Workload & wellbeing
Notice what drains and energizes you
A simple exercise to see which parts of your job fill you up, and which wear you down
For a week, after each block of work, note whether it gave you energy or took it, then look back for the pattern.
- 6 steps
- Just you
- A few times a year
- Sequence
Why this can work
How you remember a week is a poor guide to how it actually felt. A quick note after each block of work, kept for a week, shows which tasks, people and settings reliably lift you and which reliably drain you. That's the raw material for doing more of what works, and for telling the people who shape your week.
Read moreHow to do an energy audit of your work week
You’ll come away with a week of evidence about your energy, and one change worth making.
- Pick the day you'll start.
The dates below are counted from your first day.
Set the date and every step below gets a real day.
- Day one · 5 minSet up a simple log and note your first few blocks of work.
- Day three · 3 minKeep noting after each block, and add a word on why when something stands out.
- Day five · 3 minFinish the week's notes, including the small moments you'd usually forget.
- About a week later · 10 minRead the whole week and look for what repeats: what reliably gave you energy, and what reliably took it.
- Once you've seen the pattern · 5 minPick one small change you can make yourself, and decide whether anything is worth raising with your manager.
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Some work you like still wears you out, and some you'd never choose leaves you strangely charged. Note what actually happened, not what you think you should feel.
What might make this harder
Tie it to something you already do, like closing a meeting window or refilling your coffee. Or catch up at the end of each day; it's less precise, but still useful.
Questions people ask
How do I figure out what drains my energy at work?
Keep a short log for a week. After each block of work, note whether it gave you energy or took it, then look back for patterns in the kind of work, the people, and the time of day.
What is a Good Time Journal?
An exercise from the book Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. You log your activities and how engaged and energized you felt during each, then reflect on the patterns to learn what kind of work suits you.
How do I get more energizing work in my job?
Start with evidence of what energizes you, then make the changes you can make yourself, like timing or batching. For bigger shifts, tell your manager what you noticed and how it could help the team.
What if everything at work drains me?
Look for the least-draining parts and build from there. If the whole week felt empty, take that seriously. It may be a sign you're running low, and it's worth talking about with someone you trust.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Ask people which parts of their job they like and they'll give you an answer, but it's usually a story shaped by the last few days and by what they think they ought to like. Memory is a poor record of how work actually feels. A week of quick notes, taken right after each block of work, is a much better one.
The method borrows from the Good Time Journal in Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. They suggest logging your activities along with how engaged and energized you felt, then reflecting on the patterns. The version here keeps it to one question, did this give or take energy, and one aim: a single change you can make, plus something worth telling your manager.
The patterns are often not where you'd expect. The meeting you assumed you hated turns out fine; the quiet admin hour you never think about flattens you every time. People tend to matter as much as tasks, and time of day more than you'd guess. Once you can see what reliably lifts you, you can start arranging more of your week around it. Some of that needs no one's permission: moving draining work to your sharpest hours, batching it, pairing it with something you enjoy.
The rest usually involves your manager, and that conversation goes better with evidence. Here's what I noticed, here's what I think it means, here's what we might try. Framed around what the team needs, the work that energizes you is often work someone would be glad to hand you. And if the week shows almost nothing that gives you energy, that's worth taking seriously too. It's information about how you're doing, not only about the job.
Other simple things to consider
What to do next
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Written by Truest, based on Designing Your Life (Bill Burnett and Dave Evans). Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.