The Goal Isn't More Energy — It's Fewer Things Stealing It

**Matthew Gottesman** (0:02)
Welcome to The Niche Is You. My name is Matt Gottesman, at Matt Gottesman on Instagram, and this is my daily podcast where I create short, quick hitting episodes to help you uncomplicate life, creativity, and the pursuit of your highest self. There's only main character energy here. Now let's get into it.
Welcome to episode 827 The goal isn't more energy, it's fewer things stealing it.
I love talking about intentional living because, and I love talking about energy and focus and what deserves our attention, what should get our attention, because it forces us to be present. It forces us into a self-audit of what really matters to us. What are we prioritizing? And I was having recent conversations with several people about this, and it is that we sometimes think that the removal of things or doing less constricts our life and it doesn't. It actually expands it in ways you couldn't believe. Now, again, I've referenced books all the time, Greg McKeown, Essentialism, Gary Keller, The One Thing. And these books, they're in the show notes, they're in the recommended reading list. And, you know, it's true, like in Essentialism, you know, Greg McKeown talks a lot about that. You know, what's really deserving of our attention? And when we prioritize, what do you think happens to all of those areas that we drive our energy into? They thrive. And so when you think about that, then what's pulling from your energy, what's draining you? Right? I just, I feel like the real path to feeling alive isn't doing more, it's protecting more. It's protecting exactly what needs the most priority, needs the most attention, needs the most energy of yourself. So that way it's not draining you of the very livelihood, you know, the life force from you. All right. So in this episode, I want to talk about why most people are chasing the wrong solution to feeling depleted. Sometimes when we're depleted, you're like, oh, you know, I'm going to fix this. I'm going to fix all this. I'm going to do all of this. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What about pruning? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to get rid of? What do you need to stop committing to? What do you need to do less of? You know, and you'd be surprised when we make room, when we make space. Yeah, good can come in. More can expand. I also want to talk about the hidden energy leaks that quietly run your nervous system into the ground. You don't realize that we're doing it. They can be any number of things. A hidden energy leak is like, wait, why do I say yes to so many things each week? And why do I do more meetings than I need to? Some of you are probably like, I get it. You're stuck because of the corporate. They just have the amount of meetings that they do. I think that they're a waste of time. You know, but I understand because when I was consulting for a lot of big brands and I'd be pulling to these meetings, I'm like, you're in, you have me in meetings all day. I'm like, can I go do some work? You know what I mean? But so there's a lot of little hidden energy leaks, right? What do we commit to, I think? Well, is a great place where we can find that. Also, I want to talk about how modern life trained us to add more instead of protect more. Think about that, right? Oh, because I want to feel this way. Let me do this, this, this, this, all of these things, all of these things. All right, now I'm going to schedule more things. My schedule is packed. My calendar is booked. No, there are some people that I admire so much in just the way that they run their schedule and their calendar. And yet, seemingly, it looks like they run their entire world. And yet, they're always, they're so efficient. They're so intentional and so present. I'd like to say I put myself in that category, but sometimes I'm still adding some things here and there. But for the most part, I really reduced exactly when I do my work and exactly when I spend time doing all these other activities. And it's all integrated. But I had to figure that out for myself. I had to remove a lot. And it started with a lot of hustle culture mentality. I also want to talk about what's actually stealing your energy that you haven't named it yet. That's big. Look, let's find the leaks. Let's find what's stealing our energy. And then let's talk about the practical work of subtracting what's draining you and what becomes possible when you finally protect your energy instead of chasing more of it. Again, it's so easy. There's a thin line between that, right? Oh, I'm protecting my energy versus like, I'm going to go get more. I'm going to do this activity. And then I'm going to do this thing. And that's going to invigorate me. I'm like, but is it?