Managing energy to boost productivity

Welcome to Love Mondays, a weekly newsletter designed as a 3-minute hit to fire up the other 10,077 minutes of your week.

Manage your energy to boost productivity

Welcome to Monday! It's time to plan out the week and be productive. But do you ever feel like there always seems to be more to do than time permits? Even if you know how to manage your time well, it doesn't seem to be enough. One of the most game-changing shifts I've made in my life was to stop managing time and start managing energy instead.

Your energy is just as important as your time. By managing your energy, you can bring your best performance to whatever activities you need to complete, and get more done in less time, whilst avoiding burnout.

What energises you? (physically and emotionally) Write it down.

Consider: what times of the day when you are most energised.

Practice: scheduling your most important work during those times.

Decide to: restore, protect and focus your energy to optimise your productivity.

But I'm too busy!

How many of us have been conditioned to just be busy, but when it comes to productivity, not a lot is happening?

Trying to be productive every day for 8 hours (sometimes more) is inconsistent with the way we function as human beings. What is more realistic is recognising how our energy levels change throughout the day and timing our productivity systems around that. 

In addition to that, we need to keep topping up our energy buckets - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual - with small, revitalising habits so you can keep being your best you.

You don't have to make big changes, you can get significant returns with some small tweaks to your day. For example:

• taking regular breaks (roughly every 90 minutes) so you can harness the body's ultradian rhythms to help restore physical energy

• avoiding the constant distractions of social media to increase your mental capacity

• practicing deep breathing to defuse negative emotions and revive your emotional energy

• having a clear sense of purpose in your work and life to boost your spiritual energy.

Managing your energy and understanding your natural rhythm (and encouraging your team to do the same) can help you enjoy a more productive and fulfilling life - at work and at home.

So instead of planning your week by time alone, try planning your week based on your energy flow -- because if you plan your energy, you energise your plan! 

Enjoy the week friends.

Love your Mondays.