In This Episode…
Do you know what your surge capacity is? No neither did I until someone in the know shared the concept with me. In this episode I share what I’ve gleaned about this important aspect of our productivity.
Episode Show Notes…
What Is Surge Capacity
One of the benefits of having been in the people development space for over 20 years is that you get to meet and know some really cool people.
Some of them are just passing acquaintances, others become colleagues and a few even become friends.
But regardless of the relationship you have with these people, you develop a really good rolodex of contacts you can tap into.
Over the last 8 or 9 months I have connected and reconnected with some amazing people.
I was chatting to one of them only on a zoom call recently and were talking about the stresses and strains of the current climate.
We’re both feeling it in different ways and were reflecting on how we were dealing with it drawing on our individual knowledge and experience. We both came to the conclusion that just knowing how to isn’t always a guarantee that you will.
After our conversation they forwarded me an excellent article about our surge capacity. Written by Tara Haelle, a science journalist and public speaker, it is called “Your Surge Capacity Is Depleted. It’s Why You Feel Awful”.
I recommend you go a read the article yourself because Tara explains it much better than I’m going to even attempt.
But in summary, your surge capacity is a collection of mental and physical back up resources held back in reserve for you to tap into in times of severe stress.
These reserves are there for emergency purposes only.
But they are finite.
So once they have been depleted, they need renewing and refreshing.
But if the stressful situation goes on….and on…..and on….. and then when you think you’re coming out of it, it carries on ….and on….and on….
Then you don’t have the time or space for renewal.
So at some point your surge capacity is no more and you start running on empty.
And that is a place many find themselves in right now as we are faced with indefinite uncertainty.
Doesn’t sound good does it.
Fortunately the article shares some things we can do to deal with these trying times.
I strongly recommend you go read the article yourself, but just for the record, here are the things they recommended that resonated with me along with my thoughts on them:
- Accept that life is different right now.
- Expect less from yourself.
- Recognise the different aspects of grief.
- Look for activities that continue to fulfil you.
- Focus on maintaining and strengthening important relationships
- Begin slowly building your resilience bank account.
