today, what I really want to challenge you to think about— I want you to be a bit more intentional. I want you to attempt to give more energy than you take and protect yourself from energy vampires. So today now that you've listened to this, right? We're aware of this energy topic. I want you to be purposeful in the conversations that you have today, the individuals you're interacting with. Give more energy in the way that I described. Remember, that's positivity, that's being more supportive, that's being solutions-based, that's inspiring action. So, I want you to give more energy than you take. And I want you to really put up a moat or a barricade to protect yourself from energy vampires. And when I think about protect, I probably— I would say the best thing you could do is immediately disengage, respectfully of course, but disengage. Assess your own energy impact, and once you make that assessment, make small shifts. My challenge for you for the next week Focus on showing up with energy in every conversation and just keep an eye on what changes. That's all we have for you today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.