To be the most productive and effective you can be, it is absolutely essential to learn how to manage your time, energy and attention.
Our energy levels ebb and flow all throughout our day and while the hours that are available to us in a day are fixed, the quality and quantity of energy is not. Luckily, more and more people realize that in order to be more effective, we have to start paying closer attention to how we manage our energy, much like managing our bank account.
Throughout the day, we are either making deposits or withdrawals from our energy bank. Depending on what we do, who we spend time with and how we use our resources at any given moment, our energy levels either go up or down.
You probably experienced that certain tasks, people or times of day are taking a bigger toll on your energy levels than others, which means that in order to better manage your energy you have to make better choices on how you invest your energy and understand that regular rest and recovery is essential to refill your energy tank.
Here are our TOP 10 tips to best manage your energy and increase productivity.
#1 Pace Yourself
When we are working on a long-term project it is important to remember that this is not a sprint but rather a marathon, which means we have to pace ourselves appropriately in order to not burn out before we even make it halfway through. Top athletes, actors and musicians have figured out that they can maximize their performance by working in focused 90-minute bursts, followed by recovery time. You can apply this structure for your own daily routine by dividing your day into 90-minute chunks. Then take a break to renew your energy and tackle the next task.
#2 Know What Drains and Sustains Your Energy
Have a good hard look at how your energy ebbs and flows depending on what you are doing, who you are doing it with and at what time of the day you are doing it. Once you know what drains your energy, take steps towards avoiding those tasks, conversations and events and instead incorporate more of the tasks, activities and people into your day that energize you and sustain you throughout the day. Block out some time on your schedule for valuable ‘Me’ time as well, which is crucial to maintain high energy levels and allow yourself to manage your life in a way that works best for you.
#3 Monitor Your Energy Levels
We all have different energy flows and some of us are early birds who have the most energy in the morning while others are night owls who have their peak of energy later on in the day. Just by figuring out when your internal rhythm peaks, you have the ability to schedule your most important tasks at times of high energy and you will increase your performance and productivity in no time. Set up your smart phone every hour and observe how your energy ebbs and flows throughout the day. Whenever your phone beeps, take note of how your energy is, what you are doing and what might have affected your energy level like a big, carb-heavy lunch. Do this for a week and then assess your energy flow and adjust your schedule accordingly.
#4 Declutter and Dump
A lot of people spend huge amounts of times on people and activities that add no value to their life. If your life is packed with people, possessions and activities, you most likely focus too much on quantity instead of quality in your life and generally speaking, quantity uses up a lot of your energy while quality adds more energy to your life. Every 3 months go through everything and everybody in your life and determine which possessions, people and activities no longer add value to your life and then dump them. Decluttering and simplifying your life will allow you to spend more time and energy on the people and things that add value to your life while eliminating the many things that rob you of your energy.
#5 Eliminate Distractions
Even the most productive people get distracted every now and then. Distractions are things that interfere with your focus and work and simply sap your energy without moving you forward. Possible distractions can be your phone, the internet, social media, emails, interruptions from people… the list goes on. Identify and eliminate all distractions as fast as possible to allow yourself to use your time and energy on things that are important.
#6 Outsource
Just because something needs to be done doesn’t necessarily mean that you are the one to do it. For example, a lot of tasks can be automated like social media posts. Set them up once a day and a multitude of posts can go out to different accounts all throughout the day. Delegate the tasks that you don’t really enjoy and simply drain your energy and outsource everything to an outside company that would take you 10 times as long to do it yourself. Review your daily tasks, eliminate what you can and hand off as much as you can to someone else.
#7 Take a Break
In order to keep your energy up all throughout the day, it is important to give yourself the opportunity to rest and recover, which you can achieve by taking regular breaks. You can either stop working altogether for a period of time and go for a walk around the block, meditate for a few minutes, stretch, exercise or talk to your bestie for a few minutes. Or you work on less energy-intensive, easier tasks for a while. It is important that you stop working completely several times a day, take at least a 30-minute lunch break and about 15 minutes mid-morning and 15 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. And don’t forget to stop working for 5 minutes every hour or so. This may sound like a lot to you, but when you take the time to recover, you will be much more productive when you return to work.
#8 Stop Multi-Tasking
While this is easier said than done because we all have a million and one things to do, the truth is that our mind can only truly be productive when we focus on one thing at a time. Just think about it, how productive are you going to be when you are on the phone while answering an email and at the same time reading a report. Reality is that you won’t be giving any of those tasks your full attention, which makes it much more likely that you’ll make mistakes and stress yourself out. The solution is simple, focus on one thing at a time and give yourself a 5-minute renewal break in between tasks to give your body and mind a chance to reset.
#9 Plan Ahead
Every night before you go to bed, take a few minutes to plan your day ahead, so you can mentally prepare for what you have to do the next day. It is much less stressful to realize in the evening that you have an 8am meeting than finding out at 7am when you still need to shower, have breakfast, workout and get to work. Give yourself a moment every single night to think about what you want to accomplish the next day and why you want to accomplish it. This way you can preserve your energy reserve in the morning and start your day from a place of calm.
#10 Don’t Force It
We’ve talked about how our energy ebbs and flows throughout the day and once you figured out your natural energy rhythm, honor it and don’t try to force anything. If you for example know that you generally experience a 3pm slump, instead of trying to power through – which will only do more harm than good because you won’t work efficiently – take a few minutes to do a few stretches, yoga poses or bodyweight exercises, take a quick walk around the block or meditate and focus on your breath. Drink some water, have a protein snack and when you feel your energy coming back, successfully complete your tasks.
Managing our energy is critical to feeling and being successful as well as our overall well-being. Some days may be smooth sailing, others may seem like the world is against us. But managing our energy isn’t as difficult as it may seem. It just takes a little bit of commitment and practice and you will soon enough experience an improvement in your energy levels and performance.
BRING YOUR A-GAME FOR WHATEVER ACTIVITY COMES UP BY LEARNING HOW TO MANAGE YOUR ENERGY
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked