Your Most Valuable Asset

Join Isaiah as he discloses what your most valuable asset is and how you can protect it to ensure success in your job search

Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s episode…

• First, Isaiah explains why mental energy is your most valuable asset
• Next, Isaiah discusses why it is so difficult to protect your mental energy
• Finally, Isaiah gives some advice to make the most out of your mental energy

From This Week’s Show… 

Mental Energy Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Fatigue can ruin your career. Whether it’s burnout, exhaustion, stress, apathy or up and down energy levels, nothing has ruined more careers than mental fatigue.

This is because nothing can save you from your fatigued mind. Not time—hours don’t matter when your brain is incapable of making good decisions. Not money—dollars won’t buy you clarity or stamina. Not relationships—how can you make others happy when you can’t do it for yourself? 

If you’ve ever sat in front of the TV to watch something you’ve seen before because you’re tired, you know that time is not your most valuable resource.

If you’ve ever bought anything beyond food, water, shelter, or your other basic needs, you know money is not your most valuable resource. 

If you’ve ever wanted to help more people, give more to your current relationships, or build new ones, but were stretched too thin by your current obligations, you know that relationships are not your most valuable resource either.

Mental energy is your most valuable asset. Without it, you won’t have the enthusiasm, motivation, drive, and physical energy to live a full life rich in all of those things listed above.

Your Most Valuable Asset Depreciates Everyday

Scientific studies published in the Harvard Business Review and Cambridge University Press evidence that you only get about 90-120 minutes of peak mental energy and five hours or less of “near” peak mental energy each day, respectively. For the rest of the day, your mental energy levels are medium to low at best.

The good news is that if you get enough sleep, your energy replenishes 100%. Studies published in the journal Studies in Sleep Medicine reveal that the right amount of REM sleep (four to six cycles) completely restores your mental energy each day.

That’s good but even if you start each day at 100%, your mental energy is going to drop quickly and you want to cherish your mental energy.

How To Protect Your Mental Energy

People carefully protect the money in their bank account and the time in their calendar, but they do little to protect their attention. Attention is the gateway to your mental energy.

Where your attention goes, your mental energy flows. And more often than not, it’s flowing toward something someone else wants. Taking back your mental energy is not a cakewalk. It’s a dogfight. Even your own mind is going to fight viciously to keep you distracted.

All the “yeses” you’ve said and all the obligations you’ve taken on in the past have created a kind of “psychological immune system.”

This immune system has evolved to protect your sense of homeostasis. It does so by rejecting any attempts you make to change where you direct your effort. Your brain hates change; it likes distraction. It wants you to stay in this comfort zone of distraction you’ve created, wasting your energy on the wrong things.

Distraction is safe, see? There are other rewards, too. Your brain likes the approval you get by saying “yes” to others. It likes the stimulation of drama and gossip. It likes being a small part of everything and a big part of nothing. You need to repair this immune system if you want to get hired in industry. It starts with being highly selective in what you invest your mental energy in.

If you’re ready to start your transition into industry, you can apply to book a free Transition Call with our founder Isaiah Hankel, PhD or one of our Transition Specialists. Apply to book a Transition Call here.