The Energy Paradox

Energy matters. What you choose to do with your energy matters.

Every day, we have many choices about how to spend our available energy. What are we exchanging our available energy for?

When you choose to walk ten minutes to work, you're exchanging your energy for motion. When you choose to light a fire rather than turn the furnace up, you're exchanging the energy of chopping and stacking firewood rather than using gas.

Yes, these choices have obvious consequences, but there's something more subtle happening: you're building energy through your choices. Pride, engagement, awareness. These grow through how you invest your energy.

• You can order takeout.
• You could get a meal kit for 15-minute assembly.
• You could shop for ingredients and cook with a bottled sauce.
• Or you could spend the summer growing ingredients for your farm-to-table dinner.

As you progress down that list, you're putting more of your energy into the meal. I know for a fact that, as you move down that list, the meal tastes better to you and others regardless of your actual cooking skills. Would that be true in a blind taste test? I doubt it, but that's exactly the point.

The food is better....yet tastes the same.

When Energy Hits a Wall

"I can't put any more energy into this company!"

It's a common breaking point. You're exhausted from pushing against resistance, fighting for changes, trying to make things better. The natural response is to pull back, conserve your energy, protect yourself.

But here's the paradox: Often, that's exactly when you need to lean in more.

Think about exercise. When you're tired and sore, your instinct is to stop. But athletes know that pushing through (safely) often leads to breakthrough moments. Your energy doesn't just deplete, it compounds.

The same applies to companies. Your friend started their own company doing effectively the same thing as yours but they seem to love their work. You think there's something dramatically different in their day? Go work with them for a day. The difference isn't the work. It's what they bring to it.

The Leader's Role

As a leader, you'll notice when teams start conserving energy if you look for it: - Quick agreement replaces healthy debate - "Whatever you think is best" replaces thoughtful suggestions - Process-following replaces improvement-seeking

When you observe this, your job isn't demanding more energy. It's understanding what's blocking theirs. When teams say "that's just how we do things," there's usually a story behind it. There's a time someone tried to help and got shut down, an improvement attempt that got buried in bureaucracy.

Are decisions made too far from the work? Give teams more autonomy.

Does every improvement need extensive approval? Create safe spaces for testing changes.

Are failures punished? Build trust by celebrating learning attempts.

Making The Choice

I believe the best companies for you to work for are the ones you put your hands to.

As a team lead, every time you say no, shut someone down, or breadcrumb them to your solution, you're removing their opportunity to put their hands to their company.

As a team member, every time you squash that thought before telling a coworker, every time an idea ends with you thinking "we'd never do that," you're bottling up your energy.

The food is better....yet tastes the same. Your energy and how you spend it does matter.

You don't have to wait for your company to change to invest more energy. Forks provides a framework for team members to test improvements safely and for leaders to enable more engagement without risking chaos.