Please forward this to a high-impact leader who needs the energy edge. If this was forwarded to you, get plugged in here.

⚡ QUICK SPIN:

Resilience is sexy.

​

Every founder, exec, and athlete loves to talk about it.

We glorify grit. We wear burnout like a badge.

We survive the hard road, and call that leadership.

​

But here’s what I’ve learned...personally and professionally:

​

If resilience isn’t paired with reflection, it just becomes repetition.

And that repetition?

It kills your energy quietly and slowly.

🛠️ MY TURN:

A few years ago, I hit my own wall.

I had all the right tools...on paper:

• Years of executive leadership
• A “resilient mindset” (so I thought)
• Systems, structure, and a personal brand built around energy

But I was recycling the same challenges:

• Crashing after big wins
• Snapping under pressure
• Defaulting to doing more instead of doing it differently

I was “resilient.”

But I wasn’t reflective.

​

Fast forward to this year.

I’ve built a lot: new clients, new speaking, new systems.

​

And still…

Just a few weeks ago, I found myself circling the same drain with a client:

Depleted. Frustrated. On paper? Winning.

In reality? Repeating.​
​

I had to pause and ask:

Am I really learning from the hard roads I’ve taken?

Or am I just building better-looking loops?

​

This is what I help others do, but even coaches have to stop and break their own patterns.

​

​
That’s the truth I thread through Make Your Own Glass Half Full:

📚 THE BACKUP:

Let’s bring some science to this:

• Leaders with high resilience but low self-review are 40% more likely to repeat burnout patterns (MIT Sloan, 2024)
• Harvard found that post-challenge reflection increases decision quality by 38% in the next 90 days
• And neurologically, the brain only learns from hard experiences if you reduce stress and create space after the storm

Resilience is the fire.

But reflection is the forge.

That’s where real growth happens.

🛠️ THE ENERGY COACHING SYSTEM:

If you want to evolve — not just endure — here’s what I teach:

🔄 Post-Challenge Debrief (The Energy Audit)

After a sprint, ask:

• What cost me the most energy?
• What signs did I ignore?
• What pattern did I just replay?

🎯 Design a “Do It Different” System

Next time something similar shows up, ask:

You don’t need another rebound.

You need a recalibration.

🤗 YOUR TURN:

• What “hard road” have you taken pride in…but you know it’s just history repeating?
• What would it look like to lead the next challenge with reflection first?

You can be resilient and still repeat old pain.

Or you can be reflective — and break the cycle.

​
Drop a comment. Or forward this to someone who’s burning out bravely…but unnecessarily.

👊 LET'S TALK:

I help high-performance leaders create energy systems that scale with their ambition, not sabotage it.

From the C-suite to solopreneurs, this is the real edge:

Not just being tough.

Being tuned in.

👉 www.adamwbarney.com​

Cheers, Adam

​

P.S. 👉 Want to comment or share this post? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.

🎙 P.S.S. New episode of my podcast is live: Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?​