“How much coffee are you drinking?”

Elise Primeau asked me this with that tone. You know the one. The chiropractor tone that says “I already know the answer and you’re not going to like this conversation.”

I said something like “normal amount.”

We both knew that meant “enough to fuel a small airline.”

That question changed everything. Not immediately. But it planted a seed that took years to grow into something useful.

The Part Where I Admit I Thought I Was Broken

For years, I had this pattern:

Monday: Unstoppable. Ideas flowing. Emails flying. King of the world.

Tuesday: Fraud. Can’t focus. Everything feels pointless. Why did I ever think I could run a business?

Wednesday: Slowly coming back to life.

Thursday: Okay maybe I’m not a complete disaster.

Friday: Feeling good again.

Repeat.

I genuinely thought this was a character flaw. That I wasn’t passionate enough. That real entrepreneurs don’t have off days. That somewhere deep down, I was kind of a loser.

My wife knows the pattern too. On low days I’m a bit more aggressive for no reason. Then apologizing 5 minutes later. Regularly. She can predict it better than I can.

The self-help industry loved this version of me. I kept buying books about discipline and motivation and finding your why.

Bob Iger’s “The Ride of a Lifetime.” Aubrey Marcus’s “Own the Day, Own Your Life.” Masterclass subscriptions I forgot to cancel and so many other.

They all describe habits like they’re set in stone. Wake up. Hydrate. Cold shower. Conquer. Repeat until you die rich.

Cool. But what happens when Tuesday hits and you can’t get off the couch?

None of these books talk about that part.

Passion Should Be Enough!

This is what really messed with me.

The narrative goes like this: if you’re truly passionate, you’ll always find the energy. If you’re procrastinating, you don’t want it bad enough. Real entrepreneurs push through.

So when I couldn’t push through, the conclusion was obvious. I wasn’t a real entrepreneur. I was pretending. I didn’t want it enough.

Loser.

Except I love what I do. Genuinely. Building my business lights me up. Coaching entrepreneurs. Creating content. Recording my podcast. This isn’t a job I tolerate while dreaming of a beach.

And yet. Some days? Empty tank. Nothing there.

I should have figured this out in 2018 when I burned out managing 150 artists at Rodeo. Took me another few years to connect the dots.

Passion doesn’t override physics. Who knew!

Athletes Know This

Here’s the embarrassing part.

I used to run the 3000m steeplechase. Since high school. Competitively. I know what periodization means. I know you don’t train at 100% every day. I know recovery is when muscles actually build.

Every serious runner knows this. Hard days and easy days. Intervals and recovery jogs. Peak weeks and deload weeks.

And yet.

When it came to my work life, I somehow expected to operate at 115% every single day forever. And when I couldn’t, I assumed something was wrong with my character.

The same brain that understood “rest day after track workout” could not compute “easy day after product launch.”

Makes sense for sport, why not regular life?

Incredible how blind we can be.

The Experiment (Still In Progress)

I quit coffee almost two years ago. Every time I try it now, my body reminds me why I stopped. Back pain. Weird vision issues. The whole system going into emergency mode.

So that chapter is closed.

But I still wanted access to peak performance states. Not every day. Just when it matters.

For the past month, I’ve been experimenting with pre-workout supplements on training days only. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Still adjusting the dosage. Too much and I talk too fast, lose my train of thought. Not enough and what’s the point.

The game changer? Understanding amplitude.

Amplitude

Think of energy like sine curve.

Every time you push above baseline, you will drop below baseline later. Equal and opposite. If I go to 120% on Monday, I’ll be at 80% on Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday.

This isn’t failure. This is physics.

The goal isn’t to eliminate the peaks. It’s to manage the amplitude consciously.

Big presentation Wednesday? I make sure for this to be a workout day. Just enough boost to be sharp, not so much that I crash Thursday when I have client calls.

Unexpected important meeting on a low day? Reduce the previous high. Less amplitude means less crash. And sleep well the night before.

It’s resource management. Same logic you’d apply to cash flow or inventory. Except this resource is more fundamental. No energy, no “busy-ness.” Everything else relies on this.

What Goes Where

High energy days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday):

• Podcast recordings
• Important client calls
• Coaching sessions
• Creative work
• Strategic thinking

Low energy days (Tuesday, Thursday, and flexible):

• Playing with kids
• Cooking
• Admin work
• Emails that don’t require peak brain
• Low-demand tasks that don’t slow the plan

Weekends: Open for adventure. I adapt based on what the family needs and what my body tells me.

Sexlife

Energy in the bedroom follows the same rules.

Workout day? Good to go.

Low day? Not happening. Or at least, not worth forcing.

Two days after a big peak? Watch out. That’s often when the real crash hits. Sunday can be tricky if Friday was intense.

This isn’t a separate thing to manage. It’s part of the same ecosystem. You can’t optimize work energy and ignore this. It’s all connected.

My wife figured out the pattern before I did 🙂

Toxic Amplitude Amplifiers

In my twenties, I explored a lot. Alcohol. Cigarettes. Party drugs. All the things that make the highs higher and the lows lower.

You can get away with it at 20. Your body recovers fast. No real responsibilities. The amplitude swings feel like adventure.

At 40? Not even close.

The amplitude becomes unmanageable. The crashes last longer. The recovery takes days instead of hours. And now you have kids watching, clients depending on you, a business that needs consistency.

I cut everything that amplifies when I met my wife, that was the deal.

Feel great. Energy more predictable. Highs less dramatic but lows less devastating.

Life didn’t lose its beauty. It actually got better. More sustainable. More present.

Seasonal Adjustment

Here’s what I’m learning: this isn’t a fixed system.

Summer in Montreal? Sun everywhere. Natural energy higher. Less need for any boost. The pre-workout might go away entirely.

Winter? Different story. Less light. Body wants to hibernate. The boost helps more.

I’m playing with amplitude modulation based on seasons. Still figuring it out. Ask me again in six months.

Tracking performance?

Apple Fitness logs the workouts. That’s about it.

I tried detailed energy tracking. Spreadsheets. Apps. Journals.

Honestly? How I feel matters more than what the data says.

If Tuesday feels heavy, it’s heavy. I don’t need a spreadsheet to tell me to take it easy. The body knows.

Compounding Alert

Here’s the danger: sometimes the schedule demands 2-3 high days in a row.

Product launch week. Conference speaking. Back-to-back podcast recordings.

You can do it. But the crash compounds. Amplitude goes both directions. Three highs in a row means a deeper, longer trough after.

When this happens, I plan for it. Clear the calendar after. Low expectations. Grace for myself when I’m useless for a few days.

Sleep Ostie!

Everything I just described sits on top of one thing: sleep.

Without good sleep, none of this works. The amplitude model falls apart. Recovery doesn’t happen. Low days become disaster days.

I tend to wake at 5am for an hour of meditation. But I keep it flexible. Sleep debt is real and it compounds faster than credit card interest.

That’s a whole other newsletter.

The Point

I’m not here to tell you my system is the answer.

I’m here to say: if you’re calling yourself lazy, undisciplined, or not passionate enough on your low days, maybe reconsider.

You’re brain is trying to convince you that you are a loser. You’re just on the other side of a wave you created.

Energy is the most fundamental resource you have. More fundamental than time. More fundamental than money. Everything else depends on it.

Manage it like you’d manage any critical business resource. Because that’s what it is.

I’m still figuring this out. One month into the current experiment. Adjusting constantly.

But I stopped calling myself a loser on Tuesdays.

That’s progress.

Your Turn

How do you manage this? Do you plan around your energy cycles or just white-knuckle through and hope for the best?

Genuinely curious. Reply and tell me.

Rabbit holes if you’re interested:

• Bob Iger, “The Ride of a Lifetime”
• Aubrey Marcus, “Own the Day, Own Your Life”
• CYP1A2 gene research (explains why some people metabolize caffeine fast and others don’t) → didn’t read yet

If this resonated:

I coach entrepreneurs on building sustainable businesses without burning out. Again.

→ monexpansion.com/coach