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When announcing her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on the New Heights podcast, Taylor Swift said, You should think of your energy as if its expensive. . . . Not everyone can afford it. She was encouraging people to have a healthy relationship with social media and not get sucked into online drama and endless scrolling. As a working mom with three kids, this hit me deeplyabout much more than social media. I have spent a good portion of my adult life talking about productivity, apps, and tools to save time. But Swift used a different word: energy. I can do dozens of things to save time in my day, but if I dont have any energy left, what have I really gained? If you want to treat your energy as if its expensive, you should think about how youre spending your time and what things drain too much of your finite energy resources. Heres how to get started. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} Audit how you spend your time Think of a block of time in your daymaybe for a meeting or picking your kids up from school. What drains your energy far beyond the amount of time on the clock? Years ago, I was part of a book club that I really enjoyed. But then the group started fighting about everything from the books we chose to the members we accepted. As much as I loved the people I met through the group, it was draining too much of my energy. So I left. A good way to audit your time is to ask yourself: What is taking up too much space in my brain? If you get sucked into work drama, youll probably find yourself upset or stewing hours later. A 30-minute meeting ends up absorbing much more of your time and energy. Things that take up too much of your energy leave you feeling drained, defeated, or exhausted later. Identifying these is the first step to setting boundaries. Reframe your priorities Next, youll look at the demands on your time and energy. Figure out what is required and how you can cut back on things that are too expensive. A meeting with your boss might require a lot of your energy, but you have to do it because its part of your job. Volunteering for a local organization might require a lot of your time, but is low energy or something you enjoy. Break down your time into four quadrants: high-priority + high-energy, high-priority + low-energy, low-priority + high-energy, and low-priority + low-energy. High-priority + high-energyHigh-priority + low-energyLow-priority + high-energyLow-priority + low-energy Low priority + high energy is not a good combination. If you treat your energy as expensive, those are things you should cut back on. Low priority + low energy might be something you can cut altogether, unless its something that can give your brain a reprieve and doesnt interfere with your high priorities. Reclaim your energy for what matters the most While you cant necessarily get rid of high-priority + high-energy demands, you can try to protect yourself. Keep the interactions or work to the bare minimum. I used to work with a group of people who were very high-drama. Meetings turned into battles, and the disagreements would continue in long strings of emails. I couldnt escape the interactions, because it was part of my job. But later in the day, I would complain about the group at dinner with my family. I would stew over the interactions while I was driving around. I let the drama absorb way more of my energy than it deserved. With effort on my part, I learned to say, Nope. Im going to leave work at work. You can also find ways to recharge your energy, whether its a walk, a nap, or locking your phone so you dont get sucked into an endless doomscroll. Recharging isnt a luxuryits essential, especially when youre locked into a lot of high-priority + high-energy work. If youre not careful with how you spend your time, its a quick path to burnout, feeling frazzled, or lacking the energy for things that matter in your life. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
When I first entered the workforce, my mantra was simple: Do whatever it takes. So when I was organizing and running programming for an event early in my career and the need for visitor transportation came up, I didnt hesitate. Thats how I ended up behind the wheel of a 12-person Sprinter vandoing pickups, drop-offs, and general schlepping in between running the actual event. Saying yes to every extra task doesnt make you indispensable. It makes you exhausted. And worse, it raises the question of your value as an employee. Are you just duct tape slapped over a leak when needed, or is there real substance and strategy to your role in the organization? A stretch project that builds skills or visibility? Now, thats worth stepping up for. But, extra work that adds no upside except more caffeine paired with a shot of anxiety? Not so much. Ah, but theres always a catch, and in this case, its a tricky one. We want to keep our jobs, impress our managers, and ideally get promoted. This is, after all, our careers were talking about. So the question becomes: How do you say no to extra work without looking like a slacker? It comes down to communicating boundaries in a way that demonstrates clarity, professionalism, and commitment to outcomes. Anchor in Your Priorities The first strategy is to make your no about what you are doing, not what you arent. The fastest way to get labeled not a team player is to just say no. This isnt D.A.R.E. The smarter move is to show what youre focused on and why it matters. Try framing your response around impact instead: Id love to help, but I need to stay focused on delivering X by the end of the week. If this new task is a priority, lets discuss what gets shifted so that can happen. Youre not avoiding responsibility, youre managing it. By being clear about your workload and bandwidth youre reminding your manager that resources are finite. And, by anchoring in your priorities, youre signaling that you know how to make thoughtful choices, not frantic ones. Offer an Alternative Sometimes a no can feel harsh. Thats where the second strategy comes in: redirecting. Offering an alternative shows youre flexible without overcommitting. This could look like offering to take on a smaller piece of the work, proposing a revised schedule, or simply extending the timeline: I cant take this on right now, but I can jump in next week once I wrap Y project. And heres the bonus, because we all love a little lagniappe (that lil something extra, as they say in New Orleans): Offering alternatives doesnt diminish credibility. It builds it by showing youre thinking like a problem-solver, not a martyr. (See my article on workplace martyrdom for more on why that mindset is so dangerous.) Zooming Out: The Big Picture And finally, zoom out. The third strategy is to reframe boundaries not as personal preference, but as organizational protection. The biggest fear people have about saying no is how it will look. But, and this is a big ol but, theres a difference between looking like a slacker and actually being a slacker. You were hired to do a job, and that job likely came with a description and a somewhat defined scope. There wasnt (I hope) an expectation that you were signing your life away with an open tab on your time. Theres also a ripple effect when people keep saying yes: It convinces leadership that no extra resources are needed, or worse, that priorities are clear when theyre not. Overflow work gets absorbed, masking the fact that the team could use more support. Ironically, saying yes to everything can keep your company from making the very decisions that would help everyone succeed. Boundaries arent laziness: theyre strategy. They signal that you understand the value of your time, and that youre willing to protect it. I still cringe when I think about that Sprinter van. But it was the lesson I neededand like many early-career professionals, not one I learned quickly. Heres hoping youre a faster learner than I was.
Category:
E-Commerce
Americans’ mental health is suffering and it’s not just due to stressful news feeds or not getting enough steps in. Toxic work environments are playing a large role in an epidemic of worsening mental health. According to Monster’s newly released 2025 Mental Health in the Workplace survey of 1,100 workers, 80% of respondents described their workplace environment as toxic. The alarming statistic is an increase from 67% just a year ago. The challenging environment has major implications. An astonishing 71% of workers say their mental health is poor (40%) or fair (31%), while only 29% rank it positively: 20% said it was good and 9% described it as great. Workers say that a toxic workplace culture is the top cause of their poor mental health (59%), followed closely by having a bad manager (54%). Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster, says that toxic work environments can lead to more than burnout. Stressful and toxic work environments arent just bad for businesstheyre dangerous for employee health, Salemi explained in a press release. Our findings show workers are reaching a breaking point, prioritizing their mental well-being even over promotions or raises. Employers cited some ways that their employers can support their mental health. Half of workers who feel supported say theyre allowed time off for doctor/therapy appointments; 29% say they feel supported by having a generous amount of paid time off and 23% say that policies specific to mental health are important ways to show support. Mental health is incredibly important to employees. The majority (63%) care more about it than having a “brag-worthy” job. Likewise, many would pass on a promotion (43%) or opt out of a raise (33%) if it was better for their mental health. However, most workplaces are not meeting workers’ standards when it comes to properly supporting employee mental health. Regardless of the fact that workers seem to be feeling strained, most of them don’t feel their employer is responding to workers’ mental health needs. The vast majority (93%) say their employer isn’t focused on supporting employee mental healtha statistic that rose drastically since just a year ago, with 78% claiming the same. While not every worker struggling with their mental health is able to throw in the towel. That’s especially true in the era of “job hugging.” But that doesn’t change the fact that many would like to. According to the survey, more than half of workers (57%) say they’d rather quit their job than continue working in an environment they feel is toxic and overall, causing major strains to their mental wellbeing.
Category:
E-Commerce
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