Energy Leadership Index - Level 2: When Anger Becomes Your Fuel
- Sophie van het Erve
- Jul 11
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 17
You’re constantly frustrated. Always pushing back. You pride yourself on not taking crap from anyone. But somehow, every day still feels like a battle. Conversations feel like confrontations. Meetings turn into debates. Relationships feel tense, like no one’s really listening.
You tell yourself you’re just standing your ground. Being strong. Speaking the truth. But deep down, it’s exhausting. You’re tired of always having to fight.
This is what it feels like to lead from Level 2 energy — often without realizing it. It's the energy of resistance, defiance, and “I won’t.” And while it can look like power and passion from the outside, it often masks chronic stress, inner tension, and a reactive mindset that keeps you stuck in conflict.
This post explores the landscape of Level 2 through the lens of the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) – a powerful tool that helps you identify the energy you're bringing into your work, your relationships, and your inner life. If you find yourself always on edge, always in fight mode, it might be time to ask: What’s this really costing me?
If Level 1 feels like drowning, Level 2 feels like swimming furiously against the current. You're moving, you're energized, but you're also exhausted from all the resistance.
What is the Energy Leadership Index?
The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) is a research-backed assessment that measures how your energy shows up in two key scenarios: when you're under stress versus when you're performing at your best. It reveals your dynamic energy patterns across seven distinct levels – from destructive, draining energy to creative, life-giving energy. The ELI shows you both your stress defaults and your natural strengths, giving you the awareness needed to consciously choose which energy serves you best in any given moment.
The Landscape of Level 2: "I Won't"
Level 2 energy is characterized by conflict, anger, and defiance. The core thought pattern here is "I won't." I won't let them walk all over me. I won't accept this situation. I won't back down. This is fighter, or warrior, energy. While it can be destructive, it's also incredibly powerful.
From Level 2 energy, the world feels like a battlefield. There are enemies to fight, injustices to resist, and battles to win.
You're no longer the victim of circumstances (goodbye, Level 1), but now you're the fighter against them. There's a sense of righteous anger, a feeling that you're standing up for what's right, even if it means standing alone.
The emotional landscape includes feeling frustrated, angry, defiant, combative, or entitled. Energy feels intense and focused, but also agitated. There's often an underlying sense that you deserve better treatment, more recognition, or fairer circumstances – and you're not going to quietly accept anything less. This can manifest as irritation that simmers just below the surface, ready to flare up when triggered, or as a constant sense that others aren't pulling their weight or meeting your standards.
Level 2 in Professional Settings: The Workplace Warrior
In the workplace, Level 2 energy often shows up as chronic conflict with systems, people, or processes. You might find yourself constantly pushing back against "how things are done around here," challenging decisions in meetings, or feeling like you're the only one who sees what's really wrong with the organization.
You become known as someone who "speaks truth to power" - and while this can be valuable, it can also be exhausting for both you and everyone around you. Conversations become debates. Disagreements become battles. You might catch yourself saying things like, "Over my dead body" or "They can't make me do that."
There's often a lot of us-versus-them thinking in Level 2. Management versus employees. Your department versus that department. People who "get it" versus people who don't. While this can create strong team loyalty among those who share your perspective, it can also create significant organizational friction.
The challenging part is that Level 2 energy often identifies real problems. The systems might actually be broken. The leadership might actually be making poor decisions. The workload might actually be unreasonable.
The fighting approach, while energizing in the short term, rarely leads to sustainable solutions.
Level 2 in Personal Life: Relationship Battles
In personal relationships, Level 2 energy often manifests as ongoing battles over principles, boundaries, or fairness. You might find yourself having the same argument repeatedly. This is not because you enjoy conflict, but because you genuinely believe something important is at stake.
Family dynamics can become particularly charged from Level 2. Holiday gatherings turn into political debates. Conversations about money, parenting, or lifestyle choices become ideological battles. You might hear yourself saying things like, "I can't believe you actually think that" or "How can you not see how wrong this is?"
In romantic relationships, Level 2 can show up as fighting for your needs, your space, or your values. While advocating for yourself is healthy, Level 2 energy often approaches this as a zero-sum game: if you win, they lose. Compromise feels like surrender. Flexibility feels like weakness.
The exhausting part is that Level 2 relationships often involve people who genuinely care about each other but are stuck in patterns of resistance and conflict. You're not fighting because you don't love each other; you're fighting because you do, and the stakes feel incredibly high.
Why Level 2 Isn't "Bad": Movement and Passion
Here's something crucial to understand: Level 2 energy isn't inherently destructive. In fact, it represents significant movement from the helplessness of Level 1. When you're operating from Level 2, you have energy, passion, and conviction. You're willing to stand up for what you believe in. You're not accepting situations that don't serve you.
Some of the most important social movements, workplace changes, and personal transformations begin with Level 2 energy. Someone gets angry enough about injustice to do something about it. Someone gets fed up with accepting less than they deserve and decides to fight for more.
Level 2 energy can also be incredibly motivating. When you're fighting for something you believe in, you can accomplish remarkable things. You work longer hours, push through obstacles, and maintain focus in ways that might not be possible from other energy levels.
The passion of Level 2 is also magnetic. People are drawn to those who stand for something, who have strong convictions, who aren't afraid to rock the boat when necessary. This energy can inspire others to examine their own situations and consider where they might need to stop accepting and start resisting.
The Exhaustion Factor: Why This Energy Isn't Sustainable
The challenge with Level 2 energy is that it's incredibly draining to maintain. Fighting takes enormous energy - physical, emotional, and mental. When every interaction feels like a battle, when you're constantly vigilant for the next conflict, when you're always ready to defend your position, your system eventually becomes depleted.
There's also the relationship cost. While Level 2 energy can be inspiring, it can also be exhausting for others to be around. People might start avoiding difficult conversations with you because they anticipate conflict. They might stop bringing up certain topics or inviting you to certain events because they're not sure which version of you will show up.
The biggest limitation of Level 2 is that it's reactive rather than creative. You're responding to what you don't want rather than moving toward what you do want. You're fighting against problems rather than building solutions. This can keep you stuck in patterns of conflict even when the original issue has been resolved.
Turning Level 2 Energy into Positive Change
The key to working with Level 2 energy is learning to harness its power while directing it more constructively.
Instead of fighting against everything that's wrong, you can channel that passion toward creating what's right.
Consider how this might look in practice: Rather than constantly battling budget constraints in team meetings, that same passionate energy could be redirected toward researching and proposing alternative funding models. Instead of fighting against a colleague who takes credit for others' work, that energy could fuel the creation of better documentation processes or team recognition systems. The passion and conviction remain, but they're now building solutions rather than just identifying problems.
This transformation often happens when someone realizes that their Level 2 energy contains valuable information about what they care deeply about. The anger about unfair treatment reveals values around justice and respect. The frustration with broken systems shows a vision for how things could work better. The sense of entitlement to better circumstances often reflects genuine insights about what would create more effective, equitable outcomes.
Strategies for Channeling Level 2 Energy Constructively
If you recognize yourself in Level 2 energy, here are some ways to honor that passion while directing it more effectively:
Name what you're fighting for, not just what you're fighting against. Instead of "I won't accept this broken system," try "I'm fighting for a system that actually serves everyone."
Channel anger into advocacy. Use your passion to speak up for others who might not have a voice, rather than just defending your own position.
Look for allies rather than enemies. Level 2 energy often assumes you're fighting alone, but there are usually others who share your concerns and could become collaborators.
Time your battles. Not every hill is worth dying on. Choose your conflicts strategically based on what matters most and where you have the greatest chance of creating positive change.
Take breaks from fighting. Level 2 energy is unsustainable if it's your constant state. Build in time for rest, reflection, and activities that don't involve conflict.
Ask: "What would I build instead?" This question can help shift from destructive to constructive energy while maintaining your passion and conviction.
Level 2 energy teaches us that we have power, that we can say no, that we don't have to accept everything that happens to us. These are crucial lessons. The next step is learning to use that power constructively - not just to resist what we don't want, but to create what we do want.
The natural evolution from Level 2 isn't to stop caring or to become passive. It's to move from fighting against everything that's wrong to working with the reality of what is while still maintaining your commitment to positive change.
This doesn't mean accepting unacceptable situations. It means approaching those situations with strategy rather than just passion, with collaboration rather than just confrontation, with building rather than just battling.
Your anger, your passion, your refusal to accept less than you deserve – these are gifts. The question becomes: How can you honor these gifts while directing them toward outcomes that serve not just your need to fight, but your deeper need to create positive change?
Level 2 energy often contains the seeds of great transformation. Learning to work with this powerful energy – rather than being consumed by it – is a crucial skill for living a conscious life. Your passion and conviction are valuable assets when directed constructively. If you're finding yourself frequently in Level 2 energy, know that this is valuable information about your current circumstances and internal state – and it's absolutely possible to develop greater choice in how you respond to life's challenges. Take the ELI assessment and book a debrief to discover what this could look like for you.
