Identifying What's Working and What's Draining You

bau--she-they-_1_10-10-2025_170917: [00:00:00] A couple weeks ago we talked about energy as the missing resource, and this episode is about identifying what's working and what's draining you. Planning without reflection is just guessing. So let's evaluate before we set some goals. We wanna talk about inputs versus returns. Now, this isn't new. This isn't a new idea, and so you already know how to do this. If you've been running a business, we're a, frankly doing anything .

And the piece that I add is really in addition to your time and your money, how to, uh, allocate your energy for the things that you're doing. I have a tool that I developed called the resource Calculator, a link to it in the show notes, and you can copy it and try using it.

It is designed for a business model, but you can really use it for any project that matters to you. For example, so this podcast, I love this podcast. This podcast energizes me. It excites me. It's something that I delight in doing, and it is a very fulfilling activity for me.

It is not a business money maker. And [00:01:00] so when I, when I look at my business model. I can have one project like this. That is energy providing and it, it's great, it connects me to awesome people. It helps me get the word out about the things that I believe in, the values that I have, and and if I have all of my business projects that are that way. Obviously my business isn't gonna go be very successful, right?

Because I need, do, need to bring in money. The other thing that I see is people that have projects that are financially successful, they bring in a good return. But they're very draining. And once again, you can also have projects like that sometimes you have to have a project or a part of your business that takes a little bit more from you than it gives because it is so financially good for what you're trying to accomplish.

But you do need to notice that you notice that your creativity or your connection energy or your momentum are being a little bit drained. And you have to make sure that you're allocating space to replenish and [00:02:00] cultivate those energies so that you stay balanced and capable, your capacity doesn't get destroyed.

'cause that's what leads to burnout- and especially to entrepreneurial burnout. Um. So that balance is really important. So that's why I developed the resource calculator. Uh, we'll also go over it november 11th. I'm doing an Energize Your 2026, uh, workshop that it's a low price, it's $35 you can hop into. And we'll kind of walk through some of this so that you can start thinking about how you're allocating your time, energy, and money for 2026.

Many entrepreneurs will stay stuck because they overinvest in activities that are draining. And then what happens is they get overwhelmed. They don't know where to start. They dread this thing that they've created and that they love. Or they end up in burnout. They literally just can't. Motivate anymore because they have depleted themselves so completely.

And sustainable growth is really a, an important balance of those two, of those financial and energetic returns. . You can [00:03:00] work to make sure that everything you do is balanced it. That's not always possible. I, I find that a lot of times you, you kind of have to compromise within one project or another. So then you wanna look at the whole picture of what you're doing and really make sure that the cumulative effect is that you are creating opportunities for cultivation and replenishment and financial success. And that it is balancing out overall in some fashion.

And that's why the resource calculator is something I develop because then you can enter your different projects in and kind of look at that picture. And if you notice like, wow, everything that I do brings in money but drains me. Then you have to start thinking, how do I make sure to cultivate those assets of myself or preserve them, or sometimes even outsource things, so that I can continue to be effective at the work that I love and in the business that I've created.

Okay, so for this evaluation project, one of the things that I recommend is take three to five projects and, [00:04:00] um, or the, the ones that are, they're really core. Maybe you only have three or five, four projects in your business. And, and put them in and I, and identify, uh, the output and, and the return.

How much creativity, how much connection, how much time, money. How much of satisfaction and motivation each of them requires from you and also returns to you. Now, this is a little bit of a do it by feel. So you may kind of get in there and, and, and futs with the numbers, but you kind of have a sense of it, right? Like, you know, how much time or which sometimes what I'll do is I'll quantify it by the amount of time. Like I know that my podcast takes maybe four hours a week. So I would say that's 10% of a 40 hour week, work week. So then I allocate kind of everything else based on that. So just find something that feels right to you and it, it's really well, it is.

The, there's, while it's a spreadsheet with numbers and an attempt to quantify it, [00:05:00] there is a little bit of, kind of feeling a sense of it. So that then when you can look at the, the outputs though gives you little charts you can kind of see Oh, wow. I'm constantly putting in money, but I'm not getting any back.

That's a problem. And that's a pretty easy one to see. We're pretty used to that. But maybe I'm constantly drawing on my relationships, my connections. Because I am always asking my friends or my network for stuff. But I see that while I'm constantly reaching out to people for that, I'm not really doing things to, to return it.

I'm not really cultivating it. And there aren't things that replenish that aspect. So how do I get more intentional about that? Because you don't, you don't wanna take from people without giving back in some fashion. And it doesn't have to be one for one, it just needs to be overall some sense of balance.

You notice that input versus that return, and then you notice those misalignments. And then the other thing that I'm gonna recommend is also, as you do this and you kind of try to get it into that spreadsheet format, that more quantifiable [00:06:00] chart experience, also reflect on your own experience of what really fueled you this year? Was it a specific project or a specific client? Is there, is there a thing that you can't wait to get to in your day or your week or a month. Or a person that you love, or a client or a group that you love to work with, and notice that. Because in addition to whatever they're doing, I think the other part to realize is you can start to try to identify what are those qualities in that project or that relationship or that client that you can start to look for in other projects, relationships, or clients. 'cause if that's exciting, you bringing more of that into your work and into your life is going to have a positive impact. And then also really reflect on what drained you and, and be honest with yourself. So, I know a lot of people, and we, we harp on this, we, we, we put social media down [00:07:00] for a reason.

A lot of people find it really draining. And so outsourcing those things if you can, or finding ways to compartmentalize them or contain them so that they aren't infecting your enthusiasm for what you're doing or for the work that you have in front of you that you are excited about.

I, I read something recently, someone said, uh, you didn't have a bad day. You had a bad 15 minutes and then you let it infect the rest of your day. And I feel like that can also happen when you're dealing with something that you really dread that drains you is you, oh, such a hard day and I didn't feel good.

But then when you look back, you realize actually what it was was I spent, you know, 45 minutes handing my social media process. And so really reflect on that and what are the ways that you can contain that so that it doesn't drag you down or make the other things that you love less available to you or less exciting to you.

So that's, I talk today. So like thinking about output input, I really do [00:08:00] recommend the resource calculator. I, I've found that it has been really helpful to people, and I have a little walkthrough guide on that. I hope you'll join me on November 11th, and if not, reach out send me an email, let me know how it's going.

Let's really make it so that when you're putting together your 2026, you really think about yourself and your business in this full picture way. So that you can create something that energizes you. And that gives you the, the passion back that you've been pouring into it. And next week we'll talk about how to design your business with your energy in mind.

Thank you for tuning into business as unusual, remember, in this ever evolving world of modern business, it's not about fitting in.

It's about standing out. See you next time. Stay curious, stay innovative, and always keep it unusual.