Knowledge. Shared Blog

June 2020

For Financial Professionals, Energy – Not Time – Is the Most Important Asset

Dr. John L. Evans Jr., Head Strategist of Knowledge Labs®, explains why having adequate energy – both physically and mentally – is critical to putting our best selves forward for clients, particularly in challenging times. He also offers suggestions for how financial advisors can boost their energy levels through opportunity-based eating and strategic movement.

How’s your energy?

That may seem like an unusual question, especially in a column for financial advisors. You may be asking, “What does energy have to do with my business?” Or you may be wondering what I even mean when I refer to “energy” – a word that can have a lot of different meanings.

Here’s where I’m coming from: As emissaries of the financial services industry, the single most important asset for financial advisors is our energy level. In this context, I am speaking of “energy” in terms of both our physical and mental capacity for endurance. With everything that is happening in the world around us today, we are all doing our best to endure and stay strong in the face of some of the greatest challenges most of us have ever faced.

The common refrain in the advisor community is that time is our most important asset. We are all pressed for time, looking for ways to manage it better and be more efficient. But time without energy accomplishes nothing and takes us nowhere: it’s a car without gas.

Remember when you got your first car and your parents were always on your case about keeping it filled up and changing the oil every 3,000 miles? That was sage advice for keeping your vehicle running smoothly. Turns out, that type of maintenance also applies to our bodies and minds. Keeping our energy tanks full and our internal systems as clean as possible allows us to achieve optimal performance – not just physically but also in terms of our ability to put our best selves forward for our families, our clients and our communities.

Energy for Performance

This concept of energy being critical for an advisor’s performance is so central to the work we do here at Janus Henderson that we created an entire program called “Energy for Performance” as part of our overall professional development platform. And to make sure we could provide the most useful, well-established information on the topic, we partnered with the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute (HPI), for which I’m a Certified Facilitator.

So what does HPI have to say about how to boost our energy levels? Before I outline some of their suggestions, I should point out that this institute has a long history of working with professional athletes, military Special Forces and Fortune 500 CEOs in the fields of high performance and energy management. From these top performers, the experts at HPI have learned that skillfully managing both physical and mental energy in sports and business can take you to the next level of performance. Time management is what gets you to work or onto the field; managing the physical and mental energy you give to that time is what makes the real difference.

The Four Elements of Human Energy

How do we manage our energy effectively? First, going back to the multiple meaning I referenced above, we have to remember that energy takes different forms. We can break it down into four areas: Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual. From our Energy for Performance program, here are the key questions to ask yourself in relation to each of those areas:

Physical: What is the quality of energy you have available? How full are your energy reserves?

Emotional: What is the quality of your energy (negative or positive)? What is your capacity to manage emotions?

Mental: What is the focus of your energy (scattered or laser sharp)?

Spiritual: What is the force of your energy (passionate, committed, connected to deep values)?

Through the pandemic, the area I’ve personally focused on most to keep my energy levels high as I’ve tried to adapt to our new socially distanced (and increasingly sedentary) lifestyle has been the physical element. Following are a few of the habits I’ve developed, which HPI also recommends for optimal performance:

Opportunity-Based Eating. This is all about strategic fueling (that full tank of gas again), which can help keep us energized and stabilize our moods so we’re thinking clearly and in control. For me, this means never skipping breakfast or exercising on an empty stomach. I’ve also found a low-glycemic diet (like the Mediterranean diet, which focuses on nutrient density) keeps my energy levels high throughout the day.

Strategic Movement. Another key component of keeping your energy levels high is exercise. You’ve surely heard this many times before, but have you considered that improved fitness can translate to greater endurance mentally and emotionally, and can also help us recover faster from stress? Research has even shown links between physical fitness and improved concentration, enhanced decision-making and leadership effectiveness. In times like these, it cannot be overstated how vital it is to simply move our bodies – every day, with purpose.

One of my favorite sayings is, “Life is not about how many breaths you take, but rather how many times you take someone else’s away.” When you bring your best energy to work and life, you can accomplish remarkable things. So I urge you to take stock of your energy levels and find ways to keep your engine running clean. We have a long road ahead of us, and your clients need your guidance and grounded perspective now more than ever.

Elite Performance in Practice

Based on 30 years of research by the Human Performance Institute, this workshop provides actionable tools used to stay focused on what matters most with a personalized plan to replenish and sustain your energy for a life of purpose, engagement and peak performance.

Energy for Performance

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