If you reach the end of the day feeling drained, unfocused, or as though you’ve achieved very little, you’re not alone. Many people feel tired all the time without understanding why — and often, the real reason is something called energy leaks.

It’s not that you’re necessarily running out of time — you’re running out of the energy required to do the right tasks at the right time, in alignment with your natural energy levels.

What Are Energy Leaks?

Energy leaks are the tiny drains that quietly zap your energy throughout the day. In other words, they’re the tasks and activities that leave you feeling tired, heavy, and exhausted. As a result, everything feels harder, takes longer, and leaves you feeling overwhelmed—even when you haven’t actually stopped.

Energy comes in many forms, and different tasks chip away at different reserves. However, you’re often unaware of the most common energy leaks because they’re invisible and not obvious at first.

So, let’s explore in this post the seven most common energy leaks, along with simple, practical ways to seal them—so you can feel more energised, focused, and in control of your day.

Energy Leak #1 — Overcommitting

If you’re constantly saying yes — even when you’re already stretched — you’re leaking energy without realising it. And let’s be clear. We are all guilty of this.

You say yes because you’re capable.
You say yes because you don’t want to disappoint or let anyone down.
You say yes because it feels easier in the moment.
And often, you say yes because you genuinely want to help.

However, every yes drains your energy bank. More importantly, every yes means saying no to something else — often something important to you, or perhaps something like a project with a deadline.

Naturally, when you overcommit, you feel stretched. Consequently, everything feels heavier, slower, and harder.

Seal the leak

Before you agree to anything – another request or ask for help, pause. Pause and ask yourself:

• “If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?”
• “Do I genuinely have the capacity for this?”

Protecting your energy starts with protecting your yes. Give yourself the chance and permission to check your capacity first,

Energy Leak #2 — Decision Fatigue

From the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed, you’re making decisions:

What to wear.
What to eat.
What to cook for dinner.
What to work on first at work.
When to take a break and so on.

By lunchtime, your brain is already exhausted because of all the decisions you have to make — especially if you’re juggling work, home, and family. It’s not your brains fault or your fault for feeling like that way. This is classic decision fatigue, and it’s one of the biggest reasons you feel drained by midday. It’s not your brains fault or your fault for feeling like this.

Seal the leak

One way to address decision fatigue is to reduce the number of decisions you need to make. Create simple defaults and routines you can turn to that limit choice.

For example: cook extra at dinner so you have leftovers for lunch that you can just pop into the microwave. That’s one less decision tomorrow.

Small defaults = big energy savings.

Energy Leak #3 — Emotional Labour

Are you the one who remembers birthdays, keeps the peace and balance, manages the household, and anticipates everyone’s needs? If so, you’re carrying a heavy load of emotional labour.

This “invisible work”, which especially women tend to carry, quietly drains your mental and emotional energy. Put simply, it’s extra things you have to think about and deal with — particularly when you’re constantly, anticipating, managing, or watching out for other people’s feelings.

Seal the leak

One way to seal this leak is to share responsibilities.

• Can you ask your other half to cook dinner at least once or twice a week
• Can you delegate some of the household chores such as taking out the rubbish to your children?
• Or perhaps you can outsource remembering birthdays, meetings and doctor appointments to your calendar?

You don’t have to carry everything alone.

Energy Leak #4 — Multitasking & Context Switching

Multitasking feels productive, but it’s one of the fastest ways to drain your energy. It’s a time waster, full stop. Every time you’re multitasking, you’re context switching.

You answer emails while cooking dinner.
You think about tomorrow while you’re in a meeting.

You switch between tasks constantly and don’t give one task your full attention — and every switch costs you energy.

Seal the leak

Single‑task. Simply put, finish one thing before starting the next. Instead of juggling tasks, give your full attention and focus to one task at a time.

Additionally, batching similar tasks together — such as replying to emails, handling admin work or going through messages — and give them a dedicated time can also help.

At first, single-tasking can feel counterproductive. I thought so too. However, being fully present actually helps you work faster, make fewer mistakes, and feel more in control. Over time, it has also helped me build better relationships and trust as.

For instance, I no longer have to ask colleagues to repeat things after a meeting or try to remember what was discussed – something that used to happen when I multitasked and wasn’t fully paying attention.

Energy Leak #5 — Clutter

Clutter isn’t just physical mess on your desk. It’s all around you. It’s:

• open tabs
• half‑finished tasks
• reminders you’re holding in your head
• an inbox full of 100+ unread emails (been there)

This physical clutter has an impact on your mental state. Clutter signals “unfinished business”, and unfinished business keeps your brain in a low‑level stress state all day and into the night.

Seal the leak

Set a 10‑minute timer and declutter quickly. Make a game of it and make it fun.
Challenge yourself to work as fast as you can and see how much you can declutter in that time.

If your mind races at night with unfinished tasks and worries and your experiencing problems falling asleep, write them all down. Getting them out of your head helps your brain switch off and process them.

Energy Leak #6 — Poor or No Transitions

You might be familiar with days that look like this:

9–10 am meeting
10–11 am meeting
11 am–12 pm meeting
… and so on.

You might get an hour between meetings (if you’re lucky) and try to squeeze in answering emails, messages, and calls into those tiny gaps. You jump from meeting to meeting, task to task and responsibility to responsibility with no pause, no breath, no reset. Never mind some time to eat lunch.

As a result, your nervous system never gets a moment to settle. It’s on high alert throughout the day.

Seal the leak

What worked for me is to schedule meetings for 55 minutes instead of a full hour. This allows me to use the five minutes before the next meeting to breathe, stretch, or reset.

Breathing exercises are powerful tools for calming and resetting your nervous system and reducing overwhelm.

Energy Leak #7 — Self‑Criticism

This is the quietest — and often the most draining — energy leak. Self-criticism and internal pressure you place on yourself.

That little voice in your head that says:

“You should be doing more.”
“You’re falling behind.”
“Why can’t you handle this?”
“Everyone else seems to cope.”

This internal pressure drains more energy than your entire to‑do list.

Seal the leak

This leak is probably the most challenging leak to seal because you put pressure on yourself. It’s also a view and belief you have about yourself.

I encourage you to get curious about the belief underneath the pressure, the root cause for the belief.

“Why do you feel you have to do it all?”
“Why do you believe you should be doing more?”

Use the 5 Whys technique to uncover the root. Once you understand the belief and the reason why, you can start reframing it into a more positive one.

Let’s Recap

When you have energy leaks, you feel drained, unfocused, tired, and irritable. Everything feels harder and takes longer. It affects your work and personal life.

The seven energy leaks are:

1. Overcommitting
2. Decision fatigue
3. Emotional labour
4. Multitasking & context switching
5. Clutter
6. Poor or no transitions
7. Self-criticism

Sealing these leaks helps you create more time, more ease, and more space for the things and people you love. Start with just one leak — the one that drains you the most.

That alone can transform your day.

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