Want to energize your life? Maximize your Gain to Drain Ratio

The nutshell description of what I do with my work is "helping people put their passion to work to make a difference that inspires them, in a way that lets them thrive."

Another way I describe my work is even simpler - it's about energy management. In essence, it's about identifying the sources of energy and incorporating them into your career, and your life.

At the heart of the energy management idea is what I call the Gain to Drain Ratio. Maximizing your Gain to Drain Ratio is simple, really. All you do is:

• Bring as much as possible of what gives you energy (the Gain part of the equation)
• Do whatever you can to minimize the things that drain your energy.

In terms of your career, the two key Gain components are passion and meaning. The more you can incorporate the kinds of things that energize you, and the more you can put that to work towards something that inspires you and pulls you forward, the more Gain you have.

By the same token, the more you can change the things that suck your energy away - whether by doing something major like a career change or something less drastic like taking small steps to do things more in alignment with how you naturally function - the smaller your Drain will be.

The Gain to Drain Ratio idea applies throughout your life, not just your career. For example, a big source of Gain or Drain can be diet and exercise. The more healthily you eat and the more consistently you exercise, the bigger the Gain. Living on twinkies and potato chips, on the other hand, can be a massive Drain.

And of course the net effect from things like diet and exercise have an impact on other parts of your life. You might be doing a job you love and making a super-inspiring difference, but if you your diet and exercise habits create a big Drain, it's going to reduce the Gain to Drain Ratio.

(Feel free to skip the next three paragraphs if numbers and ratios make your eyeballs roll back in your head - it's just another way to think about it).

If you want to put it all in more concrete terms, think of it in terms of measuring things on a scale from 1 to 10. Maybe you love your work and give it a 9 on the Gain scale. There are a few things that drive you buggy, so maybe the Drain is a 3. So your Gain to Drain Ratio is 9 to 3. If you're mathematically compulsive, you could reduce that to 3 to 1 and say, hey, I've got a Gain to Drain score of 3.

If you made some changes and eliminated the things that drive you nuts, that Drain might drop to 1. Now all of a sudden it's 9 to 1, or a Drain to Gain score of 9 (out of a maximum of 10).

The same idea applies the other way. If the Gain from your work is far outweighed by the Drain - say, a Gain of 3 and a Drain of 9 - now all of a sudden you have a 1 to 3 Gain to Drain Ratio. Or a Gain to Drain score of 1/3.

(OK, enough of the mathematical interlude - back to our regularly scheduled programming.)

Take a look at your own career, and your own life. What does your Gain to Drain Ratio look like? Try looking at the Gain and Drain in different areas, like...

• Career
• Health
• Relationships
• Finance

When you start getting a feel for how the different components of your life affect your overall Gain to Drain Ratio, you can start exploring ways to maximize the Gain and minimize the Drain.

And that's what it's all about!

--

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Comments

[David Zinger]

I too often think of this ratio, as energy is so key. In addition I think about the ratio with others: Am I an energy booster or an energy sucker? So much energy resides in relationships.

[David Zinger]

I too often think of this ratio, as energy is so key. In addition I think about the ratio with others: Am I an energy booster or an energy sucker? So much energy resides in relationships.

[Curt Rosengren]

Thanks David. That's a GREAT addition to the picture.

[Ariana]

This type of thinking can help when you are faced with a stay-or-go dilemma in your job or your career direction.

What a challenge it is when you love what you do and where you do it, but are unexpectedly faced with an immovable object (such as unethical business practices or a harrassing superior). When is it better to leave, and when is it better to stay and fight the good fight? The Drain potential is a powerful factor to consider.