Don’t Worry About Managing Your Time. Focus on Managing Your Energy. (10 Tips to Help)
Time Management is always a hot topic.
How can we be more productive? How do we fit everything into the 24 hours in a day? How do we get it all done?
We call this Time Management, but here's what I’d like to propose:
You're not actually managing your time. You're managing your energy.
When the 99 things on your To Do list are floating around your mind or you're fixating on how the hours feel like they're flying by, and your perfectionistic mind is telling you you haven't gotten anything done yet today, how does that all feel in your body?
And what does it do to your productivity?
When we feel like we have to squeeze a seemingly infinite quantity of things to do into a limited space, we feel pressured.
Our sense of time and space constricts.
If we put all our energy toward chasing down all the To Do's running through our heads, trying to wrestle them into the box of seemingly scarce and fleeting hours our mind's telling us we have available to do them within...
You can already feel the stress hormones getting stirred up, can't you?
But there's an alternative to this stress-inducing, actually counter-productive type of "time management":
To tune into your inner energy in a given moment and let it guide you in the most appropriate-for-this-moment action to take next.
To stop fixating on time (out there) and start paying attention to your energy (in here) instead.
Time isn't within your control.
The way we've constructed linear time, there just are 24 hours in a given day. You can't do anything to change that.
But you do have lots of control over your own energy.
So, paradoxically, the less we focus on time, the more time we feel like we have. And when we intentionally nourish and mindfully apply our energy, our sense of time expands.
All of which is to say:
Managing your time efficiently is a byproduct of managing your energy efficiently.
So here are a few tips to help you start turning your attention toward Energy Management rather than Time Management:
When in the day is your energy generally the highest?
Start consciously scheduling physical movement and the tasks on your To Do list that take the most physical energy during those times — running errands, exercise, etc.
When in the day is your mind generally the clearest?
Start consciously scheduling the projects that require more mental focus during those hours: Writing, brainstorming, longterm planning, etc.
Schedule regular time for stillness and rest.
I know this can feel counterintuitive, but if you're never plotting intentional pauses into your days and weeks, your energy will, at some point, burn out — despite what your productivity-driven Inner Critic may be telling you. Decide what feels realistic for you, and commit to creating that space. (Late afternoon is a great place to consider inserting more pauses, as we experience a dip in alertness and energy at this time due to our circadian rhythm.)
Check in with how nourished your current physical consumption is making you feel.
What we physically ingest can have a major impact on our energy. Tune in and make some tweaks to your nutrition and water, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, etc. intake wherever feels appropriate.
Make sure you're getting enough sleep.
Everyone's sleep needs are unique, but if you're regularly under-rested, your energy will absolutely feel it. Arianna Huffington's book Thrive is a nice resource on this front.
Regularly move your body in ways that refresh and energize you — the more often in nature the better.
This one's on every list for a reason.
Meditate.
Meditation will help you hone your mindfulness muscle, which means you'll become better able to intentionally put your focus where you want it to go and to cherry pick the thoughts, words, and actions that most nourish your energy and leave the rest behind.
Tune into how your current level of (social) media consumption is affecting your energy.
Anything that affects your senses has an energetic impact — often far more than we realize, particularly for empaths. Check in with whether it might be time to dial back your online scrolling or news viewing.
Create space for fun, enjoyment, and play.
Self-care isn't a luxury. It's a necessity to keep your energy reserves bountiful. Make a Joy List and pluck at least one thing from that list a day that sparks some joy that you can reasonably integrate into your day.
Focus on what you choose to do rather than what you "have to" do.
It's hard to overestimate how much our language and thoughts impact our energy. Start paying mindful attention to how the words you use regularly feel in your body and impact your motivation and productivity.
A shift from "have to" to "choose to" provides in instant upward bounce.
I know this stuff might sound obvious when you see it on paper, but if our habit energy has been cemented into our wiring concretely enough, we tend to forget the "obvious" stuff and it's time to just go back to basics.
As you become adept at tracking your energy, you'll start to notice a new sense of spaciousness and ease in your days and feel like you're getting more done in less time.
So start letting your energy guide your actions through your days, and see what flows from there.
Lots of Love,