Let’s say you spend your entire day running from one meeting to the next, switching from one task to another. You’re constantly checking your phone, and on top of it all, you don’t get enough sleep. Isn’t that a typical day for most of us? And what’s wrong with that, apart from the fact that it’s exhausting? You might be wondering why I’m pointing these things out. It’s because managing your energy is essential for productivity and well-being.
“We are the generation capable of doing many things at once without enjoying any of them.”
Dinesh Kumar Biran
Firstly, according to time management expert Harold Taylor, “Not getting enough sleep has been associated with reduced blood flow to the brain, which leads to bad decisions.” Harold also says that learning to manage your energy helps you maximize your performance. Additionally, it enables you to maintain good health and protects your brain. I couldn’t agree more! We know that to have a good energy level, we need to eat well and exercise regularly. Getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night is beneficial too. However, to maintain energy, we should manage our time. Then, we will have enough energy for important decisions. Try managing your energy with these tips.
Energy Management Tips
- Minimizing Interruptions: According to one study, distractions consume an average of just over two hours a day. Do your best to stop interrupting yourself by controlling notifications on your devices. Also, set specific times during the day when you’re available to talk with others. It will subtly encourage them to interrupt you less. Another tip is to schedule times when you will respond to their requests via other methods of communication.
- Maximizing Your High-Energy Time: I remember reading somewhere that most of us are at our best for making important decisions or working on high-energy tasks about two hours after we wake up. That means you should focus on your most important tasks first thing in the day. Leave all the other, less important tasks for later. In fact, if you spend the first hour of your day on your most important priority, you will feel like you’ve accomplished a lot. The more demanding a mental task is, the more significant drain on your energy.
- Avoid Multitasking: In his book Your Brain at Work, David Rock worked with a scientist who showed that if people do two conscious mental tasks simultaneously, their cognitive capacity can drop from that of an MBA to that of an eight-year-old. Ideally, for maximum effectiveness, try to finish one task or make enough progress on a project so that you can set it aside and focus on the next one.
- Taking Breaks: Most advice around managing your energy suggests taking a break every 20 to 90 minutes. Personally, if I took a break every 20 minutes, I would never get anything done, so I try to stick to the once-an-hour rule. However, if I write this article in less time than that, I get to take a well-deserved break before I move to the next task on my list!
There are better ways to be productive than working long hours with little sleep and being interrupted constantly. Remember, your “cognitively impaired brain” (as Harold Taylor calls it) is telling you the best way to get more done is to take care of yourself.
“When we think we’re multitasking, we’re actually multi-switching. That is what the brain is very good at doing – quickly diverting its attention from one place to the next. We think we’re being productive. We are, indeed, being busy. But in reality, we’re simply giving ourselves extra work.”
Michael Harris
Have you incorporated any similar techniques for managing your energy? Have they worked well?