The Three Currencies Every Leader Must Master
Most leaders think they’re managing time. They’re not.
They’re managing Time, Energy, and Attention — the three currencies that shape every decision, every relationship, every outcome.
When leaders master T-E-A, everything accelerates. When they ignore it, execution slows, clarity evaporates, and burnout creeps in quietly.
Here’s the model I teach in workshops and coaching — simple, powerful, and instantly usable.
1️⃣ TIME — The Non-Negotiable Currency
Time is the only resource you can’t recover.
Every minute you spend is a minute you never get back, so the question isn’t:
“How do I get more time?” but “Am I spending time on the right thing?”
Leaders who use time well do three things consistently:
Define their priorities weekly
Say “no” more often than they say “yes”
Protect focus blocks like revenue-generating assets
Time tells you what you’re committed to, whether you admit it or not.
I once worked with a leader who believed he had a time problem. What he actually had was an attention problem — too many open loops, too much context switching. When he closed those loops, his entire week transformed without adding a single new hour.
2️⃣ ENERGY — The Invisible Multiplier
Two hours of exhausted time is not equal to two hours of energized time.
Energy determines the quality of your effort.
Leaders who master energy:
Build rituals, not resolutions
Know which work drains them vs fuels them
Protect sleep, movement, and recovery as strategic tools
Understand that “tired leaders” make fear-based decisions
When energy is high, clarity rises. When energy is low, everything feels heavier than it is.
3️⃣ ATTENTION — The Most Valuable Currency
Attention is the rarest and most expensive resource in the modern world.
Leaders lose more productivity to attention fragmentation than to any meeting, email, or task.
Attention drives:
Prioritization
Decision quality
Presence
Emotional regulation
Deep work
Creative insight
Leadership intuition
Every distraction is a tax. Every focus moment is an investment.
Attention is where alignment actually happens.
The TEA Equation: How Leaders Use It
High-performing leaders don’t ask:
“How much can I get done today?”
They ask:
“Where should my Time, Energy, and Attention go to create the highest return?”
When TEA is aligned:
Decisions get easier
Teams get clearer
Work stops feeling chaotic
Momentum becomes predictable
Life becomes more spacious
TEA is the operating system behind aligned leadership.
Great decisions aren’t about being fast — they’re about allocating the right resources to the right priorities. TEA is the resource map behind every good decision.
A 60-Second TEA Reset
If you want one quick reset, ask yourself this:
“Where did my TEA go today?”
And then:
“Where should it go tomorrow?”
Leaders who ask those two questions weekly outperform those who don’t — in results, in wellbeing, and in longevity.
TEA is the currency of sustainable leadership.
Use it wisely.