What you’re getting wrong about energy management

You’ve tried everything.

The morning routine. 

The supplements. 

The sleep hacks. 

The productivity system. 

The cold plunge. 

The breathwork.

And you still feel drained.

These tactics can be effective. That’s not the issue.

It’s that you’re treating energy like a technical problem.

Energy isn’t a battery you charge. If so, we’d all be restored after one night of sleep.

Low energy is like the “check engine” light in your car.

After all the hacks and tactics, your system is still saying: “Something is wrong here.”

You wouldn’t try to silence a smoke alarm before checking what’s on fire.

Apply the same logic to your energetic state.

Energy doesn’t come from doing more things right. It comes from removing the friction that’s draining you in the first place.

Let’s talk about how to make that crucial shift most people miss.

Most people approach energy management like they’d debug code:

- Still tired → optimise sleep

- Still foggy → add exercise 

- Still feeling burned out → improve nutrition 

They keep adding more. Better supplements. Stricter routines. More discipline.

But tactics and “advanced practices” are only helpful if the underlying foundation is solid.

I’ve pushed through periods of misalignment. I know from experience that they don’t get cleared until the underlying root cause is addressed.

Yet I still catch myself trying new hacks or treating surface-level symptoms.

Recently, I had a period of poor sleep. I woke up at 3 am and had a hard time falling back asleep. 

I tried to optimise my sleep with things like ashwagandha and blue light blocking glasses.

I even started eating kiwis before bed because I read that it was helpful. Yes, these things might help at the margins. But only at the margins.

Here’s what was actually happening:

My sleep wasn’t bad because of my routine. It was bad because I was carrying unresolved stress.

Only when I dealt with deeper sources of stress in my life did I start sleeping better.

I did this through meditation, reflection, talking with a coach, and stress management.

With intentional practice, many of us could uncover similar truths:

Your focus isn’t weak because of your productivity system. It’s weak because you’re doing work that doesn’t matter to you.

Your energy isn’t low because you need more vitamins. It’s low because you’re living in misalignment.

Stop patching the symptoms of a deeper issue.

This approach won’t fix your energy problems; each patch just drains postpones the inevitable crash.

Sometimes, optimisation itself becomes a problem.

When you’re always trying to “fix” your energy, you send yourself a message:

Something is wrong with me.

Over time, this creates:

- More self-monitoring (Am I doing it right? Is it working yet?)

- More tension (I should feel better by now.)

- Less trust in your body (What's wrong with me that this isn't working?)

- A never-ending search for the next hack

Ironically, this mindset creates the very exhaustion you're trying to escape.

That’s the optimisation trap: 

You’re so busy fixing yourself that you never stop to ask a more important question:

Is this the life I actually want energy for?

One of the most important things I’ve learned is this:

Your body wants to work well.

When something feels off for a day or two, that’s normal.

But when low energy lingers through chronic symptoms like poor sleep, constant fatigue, or mental fog, that’s not random. And it’s not a result of one isolated part of your life.

Your energetic state is important information related to every aspect of your being.

Low energy often means:

- You're pushing through something that wants to be addressed.

- You're overcommitted to things that don't matter to you.

- You're ignoring a truth you don't want to face.

- You're forcing alignment where there is none.

- You're living someone else's priorities.

This shows up in familiar ways:

You're exhausted every Sunday night, because you dread what Monday brings.

You have a hard time focusing at work, because you find work meaningless.

You feed drained after social events, because you're performing a version of yourself that isn't real.

At one point in my career, I was struggling to focus during the day. I didn’t need a better morning routine. The deeper issue was that consulting was no longer the right job for me.

The pattern is the same.

You treat the symptom (tiredness) and ignore the cause (misalignment).

But misalignment will drain you faster than any bad habit ever could.

Your system will continue escalating the problem until it’s addressed.

It will work harder to get your attention. 

A bit of tension becomes intense pain you can’t ignore anymore.

A little restlessness before bed becomes tossing and turning all night.

Ongoing exhaustion isn’t normal, but it’s not a punishment either.

It’s your body asking you to pause and listen.

You can ease off the hacks and tactics. They won’t fix your leaking energy.

Instead, find where you can remove friction.

Energy comes back when you:

- Stop pretending you’re fine when you're not.

- Stop fighting reality and start acknowledging it.

- Stop forcing yourself through what’s no longer working.

- Stop living by old commitments that don’t fit who you are now.

When you relieve the friction in your life, you make room for what’s truly energising:

Clarity is energising. Knowing what matters makes decisions easier, so you waste less energy.

Truth is energising. When you stop lying to yourself about what's working, you stop burning energy on maintenance.

Alignment is energising. When your actions match your values, there's no internal friction.  You're not fighting yourself anymore.

Here’s how better energy management looks in daily life:

You quit the project you were forcing yourself to care about. Suddenly, you have energy for what you actually want to build.

You stop saying yes to social events that drain you. Your weekends stop feeling like recovery missions.

You leave the relationship where you were performing instead of being yourself. You stop feeling exhausted by intimacy.

Remove what isn’t yours to carry, and notice what happens to your energy.

This is the work we do inside The Inner Edge, by helping you understand your energy across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, and building a personal operating model that actually fits your life. If you want structured support, learn more about The Inner Edge here.

Improving how you manage your energy doesn’t mean burning everything down.

We all have responsibilities and people who depend on us.

But step back and think about why you’re on this planet, and what a life worth living looks like to you. Then make sure you’re listening to your energy.

Make sure you’re making conscious choices and steps toward alignment each day. 

Here’s the new approach:

When your energy drops, instead of asking: “What should I try next?”

Ask:

- “What is this trying to tell me?”

- “If I trusted my energy, what would I change?”

- “Where am I treating a message as a malfunction?”

- “What am I pushing through that wants to be addressed?”

This shifts the entire game.

You stop seeing low energy as a problem to fix or a personal failure.

You start seeing it for what it is: guidance.

Most people spend years optimising the wrong life. They get really good at managing energy for a path they never wanted. 

Don't be them.

For most people, seeking better energy hacks is a waste of time.

Instead, they need fewer internal contradictions.

You can’t manufacture more energy through discipline and supplements.

Not when low energy is a symptom of a deeper problem you’ve suppressed.

Energy is something that emerges when your life makes sense on the inside.

When what you do matches who you are. 

When your commitments reflect your values. 

When your days align with your priorities.

So take a step back from the cycle of optimising yourself.

Be honest enough to stop running from what your lack of energy is trying to show you.

If you’re ready to start building sustainable energy with intention, The Inner Edge offers a guided path to do that. Join us to find your personal blueprint for sustainable peak performance.