If Your Energy Is Low, Where Do You Find More?

I’ve been thinking a lot about supply chain management. Some grocery stores have empty shelves. My home renovation store keeps telling me the part I need is back ordered. Neither is a crisis, but I do find myself being slowly worn down by the small inconveniences of the pandemic and the much larger worries and restrictions that persist. I know I’m not alone. Conversations with friends and family have shifted from “I’m worried” to “I’m tired.” The dark cold days of winter don’t help as we are all a little down at this time of year, even during normal times.

What’s to be done? It has been said that while computers need only one type of energy, humans need psychological, physical, and spiritual energy to be optimally on our game.

Where do we find it? Here are some ideas I’ve adapted from supply chain management expert Yossi Sheffi whose article in the Harvard Business Review was based on a three-year research project at MIT looking at the way organizations persist through disruptions to production. These days, I’m thinking we could all use a very similar set of skills to keep our own lives on track.

Quality #1: Redundancy

Businesses survive supply chain problems by building into their enterprise redundancies. They hold on to extra inventory in case of shortages or draw on many different suppliers for the same products in case one of those suppliers goes bankrupt. There is something we could all learn from this. How many of us have a core group of friends that we like to spend time with? What happens when there are months and months of restrictions on our movements? What happens when we can’t go on trips with friends to the all-inclusive that we used to go to?

If we think of our relationships in the same way supply chain managers think of the parts they need to assemble a refrigerator, then building into our social network some redundancy may not be a bad idea. Many people have done just this by reaching out more to their neighbours or going online to build new communities around common interests. We’ve also been investing more time with family, though I realize this may not always help us build or maintain energy if those relationships are tense (anyone have a surly teen skulking around the house, or a hyper-critical in-law living with them?).

The downside to redundancy, according to Sheffi, is that it takes a lot of energy and time to maintain large networks of suppliers for the same product, which means the quality of all those parts may not be consistently high. It can be the same with friends and acquaintances. As a semi-introvert, I like having a few folks to rely on during a crisis but find it tiresome maintaining a large social network. During times like this, though, I’ve found myself expanding my base, turning to new relationships more since so many of my old friends (like those in other cities) have been cut off.

Quality #2: Flexibility

The more flexible a supply chain, the better companies are able to manage disruptions. Sheffi has some clever ways of thinking about solutions to anticipated shortages, enhancing the resilience of systems that could otherwise be vulnerable to disruptions. First, he suggests adopting standardized processes, like interchangeable parts and designing manufacturing plants so they are as similar as possible so workforces can be reassigned easily to wherever they are needed. Big companies like Intel do exactly this.

Our social relations could be treated much the same way. While people are not uniform products like "bolts," it is a great idea to nurture relationships with more than one person who you go to spin class with, or more than one person to share pictures of your Pinterest fails with online. While we all rely on individuals to make us feel connected and important, when we are under unusual stress we could use some spares.

This brings me to Sheffi’s other suggestions for flexible supply chain management. Always keep some products unfinished and ready for production, and work hard at knowing your trading partners so you can anticipate when they may need help or be having their own series of crises. Intimacy contributes to security.

Relationships are not that different. We all have acquaintances at work or in our community that we keep for times when we can’t find anyone to spend time with. It’s not that we don’t want these people in our lives; it’s just that we are often too busy to nurture these relationships into full-blown friendships. This also means, though, that we have to put energy into the relationships that matter most. The more we know that our friend’s mother broke her hip, or that my neighbour’s child is failing at online learning, the more I’ll know when I’m needed and when I’m to stay away and look elsewhere for a friendly chat.

Relationships Essential Reads

Calmness Is the Most Exciting Romantic Experience

When Love Turns to Contempt

While supply chain management can increase a company’s resilience, a little thought to our relationship management can certainly make us more resilient to the mid-winter blues. We need ways of building and keeping our energy. That means finding ways to feel supported emotionally, stimulated psychologically, and inspired spiritually. If we look for all these things from a single source we may be disappointed. Enhancing the quality of our supports means a larger and more stable set of relationships when we need them most.