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Steven Claes – The A+ Introvert - My battery hit zero by Tuesday

Steven Claes – The A+ Introvert - My battery hit zero by Tuesday

(Then I tried something that changed everything)

Steven Claes
October 11, 2025 • Reading Time: 7 minutes

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Tuesday. 2:47 PM.

I stared at my screen, completely empty.

Not the kind of tired where coffee helps. The kind where your soul feels hollow.

Another ping on my screen. Another "got a sec?" Another email marked urgent that wasn't.

I'd been answering everything the moment it arrived. All day. Every day.

Emails at 7 AM. Messages during lunch. Calendar invites at 9 PM.

I thought that made me helpful.

It made me invisible to myself.

You know this feeling, right?

When being "available" means you're never actually present. When helping everyone else means you can't help yourself think.

Wednesday morning, I did something radical.

I added one line to my email signature:
"Available at 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM. Urgent items: write URGENT + what you need."

Then I turned off all notifications (Link).

The first few hours felt wrong. Like I was being rude. Like I was letting people down.

By Thursday, something shifted.

Messages became clearer. Interruptions dropped by 60%. My actual work got done.

Friday at 5 PM, I still had energy left.

That's when I realized: Being helpful doesn't translate to being always available.

It means being reliably available when it counts.

A quote by rachel wolchin on a blue duotone picture with a chair

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📊 Why This Saves Your Sanity

Think about how your day really works.

Every ping fractures your focus. Every "quick question" costs 23 minutes to fully recover (Link).

We introverts feel this more intensely. Each interruption doesn't just break our concentration. It drains our social battery (Link).

Research from UC Irvine shows people who check email less often report significantly lower stress levels (Link).

Microsoft found that constant availability increases anxiety for employees and their families.

The brutal truth: Always-on culture isn't productive. It's performative.

We’re wired for deep thinking, not constant reacting.

When we try to be everything to everyone, we become nothing to ourselves.

The CALM Method

I tested this with 11 introvert managers. All reported higher energy and clearer thinking within two weeks.

Step	What to do	Why it helps
^{C — Choose Two Windows}	^{Pick times that you can actually keep. Mine are 11.30 AM and 4.30 PM.}	^{Predictable access beats random availability.}
^{A — Announce Simply}	^{Add one line to your email signature and chat status.}	^{Clear expectations prevent guilt and confusion.}
^{L — Label True Urgency}	^{Ask for “URGENT: [what you need] + context link.”}	^{Separates real emergencies from fake urgency.}
^{M — Maintain Consistency}	^{Keep the same window for two weeks. No exceptions.}	^{Trust builds through reliability, not flexibility.}

The magic isn’t in the method. It’s in the permission to protect your energy.

Image describing the CALM method by Steven Claes

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📚 Your Energy Protection Toolkit

Resource	What It Is	Why You Need It
📱^{Simple Scheduler}	^{Calendly Free}⁽^Link⁾	^{Lock your availability to your windows only.}
📖^{The Evidence}	^{Deep Work}^{by Cal Newport}^{- (}^Link⁾	^{Backs your office hours with evidence and tactics for}^{high-quality focus}^{without going always-on.}
🎥^{The 15-Minute Proof}	^{Jason Fried — “Why work doesn’t happen at work” (TED) -}⁽^Link⁾	^{A fast talk on interruptions, focus, and humane time blocks.}

Resource

What It Is

Why You Need It

📱^{Simple Scheduler}

^{Calendly Free}⁽^Link⁾

^{Lock your availability to your windows only.}

📖^{The Evidence}

^{Deep Work}^{by Cal Newport}^{- (}^Link⁾

^{Backs your office hours with evidence and tactics for}^{high-quality focus}^{without going always-on.}

🎥^{The 15-Minute Proof}

^{Jason Fried — “Why work doesn’t happen at work” (TED) -}⁽^Link⁾

^{A fast talk on interruptions, focus, and humane time blocks.}

🚀 This Week’s Experiment

Don't overthink this. Pick your pain point.

Today: Add office hours to your signature. Turn off one notification channel.

Tomorrow: Politely redirect three off-window requests: "I'll respond during my [time indication] window."

Friday: Ask yourself: Did I think clearer? Feel less drained? Notice patterns in the requests?

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💡 Next Week

How to raise concerns without burning bridges
(The introvert's guide to saying "this isn't working" without drama)

🎯 Real Talk

Some people won't like this at first.

They'll test your boundaries.

Send "urgent" requests that aren't.

Try to pull you into "quick" conversations.

Stay calm. Stay consistent.

Your energy isn't unlimited. Your help isn't either.

When you protect both, you become more valuable to everyone (including yourself).

Quietly in your corner,
— Steven

P.S. Share this with the teammate who's always online and always exhausted. They need permission more than tips.

P.P.S. Want more energy-protecting strategies? Click here for daily introvert career insights.

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