It’s the middle of the year and as entrepreneurs it’s normal to wish it was still March…2020. They say time flies when you’re having fun, what “they” didn’t warn us about was that time also flies when you are working your butt off trying to get your empire up and running!
Traditionally, our understanding of productivity is time management. With numerous tools available online, such as Asana, Toggl and Trello to get the job done, we should be right on track. Right? Using these handy platforms to set the amount of time to allocated tasks, creating a roadmap of the day. Time officially managed! The more tasks that get checked off, the more productivity gets associated with the day. And who doesn’t love the unicorn that scrambles across the screen when completing all of the tasks on Asana? Although, something is still missing. When it comes to the management of “time”, surely there is more to it than completing a checklist? Why are we still feeling so drained?
There’s a growing need to get as much done as possible every day, which is becoming more unsustainable. While every day has a set amount of hours available to us, we want to explore whether we should really be managing our energy and not our time.
Now, I’m not talking about how much coffee you manage to drink during the day. What I am talking about is how much energy you naturally have available to you. We bet you a double flat white it isn’t as constant as time!
The goal is getting your energy less divided and so, it isn’t about stretching your available energy but using it properly.
Are you a morning person?
- Get out of bed as soon as you wake up
- Get the big tasks out the way first
- Identify what challenges/ drains you and tackle that when you are at your peak
Not a morning person?
- Book meetings in the afternoon when you can think on your feet
- Get all of the small tasks out the way in the morning
- Plan a slower start so you can gear up for your day
Here are some reasons to think about why you should be managing your energy, not your time:
#1 Your energy is not constant
Your energy is the fuel that gets activities done, but it is inconsistent. Our energy levels go up and down throughout the day and there are many factors influencing it:
- How much sleep did you get?
- What have you eaten today?
- How often have you taken breaks?
- Who do you spend time with?
- What are you thinking about?
- How often are you moving?
- How are you feeling emotionally?
With our energy levels influencing the amount of time we take to finish a task, the more energy we have for something, the faster we can get it done.
Tip: Once you know when your peak energy time is, try to get your most challenging work done here.
#2 Decisions use a lot of energy.
We all love a good habit! Although, habits initially take a lot of energy to develop due to consciously having to think about developing them. Once you’ve established it, you will save yourself a lot of energy and time because the routines will become automatic, and won’t require thought.
It’s believed the brain conserves 40% of our energy through the creation of habits as we automate our day.
Tip: Energy management is about developing a core set of habits around your most challenging work. The reason “to-do lists” feel draining is because each task is a new decision which requires energy. Heres the best news…time to make less decisions!
#3 Don’t multitask.
Multitasking is officially not an effective way to work. It leads to mistakes and a poorer quality of work. If you are wanting to manage your energy, a more productive thing to do is “monotasking.” This means grouping related tasks together.
Monotasking reduces your brain’s needs to switch between different connections, reducing the amount of energy required to get more work done.
So what now?
Do an energy audit! In your journal, write down the activities that give you energy and what drains you. Start taking note of when you feel in flow and when you feel like it takes everything out of you to complete a small task. You can use this to understand how your energy levels fluctuate during the day. Once you know this, you can plan what to focus on and the right time to do it.
When we are able to do work that actually energises us, we enter the converted flow state and end up being recharged by what we do.
Energy Audit – adds to Asana ✅