The Energy Budget Framework: The Hidden Currency That Determines Your Success

Most driven people are obsessed with tracking metrics.

Whether this is dollars in their bank account, minutes in their calendar, steps in a day, or calories in their diets, there are countless things that can be tracked.

However, there is a primary fuel source for all metrics that can’t reliably be tracked: your personal energy. Even with unlimited capital and a clear schedule, if your energy is down, you will fail to create any substantial output.

It is ironic that we build and use complex dashboards and apps for our finances and superficial health metrics while leaving our energy levels completely unchecked. Too often, people are “winning” in money or even time, but losing in the metric that actually matters: personal energy.

Your personal energy contributes to your overall vibe, presence, social status and reputation. When enhanced, it can bring opportunities to you, whether business or even romantic, and you’ll have a huge edge over everyone else who might be relying on cheap energy like caffeine and stimulants.

While it’s impossible to plug your personal energy level into a spreadsheet, you can focus on these following key areas that contribute directly to a superior energy that you and others will definitely feel even if you can’t actually track it in an app or on paper.

You must view your body not as a vessel for pleasure, or even a signal for vanity and health, but as the hardware that runs your consciousness. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out, even if you might look “good” on the outside.

To maximize your energy physical bank, you must be ruthless about physical inputs, treating proper bodily maintenance as a non-negotiable business expense:

Stop viewing food as entertainment and start viewing it as a code that programs your output in life. I stopped being a “foodie” a long time ago; now I fuel with quality, whole foods that give me energy rather than pleasure.

By seeing food as quality fuel and not as a pleasure, you’ll actually start to crave healthy stuff and people will think you’re “on a diet” when in reality, you’re just eating what your body wants.

It’s amazing how much hustle culture glorifies sleep deprivation and getting by on stimulants. We cannot outsmart our biology, and even if we win short term with external chemical help, we will crush the only thing that matters: our internal energy.

Do whatever you can to protect a healthy sleep schedule and incorporate naps if necessary. Sleep isn’t down time or laziness, it’s the time your brain uses to recharge.

A sedentary body creates a stagnant mind. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder or even care about appearing a certain way, as these are superficial traps that sometimes drain your energy rather than add to it.

Don’t view exercise as a chore, and you don’t need to force yourself to adhere to a strict routine. Pick up enjoyable activities like dancing, sports, or even just walking more than you normally do. This will fill your energy bank way more than any stimulant might, and you’ll end up both looking and feeling good.

Just as a computer slows down when there are too many tabs open, your energy drains when your mind is cluttered with noise.

Average people might dismiss mindfulness and meditation as useless “woo”, but the highest level operators who have full energy banks know that these are crucial tools in building and supporting an optimal energy framework:

This is the practice of clearing your cognitive mental RAM. To simplify this, think of it not as an advanced skill you need to acquire, but as a habit that you can curate simply through detached observation.

Just like with food, junk in is junk out when it comes to content you’re consuming. Doom-scrolling social media, for example, even if it’s “motivational”, is a massive energy leak. Pick up high quality inputs like books and long-form podcasts or YouTube videos to keep your energy consistent rather than scattered.

Lastly, as much as you can gain control of your mind and body, you’ll never be able to control what is happening in the world. Your business can crash, others can disappoint you, and infrastructures can fail. Learn to expect and weather these inevitable storms, and always be positive and keep persisting. This mindset alone will give you extra energy even compared to people who sleep, eat, and exercise well.

Laying the base for ultimate leverage: The cheat code of having a full battery of personal energy

I’ve laid out general frameworks here, now it’s up to you to put them into practice and personalize slightly based on your own tendencies and intuition.

Over time, your energy will improve, and people will wonder what your “secret” is. They won’t be able to put a number on it, but the vibe will be undeniable.