The Power of Full Engagement Summary provides a free book summary and review, key takeaways, top quotes and author biography of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz’s book. Balance your body, soul, mind, and feelings by managing your energy. And, not your time. This is the new standard.

Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr provide strong, common sense advice. The authors advise sleeping and waking up at a regular time. This is not the same as Benjamin Franklin advice of “early to bed, early to rise.” But, it is somewhat close. They advise regular exercising. The authors claim it is healthy to work and rest both. Each had its place. Tony and Jim ask to study yourself and see yourself as others see you. They suggest many long-established ways of mental, physical and spiritual growth. They mix these techniques with prioritizing how to use your energy.

This approach makes this book The Power of Full Engagement different. The principles could be old. But, we find the attitude uniquely modern. It is a blend of workout-style performance charting and New-Age jargon. This is then linked to time management. Hence, it all makes sense and covers every aspect of one’s life. Some readers may find it exciting, while others may groan.

“Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.”

This Summary Will Help You Learn

What does the strategy of “complete engagement” includes; and

How to optimize the power of your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energies.

Take-Aways

Your most precious resource is not time. Instead, it is your energy.

Management of energy makes complete engagement possible.

Energy has four elements: mind, soul, body, and emotions. Each dimension is important. But, no one is enough.

In physical training, you exercise and then rest. Same applies for mental training.

Regain spiritual and physical energy by including recovery practices in your routine. Positive activities build energy. In contrast, negative ones waste it.

Emotional energy is produced by empathy, self-confidence, sociability, and self-discipline.

Pleasure leads to excellent job performance. But, negative ones weaken it.

Rest and stress are both needed but in a rhythmic cycle.

Excessive work could be a lethal addiction.

Becoming completely involved is a change which needs a clear goal. Then examine where you are and take action.

The Power of Full Engagement Summary

Energy Excelsior

Your most valuable resource is not time. Instead, it is energy. People can plan their time well but still be stressed and exhausted. They may be unable to focus. People use schedulers, planners, clocks, etc. to manage their time. But, what do they do about managing their energy?

The road to success, power and efficiency is energy management. This is the technique of “full engagement.” With complete engagement, you will wake up every morning upbeat. You will go to work feeling positive. When you leave after work, you will look forward to coming back home. You will be fun, innovative, satisfied and feel challenged. If you are the boss, your staff will be happy to follow you. This is because you will direct them to the path of full engagement. Also, with your help, they can align their goals with your company’s goals.

Full engagement must be the core priority. Firm spend too much unnecessary money because 70% of Americans are not fully engaged. Plus, the longer employees remain in a job, the less engaged they become. When top athletes are trained in full engagement, they perform the best. Such training does not teach athletes how to skate or kick. Instead, it teaches them to manage their energy.

Energy Management Principles

This principle also works for “corporate athletes.” They also benefit from the same four energy management precepts:

There are four dimensions of energy. That is the mind, body, soul, and emotion. Take energy from each. All these dimensions are vital. But, no single is enough. Balance work and stress smoothly. Push your limits in a systematic way. Building emotional, mental and spiritual strength is similar to building physical strength. There are no gains without any pain. Make use of energy rituals.

Change arrives in three stages. First, define the goal – what you wish to become. Second, study how you are spending your energy now. Lastly, take action. Make a plan and set rituals to use energy positively.

Rhythm

Flavius Philostratus used to train athletes in ancient Greece. He was the 1st to discover and note down the advantages of rhythmic training. That is, a practice followed by rest. The concept is easy. Our body uses biochemicals when it works. Hence, we should rest to revive them. When athletes face trouble, it is mainly because they trained excessively or not enough.

This idea also applies to our daily lives. Too much exertion, without proper rest, leads to problems. Also, too much rest, without enough energy spent also creates trouble. Full engagement needs balancing. Or at least swinging between recovery and rest. No wonder then that the entire universe is rhythmic. High tide-low tide, new moon-full moon, and sunrise-sunset. Our heartbeat is also rhythmic. Even sleeping is rhythmic.

Top tennis players have habits, routines through which they recover in a match. Their heart rate may fall almost 20 beats/minute between points. They reclaim energy in such recovery practices. Leading businesspeople also do the same. Maggie Wilderotter, Wink Communications President, goes on “lion hunts.” She sneaks around her workplace asking employees what they are doing. This allows her to relax and connect with her people simultaneously. Bill Norman, executive VP of Herman Miller, does not use a cell-phone. He is an amateur photographer. For him, his time-off aids him to build his intuition. Another exec takes her lunch bag so that she can eat in a park. This helps her connect with nature and revive herself for the remaining day.

Perils of Overworking

Though rest is essential, our modern world condemns it. Instead, it promotes the damaging 24/7. Our bodies are not machines. But, sadly we treat them like one. E-mail is especially sinister. An America Online survey was performed in 2000. It showed that 47% of its consumers took laptops on holidays. Besides, over a quarter logged on daily to check their emails. We require a “Sabbath.” Excessive work could be an addiction. The high adrenaline is appealing. But, it can be lethal. The Japanese term “karoshi” refers to “death from overworking.” The first reported case came in 1969. Now, Japan reports nearly 10,000 every year.

Five factors repeatedly crop in “karoshi” cases. First, long hours without enough rest. Second, working late at night. Third, skipped breaks and holidays. Fourth, constant pressure. And lastly, mental and physical job stress. This stress is not all bad. To help a muscle grow, one needs to stress it beyond the regular activities. A rhythmic swinging between rest and stress is healthy.

Physical Energy

It starts in the body. Even if you have a sitting job, you need physical strength. This depends on eating and breathing. Both ought to be balanced. Breakfast is crucial. The most important meal of your day. It increases the blood sugar level and activates the metabolic functions. Then, comes water. By the time you feel thirsty, you have dehydrated already. Dehydration consumes energy and strength. Hence, drink a minimum of two quarters or water every-day. Australian research made some startling revelations. People drinking only 40 ounces of water each day were less likely to die of heart diseases. In contrast, people drinking 24 ounces or less were more likely.

You also require enough sleep. Also, it is better to sleep during the night. Working late in the night is terrible for the body. Plus, your work also gets hampered. The worst industrial mishaps in recent times occurred during the night. Night workers face more heart issues than day workers. Sleep researchers claim that employees who take regular naps are more alert. Also, they are more efficient even without long sleep.

Our bodies work on rhythms which rotate every 90-120 minutes. Most of our energy recedes in the late afternoon. NASA found that a 40-minute sleep enhanced performance by 34%. Besides, it improved alertness by 100%. Add exercise to this rhythm because of exercise influences energy. Interval training is the most helpful. Even fast aerobic squirts of a minute followed by rest can improve energy levels. Do not just do cardio, work to build strength too.

“To maintain a powerful pulse in our lives, we must learn how to rhyth­mi­cally spend and renew energy.”

Emotions

Emotional energy shows itself in self-discipline, empathy, self-confidence, and sociability. Negative feelings like anger, fear, sadness or frustration are poisonous. Creating positive feelings is possible. Just like it is possible to make muscles. Very few people consider their pleasures like they were vital. But, happiness is important. Nothing must meddle with it. Positive emotional energy arises when you do things you love. But, the depth and quality of pleasure greatly matter. Watching TV could look relaxing. But, it is similar to eating fries – not last.

Relations create emotional energy. Friendship is crucial. It also influences work performance. People who have one close friend at work do better. Time taken to build relationships, is not time stolen from life’s essential things. It is also one of the necessities of life. Practice empathizing and listening to others.

Remember that:

Pleasure promotes performance. Negative feelings damage it.

Empathy, self-confidence, sociability, and self-discipline produce emotional energy.

Great leaders can generate positive emotions during stress.

Balance recovery and exercise in emotional training.

Discover something you love and do it.

Go beyond your limits, rest, then work again.

Mind

Emotional and physical energy aid mental functioning. Physical, psychological and emotional energy coincide. Research has shown the relation between efficiency and positive thinking. The most successful salesperson has an optimistic explanatory style. Yes, thinking does take time. Most jobs do not have time for breaks, rest or thinking. But, they must. People think their best when their mind is rested.

There are five phases of creativity. Insight, saturation, gestation, illumination, and authentication. These stages take time. Add downtime in your day. Also, allow your workers to do this too. Great leaders harness the energy of their people.

Keep in mind the below points about mental energy:

Focus and organization rely on mental ability.

Optimistic realism is the ideal mental frame.

Be ready, envision, motivate yourself, manage time and build.

Shift from one activity to the other to energize different areas of your brain.

Physical exercise is key to mental ability.

Just like in physical training, work and rest in mental training too.

Mental challenges decrease age-related brain damage.

“Because we have overridden the natural rhythms that once defined our lives, the challenge is to consciously and de­lib­er­ately create new boundaries.”

Spirit

Spiritual energy relies on taking care of yourself as well as others. The most crucial spiritual thing is our character. Do what your values say is right. It does not matter if it costs you. Spiritual energy has healing power. Actor Christopher Reeve claimed it saved his life when he became paralyzed after an accident. He contemplated suicide. But, then he decided to live to stay with his family. Also, he decided to help others suffering brain damage. There are many more such examples. The key facts of spiritual life include:

Spiritual energy renders everything possible. It is the reason for passion and commitment.

This energy needs selflessness.

Stewardship of spiritual energy relies on rest and exercise.

Spiritual work can renew and expend energy at the same time.

Our spirit could be stronger than our body.

Spiritual growth needs going beyond the limits.

Training

Training for complete engagement requires purpose, self-analysis and set rituals.

First, define your purpose. Be unselfish and positive.

Secondly, study yourself. Make a baseline by finding how you are using your energy now.

Face reality objectively. Rituals are steps you take by planning which create great habits. Also, they break the bad ones. Be positive, precise and specific. Plus, be moderate. Graph your progress and study yourself every day. This will help you see how you are doing.

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The Power of Full Engagement Review

The Power of Full Engagement is a self-help handbook for a more efficient work-life balance. The core premise is that in the absence of attention to every aspect, an imbalance takes place which makes sustaining and maintaining energy for everyday activities more challenging. For every aspect, the authors provide its purpose, its importance, and then concentrate on particular actions to manage each.

“In short, money may not buy happiness, but happiness may help you get rich.”

There are many realistic and valuable suggestions which are extensively applicable and include several contingencies and situations. There is a lot of common sense, but everything is outlined in a lucid and precise way with many real-life examples, encompassing setbacks. Also covered are templates to facilitate the more meticulous and obsessive to document each thing. Even without buying the complete notion, there is still abundant strong recommendation and helpful tidbits. Any person in a situation where he/she feels over their head will see this book as a useful and pleasant read. The final chapter offers a fantastic summary of the precepts, and some readers may find it better to read that to obtain a roadmap of the ideas and then come back to the individual chapters for a detailed explanation.

The book offers a life-altering roadmap to getting fully engaged on and off work, meaning emotionally connected, physically energized, spiritually aligned and mentally attentive. It breaks the myth that you need to be a workaholic to achieve success in life. The message is obvious. The Power of Full Engagement is a very pragmatic, scientific fact-based approach to managing one’s energy more efficiently. This book is highly recommended for professional and personal development. But do not buy it if you are not going to work on it. This is a workbook which offers readers the tools to enhance their energy levels. It is not a panacea and will not work for readers who are not willing to invest any effort.

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The Power of Full Engagement Quotes

“Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.”

“To maintain a powerful pulse in our lives, we must learn how to rhyth­mi­cally spend and renew energy.”

“Because we have overridden the natural rhythms that once defined our lives, the challenge is to consciously and de­lib­er­ately create new boundaries.”

“In short, money may not buy happiness, but happiness may help you get rich.”

“Making changes that endure is a three-step process that we call Pur­pose-Truth-Ac­tion.”

“Our most fundamental need as human beings is to spend and recover energy.”

“We are oscillatory beings in an oscillatory universe. Rhymicity is our inheritance.”

“We grow at all levels by expending energy beyond our normal limits, and then recovering.”

“The longer, more con­tin­u­ously, and later at night you work, the less efficient and more mistake prone you become.”

“Emotions that arise out of threat or deficit – fear, frustration, anger, sadness – have a decidedly toxic feel to them and are associated with the release of specific stress hormones, most notably cortisol.”

“A single negative thought is what gets you hit in the face.” – Ray ”Boom Boom” Mancini

“’The greatest geniuses,’ da Vinci told his patron, ’sometimes accomplish more when they work less.’”

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About the Authors

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz are senior partners at a performance consultancy. They co-developed training packages which take from their “Full Engagement” model. Loehr is also a performance psychologist. He has written around 12 books one of which is Stress for Success. Schwartz co-wrote Donald Trump’s Art of the Deal. He is also the author of What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America.

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