An Introvert Energy Audit Will Help You Track Down Pesky Leaks

You may be losing some of your introvert energy each day without even knowing it. An introvert energy audit can help you discover where.

I live in a part of the world—northern Minnesota, USA—where it can get a little nippy in the winter.

We can have several-day stretches, for example, when the wind chill is in the 40s Fahrenheit.

Below zero.

Fifties below zero is not out of the question—though none of these ridiculous temperatures are as common as popular mythology would have you believe.

Usually, in fact, we Minnesotans spend our winters in the teens, 20s, and 30s—the positive teens, 20s, 
and 30s, that is.

But even then, you start to (re)notice something problematic about your home …

It leaks.

As in, it leaks energy.

Looking for Suspects

Windows aren’t 100 percent sealed.

Doors either don’t shut solidly or, if you have kids, are left wide open, thus putting you in the position of “heating the outside,” as my dad would have deadpanned.

Sometimes the leaks are laughably obvious. The sliding glass attachment covering the screen on our front storm door, for instance, doesn’t stay up fully anymore, allowing arctic air to stream in through a half-inch gap as though we’ve invited Old Man Winter inside for a candlelight dinner.

More often, though—particularly when weather conditions are less extreme—a home’s energy leaks are elusive and thus undetectable without purposeful effort.

That effort can come in the form of a home energy audit.

Either on your own or with the help of experts, you can go through your home room by room, outside and inside, looking for energy leaks of all kinds.

You can then address them—though perhaps not all at once—to save energy and, ultimately, money as well.

The Introvert Energy Audit

What does all of this have to do with you and your introversion?

Plenty.

Because just as your home has unaddressed energy inefficiencies that affect you, your life as an introvert also has unaddressed energy inefficiencies that affect you.

You can identify them and—though perhaps not all at once—do something about them to save energy and, well, not so much money as your health and your sanity.

You can conduct your own introvert energy audit and make a few helpful changes based on your findings, all in the name of keeping that introverted battery of yours as fully charged as possible.

Here are five key areas where, based on both my research and my own personal experience, you should focus your auditing efforts.

Your Cell Phone

The cell phone has its many upsides, don’t get me wrong.

But its major downside, especially if you’re an introvert, is that it can suck the energy out of you without your even knowing it.

The texts.

The calls.

The texts.

The games.

The texts.

The email 
notifications.

The texts.

You can’t really get rid of your cell phone at this point, nor should you.

But you can consciously step back and ask yourself:

“What can I do to rein this thing in a bit?”

Your Media Consumption

As a former journalism major, I feel a sort of responsibility—beaten into my head by my professors decades ago—to “keep up with the news.”

So I do.

But by the time you add together talk radio in the car, TV news broadcasts, newspapers (print and online), websites, and everything else, it’s clear that it’s all too much, and that it takes from you as much as it gives.

So something as simple as driving in dead silence every other day will do wonders for your energy conservation efforts.

Lack of Routine

If you’re one of the comparatively rare introverts who can thrive flying by the seat of your pants, more power to you.

But it’s more likely that you’re like the rest of us—the ones who can (and do) fly by the seat of our pants at times, but who pay a dear energy price for it.

Where, and when, are you unnecessarily leaving things to chance or luck, costing yourself energy in the process?

Yes, stepping back to develop plans and a solid routine takes time—and it’s an energy investment of its own in the short term.

But you’ll more than get it back in the long run.

Multitasking

The research on multitasking is clear: The brains we humans have today aren’t so different from the ones our caveman ancestors had.

We think we can multitask, and in certain limited ways we can.

But as soon as we’re talking about two or more complex tasks, the idea that we are actually multitasking becomes an illusion.

At best, we are instead task switching, albeit quickly in many cases.

And what is the residue of all that task switching?

Energy loss.

The more multitasking you do, or attempt to do, the more energy you’ll experience evaporating around you.

It’s impossible to avoid multitasking completely, of course.

But how can you minimize it, both at work and in your personal life?

People Who Interrupt You

It’s tough to acknowledge, let alone talk about, but the hard truth is that sometimes, your energy is essentially stolen from you by other people, particularly those who consistently interrupt you.

Your workday alone can be hours on end of distractions.

The colleague who stops by each morning to say 
hi … and costs you half an hour of work.

That same person, or another, who calls you when you’re in the middle of focusing to ask you a simple question that easily could have waited … or been emailed.

What can you do to establish, and then enforce, some limits on the interruptions that accumulate to drain your energy?

Protect Your Introvert Energy

Your introvert energy audit will likely reveal additional areas of concern.

Again: You won’t be able to address them all at once, and some of them you may not be able to realistically address at all.

But you can deal with some of them.

And if you want to be as healthy and happy as possible as the introvert you are, you should.