Energy Audit for Your Zone of Genius
Track what energizes and depletes you for two weeks, then redesign your role toward 80% in your gifts
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 92%
A concrete self-diagnosis and life-design practice to counter burnout: for two weeks, log the five things that gave you energy and the five that depleted you each day, find the patterns, and then deliberately restructure your role so you spend ~80% of your time in your natural gifts. Use it when you feel depleted, or when your job has quietly drifted away from your strengths.
Origin
Lockett traces her passion for this to her own career pivot: as a UX-research-lead-turned-PM at Remind, she got the team humming but stressed at 3am over product decisions. Her colleague Zach Abrams told her on a walk that her gift wasn't product strategy but motivating people — which redirected her to executive coaching. She now teaches leaders that energy is highest when operating from natural gifts.
Core principles
- 01We all have more energy when operating from what we're naturally good at and innately love — depletion is a slow leak in the gas tank
- 02It is no one else's job to help you live in your gifts; your manager's job is to help you perform the job you were hired for, and navigating your career is yours
- 03You must take your strengths seriously AND actively manage around your weaknesses (hire/partner to cover them)
- 04Aim for 80% of time in your gifts — 20% will always be logistics you don't love
How to run it
- 1
Run the two-week energy log
Every night for two weeks, write down the five things that day that gave you the most energy and the five that depleted you the most.
Pro tip Alternative inputs: scan your calendar for themes (what you're excited to do vs. dread), or email 5-10 people who know you well asking 'when I walk in the room, what shows up? What are my gifts?'
- 2
Find the patterns
After two weeks, look for patterns to name your natural gifts (zone of genius) versus the exhausting things quietly draining you.
Watch out The drain shows up gradually in your daily energy, so it's easy to miss without deliberately logging it.
- 3
Tell the people around you your gifts
Name your gifts, interests, and the skills you want to hone to your manager, co-founder, or team so they can help align your role to your strengths — especially if you're executing well and they want to retain you.
Pro tip Retention conversations usually assume 'up the ladder'; it may take courage to move horizontally to get into your strengths.
Watch out You have to be performing well first — you can't be underdelivering and demand more interesting work.
- 4
Redesign around gifts and weaknesses
Use your autonomy to hire or partner around your gaps — e.g. a visionary CEO who hates managing hires a COO for the internal role. If you're not a founder, propose a chief of staff, delegate, or reshape your team.
Watch out Recognizing you don't want to do something (e.g. manage people) doesn't excuse leaving those needs unmet — you must still address them for the company's health.
- 5
Start small tomorrow
Don't redesign your whole life at once. Pick three small moves to plug the energy leak — stop attending optional draining events, leave space for a 30-minute walk between depleting meetings, or read a physical book 30 minutes before bed.
In the wild
Moved from UX research lead into a core-product PM role with no technical background. She got 12 skeptical senior engineers collaborating and reviewing each other's code within a month, but was privately swirling and losing sleep over product decisions. A colleague told her her genius was people, not product strategy. She got trained as a coach and moved into HR leadership.
→ She built a career squarely in her gifts as an executive coach; her colleague Zach went on to lead product at Coinbase, Brex, and Bridge — both thriving by honing their distinct gifts.
Rahul Vora at Superhuman recognized he wasn't the best operations executor and hired a president to take it off his plate. Dhruv (co-founder of HubSpot) knew from the start he didn't want to manage people and made a rule with his co-founder that he'd never have reports.
→ Each stayed in their strengths — but the lesson is you must still ensure the delegated needs (like managing those reports) are genuinely met.
Common mistakes
Blaming your manager for a boring job
People get frustrated their management won't make their job more interesting; that's not the manager's job — navigating your career toward your gifts is yours.
Grinding through depleting work as if it builds character
Lockett distinguishes this from leaning into hard interpersonal work — nobody should suffer through depleting work daily; that's a slow leak, not a learning opportunity.
Is it for you?
Best for
High-performing operators and founders feeling depleted whose role has drifted from what originally energized them
Not ideal for
People genuinely unable to change their situation short-term, or who confuse depleting work with the hard-but-meaningful growth work of conflict
From the transcript
“take two weeks and every night reflect on what's the five what are the five things today that gave me the most energy and what…”
“So my my fitness test is 80%. That's the goal.”
“it's no one else's job to help you live in your gifts.”
“you have to both take your strength seriously and actively manage around your weaknesses.”
From the episode
A guide to difficult conversations, building high-trust teams, and designing a life you love
Rachel Lockett