Manage your energy, avoid overcommitting and sustain your impact

Serving your community as a local councillor with impact requires sustained energy over the long term. For many councillors, their time and energy is a limited resource, which is spread across many domains - full-time jobs, running small businesses, juggling kids and caring for ageing parents. At the same time, the requirements of the job can feel endless, with blurry lines between your private life and your civic duties.

For many councillors, the desire to contribute meaningfully can also quickly lead to overcommitment. You say “yes” more often than you intend to, take on too many tasks, and find your attention scattered across competing and changing priorities. The result? Drained energy, reactive decision-making, and less capacity for the deep thinking and connection your role truly demands.

This is why we’ve identified “time & capacity” as an element in our Political Wellbeing Framework that influences the performance and impact of councillors. We encourage councillors to make deliberate choices about how to manage their time and attention to sustain their energy and bolster their capacity over the long-term. This is about directing your effort where it matters most, and requires masterful skills in both time management and energy management. In this article, we share four proven strategies to meet the demands of the role without overcommitting your resources and therefore burning out.