The Body Battery

December 12, 2023

by Stephen T. Messenger

On my Garmin watch, there’s a feature called the Body Battery. According to the company, Body Battery combines heart rate variability, stress, sleep, and activity data to calculate energy reserve on a scale of 1-100.

Every day I can see it start off at a high level and slowly discharge throughout the day. If I’m not careful, the body battery can dip too low, and I could crash.

We all have a battery that needs to be recharged not just daily, but seasonally as well. We’re all very busy people with work, family, friends, hobbies, school, and a hundred other things that take up our time. We must monitor our body battery, and this holiday, I hope you take time to do so.

With a Teaspoon of Trepidation

I say this with some trepidation. If you were to hang out with me, you’d know that I don’t do “recharge” very well. In fact, my co-workers and family look at me skeptically every time I talk about recharging.

I say this not to boast, but to identify a weakness. All of us, especially in leadership positions, need to make time to refresh, reflect, and give our bodies and brains a rest to prepare for whatever’s next.

I watched ten days ago as the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the San Francisco 49ers. The then 10-1 Eagles last played on a Sunday night with a seven-day rest while the 8-3 49ers last played on a Thursday night with a ten-day rest.

The trend for the Eagles repeated itself two days ago with the Cowboys coming off a ten-day rest and the Eagles seven. I’m not saying that’s the only or even main reason why the Eagles lost twice, but three extra days of recharge is huge in the NFL, and it showed those nights.

We aren’t confined to an NFL schedule; yet rarely do we give ourselves the same opportunity to rest. Notice I didn’t say we rarely “get” the same opportunity.  There’s a huge difference.

So, I encourage you from now until the next year to make time to spend with your family, find gratitude in your life, and recharge yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually for next year’s adventures.

Schedule days off. Spend time with loved ones. Rest. Find joy in the holiday season. Read a book. Work on your hobby. Do what energizes you!

You need it!

The Recharge Challenge

This year I have three challenges for you:

1. Create time to thank others. There is no better season than this to call people, write them, or knock on doors and just thank them for how they’ve helped you.
2. Make time to recharge and refresh. Notice the word “make.” You have to deliberately plan time to ensure it happens. It will not create itself.
3. Look ahead to 2024. How do you want to be a better leader, friend, family member, and especially person next year.

If you can do these three things between now and January, you will come back stronger in 2024!

This is our last article until after the New Year because we, like you should be doing, are going to take some time to recharge through the end of December. Our first article in January will be about setting audacious goals for the next year.  Think about what your goals may be and what you hope to accomplish in 2024!

We’re very grateful for everyone who reads these articles and our family of leaders. Thank you for taking this journey with us, and I hope 2024 is the year you write an article of your own. We had four new authors in 2023—you could be next!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and we’ll talk to you on January 2^nd!

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