# The Energy Audit — Facilitator Guide

> Folder: `the-energy-audit` · Category: self-assessment · 1–2 people · 15 min · offline + online · print props · tool pack
> License: CC BY 4.0

You cannot redirect a week you cannot see. List the recurring things you actually do, mark each one by what it does to your energy — gives (+), drains (−), neutral (=) — then find the biggest drain you keep choosing and the biggest + you keep skipping, and commit to one dated swap. An energy audit is not time management; it is noticing what your time costs and returns.

**How this differs from `the-not-anymore-list`:** The Not-Anymore List stops items by asking a team "if we weren't already doing this, would we start it today?" — it audits *the work*. This audits *what the work does to you*: the unit is your energy, not the calendar, and a "+" item is protected, never cut. Run the list when the team's workload is the question; run this when your own fuel is the question.

## Objectives

By the end of the activity, participants will have:

1. Mapped a real week — every recurring thing they actually do, marked + / − / = without deliberation.
2. Named the biggest drain they keep choosing anyway and the biggest plus they keep cutting when it gets busy.
3. Committed to one dated swap — one − dropped, halved or batched, one + added back — said out loud.

## When to use this activity

- Someone is busy all week and cannot say what any of it cost them — the blur is the problem, not the schedule.
- Before designing a role change, a redistribution of work, or a "we'll do less" promise — audit the current week first.
- As a standing 15-minute weekly pulse: mark and spot only, and watch whether a single − ever moves.

## Setup

**Clock:** fifteen minutes for the full run. Solo, it is the same fifteen; in pairs, each person runs their own audit, then the read-aloud takes five more.

**Space:** a desk. This tool deliberately fits next to a laptop — the list comes from the calendar and the inbox, the marks come from the body.

**Materials per person:**

| Item | Source |
|---|---|
| 3 × sign cards — gives (+), drains (−), neutral (=) | `the-energy-audit-prop-cards.pdf` |
| 3 × prompt cards — "the drain I keep choosing", "the + I keep skipping", "one swap + date" | `the-energy-audit-prop-cards.pdf` |
| 1 × list surface — sticky notes, or the blank backs of the sign cards | `the-energy-audit-prop-cards.pdf` print page |
| 1 × pen | the first mark is the honest one; no erasing ritual |

**Grouping:** 1 person. It works solo on a desk, or as a pair who each run their own audit and then read the pattern aloud to the other.

**Roles:** solo, you are both auditor and auditee; in pairs, the listener's only job is the one question — "what are you trading it for?"

## How to run it

| Time | Phase | Facilitator does | Participants do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | List | "Every recurring thing in a normal week — meetings, tasks, rituals, the autopilot ones. Activities, not outcomes." | Write each recurring thing on its own note |
| 5–9 | Mark | "Don't deliberate. A 'should be + but is −' counts as −." | Put +, − or = beside each item |
| 9–12 | Spot | Lay out the two prompt cards. "The biggest − you keep choosing anyway. The biggest + you cut first when it gets busy." | Circle exactly two items — those are the finding |
| 12–15 | Swap | Demand the date and the out-loud version. "Drop, halve, or batch the −; add back the + — smallest survivable size." | Commit one swap in front of the partner (or out loud to yourself) |

Then run the debrief — see `the-energy-audit-debrief.md`.

## The card

Three sign cards keep the alphabet of the audit in view — + gives, − drains, = neutral — and three prompt cards step the hard part: naming the chosen drain, admitting the starved plus, and writing the swap with a date on it. The swap card is the reason the deck exists at all: an audit that ends in insight instead of one dated experiment is people-watching with extra steps.

## Failure modes

1. **The list is outcomes and obligations, not activities.** "Reporting" drains nobody; "the Tuesday status call" does. Rescue: go concrete — one event per note.
2. **The marks get deliberated.** Three minutes on one item means the honest answer is being negotiated. Rescue: first mark stands; no re-marking.
3. **Everything is a −.** That is a mood, not a map. Rescue: "what did you do twice last week that cost almost nothing and didn't grind you down?" Start from there.
4. **The swap is a wish list.** Ten changes is none. Rescue: one −, one +, one date — that is the whole commitment.

## Variations

- **Weekly pulse:** run just the mark + spot phase on one recurring day each week; watch a single − finally move.
- **Before a role change:** audit the current week first — you cannot design the next one until you have seen what this one costs.
- **Pair cross-read:** each person reads their biggest − and + aloud; the partner asks "what are you trading it for?" — the question you won't ask yourself.
- **Online:** the list lives in a shared doc, the marks are emoji; the read-aloud stays live on a call. The pattern still has to be said out loud, not just seen.

## Facilitation notes

- Honest, not impressive. Mark what you actually do and actually feel, not the version you would show a manager.
- A drain you keep choosing is a decision. Name what you are trading it for — that is where the leverage is.
- One swap. A list of ten changes is a wish; one dated change is an experiment.

## Put it on the wall

Print `the-energy-audit-activity-poster.pdf` (A3) to keep the two rules — mark what is true, swap one with a date — in view while the week gets mapped.

## Props in this folder

- `the-energy-audit-prop-cards.pdf` — poker-spec print sheet (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides): three sign cards (+ · − · =), the chosen-drain card, the starved-plus card, the swap-and-date card, blank faces, branded backs
- `the-energy-audit-guide.md` — this run sheet
- `the-energy-audit-debrief.md` — the debrief questions and the failure modes of the debrief
- `the-energy-audit-run-sheet.pdf` — the print edition: this run sheet + the debrief, bound as one A4 document with bookmarks
- `the-energy-audit-activity-poster.pdf` — the whole tool on one A3 wall sheet: the run, the two rules, the watch-outs
- `the-energy-audit-start-here.md` — one page, thirty seconds, then print and go
- `SKILL.md` — machine-readable manifest for AI agents
- `*-Letter.pdf` — US Letter editions of the print documents

## Agent version

Every file in this folder has a stable public URL — an AI agent can fetch the cards, the debrief and this run sheet with three curl commands (see `SKILL.md`). The paper version needs nothing but a desk, some sticky notes and six cards.