When Everything Feels Urgent
Managing Your Energy in an Always-On Environment
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cycles. About the natural rhythms we move through—and with a new season unfolding, Spring is a good moment to ask whether the way we’re operating is actually working for us.
I hear a lot about pace these days. In AI-native companies in particular, it’s a race to value creation and everyone at every level feels the pressure. CEOs and executives are constantly fighting to keep their company in the game—to innovate faster, to stay competitive. The companies that accelerate value for their customers fastest will win.
But this creates real downstream pressure.
My clients at every level are feeling it. Executives are asking more of their teams, and leaders are pushing to deliver higher quality, faster than ever. The expectation—spoken or not—is that we should all be operating at a consistently high level.
And that’s where things start to break.
Because we all know what happens when you try to operate at 110% all the time. It works for a while. Until it doesn’t.
So the question becomes: how do you manage your energy in an environment that doesn’t slow down?
The answer is simple, but not necessarily easy: you train for it.
You Can’t Remove the Pressure—But You Can Change How You Operate Inside It
In this environment, “just slow down” isn’t realistic advice.
So instead of trying to reduce the pace, the more useful shift is this:
Manage your energy like it’s your most important resource.
Think of yourself as an athlete, and your work as your sport.
Even when the season is intense, athletes don’t train the same way every day.
Even If Every Week Is a “Game,” Not Every Day Should Be
Here’s where most people get stuck.
They accept that everything is urgent—and then treat every hour of the day with the same level of intensity.
But urgency doesn’t mean everything requires the same kind of effort, at the same time. You want to avoid uniform intensity.
Even in the middle of a long, demanding season, athletes still vary their load:
Some days are high intensity
Some are focused but controlled
Some are lighter, designed to reset
You may not be able to control whether this week is intense. But you have more control over your day than you think.
A simple way to make this practical:
At the start of each day, decide:
Is this a high-output day (I’m pushing, shipping, deciding)?
Or a supporting day (I’m aligning, learning, clearing, thinking)?
And then actually work that way.
Most people try to do both, all day. That’s where energy gets diluted.
Energy Is the Constraint, Not Time
We tend to default to time management—calendars, blocks, efficiency.
But the real constraint is energy.
Two hours of focused, clear thinking will outperform an entire day of fragmented attention. Especially now, when AI tools can amplify whatever direction your attention is pointed.
So the question shifts from:
“How do I fit more into my day?”
to:
“When am I actually at my best—and what am I doing with that time?”
Protect those windows.
If you only have 2–3 hours a day where your thinking is sharp, that’s your competitive advantage. Don’t spend it in reactive work.
Recovery Isn’t a Break—It’s How You Sustain Output
Most people treat recovery as something they earn after pushing hard.
But if you’re operating in a high-demand environment continuously, recovery has to be built in—not saved for later.
Listen, my goal used to be to have one screen-free lunch per week—and most weeks I failed. I get it.
The reality is that most of us don’t exist in a world where fully protected time blocks, uninterrupted evenings, or fully work-free weekends are realistic right now.
The good news is that recovery is available in smaller moments, not just the big ones. The key is consciously building them into your day—and having the discipline to honor that intention when that time comes.
A few places to look:
During the day
Are you giving yourself any real breaks from input?
Or are you just switching from one form of stimulation to another?
At the end of the day
Do you have a way to actually come down from work?
Or are you carrying that same level of intensity into the rest of your evening?
Outside of work
Are you doing anything that genuinely restores you? (Time with loved ones, movement, good food, sleep)
Or just defaulting to whatever is easiest in the moment?
Recovery isn’t about doing less. It’s about restoring your ability to do meaningful work again tomorrow.
Simple Routines Matter More Than Big Resets
High performers don’t rely on occasional resets. They rely on small, consistent routines.
Two that I suggest:
1. A start-of-day “warm-up”
Before you open Slack or email:
What must be accomplished today?
When will you do your most important work?
Give yourself 10–15 minutes to set direction before reacting.
2. An end-of-day “cool down”
Before you step away:
Did I accomplish what I needed to?
What’s the most important thing to tackle tomorrow?
Close the loop so your brain doesn’t keep spinning all night.
Intentional transitions can have a lot more impact than perfect boundaries.
Pro tip: Avoid setting lofty and vague daily goals, eg. “launch new compensation model” and instead opt-for realistic targets for that specific day, eg. “design v1 comp model and ask VP for feedback”. If you find yourself procrastinating or susceptible to distraction, there is a good chance your to do list is too big.
The Tradeoff Most People Avoid
There’s a hard truth underneath all of this:
You can’t operate at a high level everywhere, all the time.
If you want to perform well in a demanding environment, you have to be selective:
Where you go all-in
Where you deliberately pull back
Where “good enough” is actually enough
AI has increased the surface area of what’s possible. It hasn’t increased your capacity to do all of it well.
That part is still on you to manage.
Today, consider:
What is the single most important thing I need to move forward right now?
What are the things only I can own—and what can be let go or pushed out?
What has been carrying over week to week—and is it still a priority? Either get it done or take it off the list.
May you find a rhythm that works for you this spring,
Lindsay
