The Fuel Tank Worksheet: your roadmap for change
The best ideas, tools, and learnings come from working with others. The Fuel Tank worksheet exemplifies this co-creation process perfectly. What started off as a question from a client, evolved into a metaphor, then expanded to model for change. The question that inspired it all was this:
How do you allow transformation to happen?
We'd previously been working on self-care routines and building resilience. Digging into this further revealed that there was an important distinction to be made between these two concepts. While self-care is about filling you up and replenishing your energy, resilience was about protecting yourself from the things that drain your energy. They're equally important, but fundamentally different.
The metaphor that came our minds was the fuel tank. If self-care was all about adding fuel to the tank, then resilience was about patching holes and making sure the tank itself was safe from harm.
Extending this metaphor further, what naturally followed was improving the tank. That is, increasing our capacity. We can only do this step when our basic needs are met — when we're getting enough resources to run effectively and all the concerns are safeguarded so that resource is not wasted.
We can 'upgrade the tank' in a variety of ways — we can make it bigger, or sturdier, or more versatile. We can improve how it runs, what it runs on, how far it goes and what kind of impact it makes along the way. Is it noisy? Is it flash? Or stealth?
Once we have a good handle on refuelling, repairing, and upgrading, we can allow for transformation. At its metaphorical simplest, transformation is going from one place to another. All the things we've been doing thus far have prepared us for this journey.
To summarise, these are the four major stages on our roadmap for change:
Replenish with self-care
Build resilience
Increase capacity
Enable transformation
These stages don't necessarily need to be done in strict order, but it's important to note that each stage is ongoing and builds upon the previous one. Regardless, wherever you're taking yourself, you will likely be taking actions in all four areas simultaneously.
Get the free Fuel Tank worksheet here
The Fuel Tank Worksheet shows the way
The Fuel Tank worksheet helps you to list specific things you need to do in each of the four areas, thereby allowing you to visualise the transformation journey.
Below are descriptions of each category, plus examples of actions you might take. Your roadmap will be different and unique to you.
1. What refills your tank?
This category is all about doing things that fill you up — this will be different for everyone.
Think about the things that give you energy, whether that's related to social interaction, nourishment, rest, or other enjoyable activities. Also think about the things that drain your energy, what are the antidotes?
The possibilities here are endless and your examples will be specific to your needs. For me, some of the things that refill my tank are:
Doing a jigsaw puzzle
Uninterrupted stretches of alone time in the evening
A plate full of a variety of flavours to enjoy
Reducing visual noise, such as organising a drawer, clearing a desk or removing clutter
Watching a film that really makes me think
Warmth and comfort, such as a hot water bottle or weighted blanket
Read more about the different types self-care, including how to create your own Self-Care Menu
2. What makes you more resilient?
Where self-care focusses on refuelling, resilience is all about prevention and protection from unnecessary drains on your resources. Building resilience can include things like:
Understanding your triggers
Reframing negative thoughts
Setting boundaries and saying no
Managing time and energy more effectively
Learning how to feel your accomplishments (and celebrate your wins)
All of these types of actions will help you become more flexible, stronger, and increase your ability to recover from setbacks. You will naturally become more growth-mindset focused, rather than fixed-mindset oriented; an abundance thinker instead of a scarcity thinker.
A great place to take resilience work further is by understanding where your time and energy goes
3. What increases your capacity?
Capacity is about increasing your ability to take on more. That can involve increasing your reserves or using what you have more efficiently. Greater capacity = greater productivity = bigger impact for all that you do.
Increasing capacity can include things like:
Doing things that expand your options
Increasing scope and responsibility, saying yes
Becoming more visible, not playing small
Welcoming feedback (and able to take action on it)
Learning new skills
Stepping out of your comfort zone, challenging yourself
A great way to take capacity-building further is by exploring your strengths and values
4. What enables you to change?
Contrary to how it sounds, allowing transformation to happen is not a passive activity. There are tangible things you can do to enable change.
Transformational activities are centered around getting to know yourself, applying what you learn, planning your short and long term future, setting goals and meaningfully celebrating when you achieve them.
If you’d like to take this work further, please explore these other free resources:
Using Thought Ladders to change your beliefs
Breaking bad habits (and cementing great ones)
Feeling your accomplishments (not your mistakes)
Or to kick off your transformation journey, get the Fuel Tank worksheet and start filling it up now!
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