Energy Management vs Time Management
My well-being class topic last week was all about energy. I was surprised by the number of insights I gained in that one week. Our professor, Dr. Beth Frates, covered everything from how mitochondria create ATP which creates energy, to refilling our spiritual energy wells. If you ever want a truly comprehensive look into the different pillars of well-being, I highly recommend looking up Dr. Frates and her works. Every week, we tackle how different well-being topics affect our minds, bodies, and hearts.
My biggest takeaway from the lecture and learnings was that energy management is different than time management. I have been through many productivity and time management training courses over the years. In fact, I’ve literally overseen instructional design for David Allen’s Getting Things Done for the David Allen company twice. In all the trainings I’ve been to, they have been very focused on task management and organization. We are taught to identify, categorize, and prioritize different tasks and the resources needed to use them. For instance, having a list of tasks that need to be completed at your desk vs a list of tasks that can be completed on the go. When looking at accomplishing things from a task-based perspective only, it can be really easy to treat it like a math problem. Task one will take 20 mins, task 2 will take 45, etc. add to calendar and you’re good, right?
The thing is, we, ourselves, our own abilities are the main resource for accomplishing tasks. The tricky thing about that is that our energy will oscillate depending on a large variety of factors. We are not machines and will not be bringing the same level of capacity to our task lists each day. I think my overeagerness to achieve the tasks on my never-ending lists was a big player in leading me to burnout. I wanted to assume I was a resource that could tackle everything in the vacuum of me being at optimal levels…. But the truth is, some days we’re at optimal levels and some days we are not.
I’ve been changing my perspective about treating myself as a resource better. This was the first time that I was able to rationally support why self-care is important. The things that refuel my energy levels are not necessarily the same things that feed my productivity levels (and my class would agree). One of our class activities was to answer in the chat things that filled us with energy. Our answers included things such as meditation, being outside, dancing, music, meeting with a good friend, and more. No one in our class answered, “working more.” When we coupled “energy” with our “time-outs” pillar, I began to see how powerful a real time out can be. Several studies show that if we take small time-outs throughout the day to refill our energy with the things that really do refill us (such as taking a walk in nature), we will be more productive and accurate in our regular work.
In Cal Newport’s book, Slow Productivity, he talks about working at a natural pace and this is how I’ve begun to incorporate the principle of energy management into my life. If I’m working at a natural pace, instead of being driven by maximizing my to-do list, I can take stock of my energy levels as I go and not push past my natural limits. It is helping me find the balance between sustainable productivity and burnout. So, when you feel your productivity waning, instead of leaning back into that task list, remember that your energy management matters too--if not more than--your time management. Take a time-out, recharge, and come back again.
Thanks for reading with me today. I hope you do something that fills your energy stores today.