338: Your Energy at Work > Your To-Do List

In this Workday Playdate, Erin flips the script on productivity culture and makes the case that your energy at work matters more than your to-do list. This episode is a wake-up call for high performers who’ve been measuring success in checkboxes instead of presence, connection, and impact.If you’ve been optimizing your calendar but still feeling off, this conversation will challenge how you define a “good day,” and give you a practical way to shift it.Inside This Episode:

• Energy > Activity: Why your internal state is the real driver of performance, influence, and outcomes.
• Your Energy Is Contagious: How your mood, presence, and mindset shape team dynamics, client relationships, and workplace culture (whether you realize it or not).
• Science of Better Thinking: What research says about positive emotional states and their impact on innovation and decision-making.
• The 5-Step Energy Shift Framework: A simple, repeatable process to reset your energy and lead your day with intention.
• Lead With One Word: How choosing a daily intention anchors your mindset and guides your actions.
• Measure What Matters: Why ending your day by reflecting on your energy—not your output—leads to more fulfillment and long-term success.
• Presence As a Power Skill: Especially early in your career, curiosity, intention, and how you show up matter more than having all the answers.

Who This Episode Is For:

• High achievers tired of living by their to-do lists
• Leaders who want more impact without more burnout
• HR and people leaders rethinking performance and engagement
• Early-career professionals who want to stand out (without burning out)
• Teams craving more connection, creativity, and motivation
• Anyone ready to feel better and perform better at work

Your FreebieYou already have strengths that make you a powerful leader. But chances are, one of them is doing more heavy lifting than you realize.Enter your free resource: The Human Leadership Edge Quiz. In just 10 quick questions, you’ll discover the leadership strength that sets you apart in the age of AI and how to use it more intentionally with your team.Take the Human Leadership Edge Quiz here.And thank you to our sponsors Intuit Quickbooks Payroll. To learn more visit:  https://quickbooks.intuit.com/workforce/
Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

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If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.