This morning, I woke up at my usual 7:00 am and once again, I realized what a "performance" lifestyle is all about. I have these realizations all the time and every one of them connects me deeper and deeper into the realities of the world we live in today, what personal energy management really means and the scope and span of the idea.

My weekend was not my usual, I went into the city to support my friend, colleague and mentor Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, who was speaking at ECA World Fitness conference and doing a tradeshow at the Marriot Marquis. Tradeshows as you know are major energy output.

My Sunday schedule changed significantly. Not only did we have the Spring Forward time change which meant I was giving up an hour, but I didn’t have the full regenerative day I usually have on Sunday. While still a relatively relaxed day, I also walked the city, watched a 15-minute side show on the streets of NY with this amazing band of Andes flute players, battled the cold wind in the city, and attended a church event on Sunday evening and talked to my cousin Terry in Colorado (to highlight only the main events) which got me back at 9:00PM.  Now Sunday nights are my movie night and I really wanted to watch “Blood Diamond”. I knew in that moment I had decision to make that was going to affect my entire Monday and the start of my week (without sounding dramatic).

Watching that movie at that time was going to mean I would lose roughly 3 hours of my recuperation time needed to be effective on Monday, and I did it anyway, because my desire to watch the movie was that strong. "I’ve worked all a week, this is my Sunday ritual and I’m not shifting gears for any reason", I thought quietly in my mind. Little did I consider… that my routine had already changed by going to the church event; I had already essentially "moved" my movie night, by choosing to do that. But no! I piled it on top, made it fit and now I’m paying for it as I write this post. No wonder America is running on Dunkin! I lost 4 hours of recuperation time yesterday and put out more energy than usual on a day that is reserved for energy regeneration.

It’s times like these that remind me of the ever so delicate balance we have to maintain today if we’re to maintain both our health and success. "Life itself" has to be kept in balance, and this is something the whole idea of work-life balance doesn’t address.

It’s all about the energy.