Map: complex tasks at peak, simple at low.

Notice mental peak.

Each December, classify 50 people: adds/drains/neutral — adjust your time.

Allocate energy across 4 dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — review balance weekly.

Pre-decide a clear start and end time with yourself before any draining family visit.

When someone over-shares, use a phrase that redirects, not breaks, the conversation.

Project first meeting: explicit expectations — scope, date, quality, comms, alarms.

Pick one metric that measures the value delivered to your customer, anchoring every decision to its success.

Test your strategy with one question: can a frontline employee repeat it verbatim to a customer?