Lately, I’ve been having a conversation with many people on how tired and exhausted everyone is. It feels like the wheels of life is spinning super fast again. Just like before the pandemic, it looked like everyone was running behind, then the world stopped to give us a chance to catch a breath, to re-consider certain decisions, values and priorities. Don’t’ get me wrong, I understand that some of us got even busier and more exhausted during the pandemic since new demands were put on our shoulders – homeschooling, increased health and safety habits etc. But, there was a message – to pause and change the way we live as a mankind.
So now, how did we do? Where are we now? It looks like we haven’t learned much since the world is spinning fast again. Maybe even faster than before. And we have nowhere to take the energy from.
Have you thought about your body being an energy factory? You need input to create an output. What’s the input? Your rest, the fun you have in life, the fulfilment, the real being who you are… And what’s the output? The work you produce, the energy you put out there towards your activities, your loved ones and yourself.
If you’re giving away “producing” too much and not ensuring you have your input sorted out, you’ll burn out. Or maybe you’re already there… so here are a few thoughts about what you can do to manage your input and output better.
Here’s the critical thing: Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.
According to research conducted by the American Psychological Association, people are spending about 25% of their workday doing things that aren’t directly related to what they’re paid to do. And that doesn’t include the time spent commuting, eating lunch, waiting for meetings, and just plain goofing off.
In fact, according to a recent survey by WorkplaceTrends, nearly half of workers say they feel like they don’t even know how much time they spend at work each day. And a whopping 78% of respondents say they’d prefer to cut down on office distractions such as email, phone calls, and meetings.
So why does everyone seem to be getting sucked into this vortex of busyness? We’ve become conditioned to believe that our productivity depends on how hard we work, rather than the quality of our work. As a result, we often find ourselves responding to increased workloads by putting in longer hours—a strategy that ultimately leaves us drained, stressed out, and less productive.
The good news is there’s another way. In fact, there are several ways you can manage energy and improve your focus without sacrificing anything important. Here are five simple strategies that can help you achieve better balance in your life and keep you energized throughout the day.
1. Take breaks during the day and manage transitions
Studies show that taking breaks every 30 – 60 minutes helps our brains function better, reduces stress, and improves concentration. So if you’re constantly thinking about work, try stepping away from your desk every hour or so. This will give you some downtime to clear your head and recharge.
Also, managing transition between activities is a skill to learn. It’s about shifting focus and energy. Brining energy from one task to the other could be disturbing.
2. Get moving.
The average employee spends about 40% of her workday sitting down. You might think you’re just being efficient, but studies show that long periods spent sitting are associated with increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and even cancer.
We’ve all heard the advice to stand up every hour we sit down, but standing up too often can lead to fatigue, muscle pain, and cramps. Instead, try taking frequent breaks throughout the day.
If you spend most of your day seated, chances are you aren’t exercising enough. Studies show that regular physical activity helps boost energy levels and improve focus, concentration, memory, and mood.
Exercise regularly (walking, running, biking, swimming, dancing, yoga, weight lifting, playing sports, etc.) can help keep your body strong and prevent health issues like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, depression, anxiety, and stress.
3. Get more sleep!
You may already know that most people are chronically sleep deprived. In fact, according to one survey, nearly half of Americans say they don’t get enough sleep. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re young or old, male or female, rich or poor; lack of sleep affects everyone. Studies show that chronic sleep deprivation causes weight gain, memory loss, impaired judgment, depression, fatigue, irritability, decreased productivity, increased risk of many diseases and even much higher chance to get into a car accident. So get your sleep sorted out. It’s that important!!!
Aim for seven to nine hours per night, including naps. If you’re having trouble getting to sleep, make sure you create an ideal sleeping environment, try meditation or other forms of brain calming techniques and even experiment with melatonin supplements.
4. Stand up more often – take micro breaks every hour
Studies show that people who stand up frequently feel less tired and energized than those who don’t move around much. If you find yourself sitting for most of the day, consider getting up every 30 minutes to stretch your legs and walk around. You’ll notice a difference almost immediately.
5. Eat regularly and healthy
Food is essential. It’s a source of energy. Have you noticed that some foods give you a spark of energy and some make you exhausted? Have you noticed when you eat regularly and in a healthy way that your energy management is very different from the peak and valleys otherwise? Yes, it’s that important.
6. Manage stress
Outside of your lifestyle and your daily routines, you can learn how to manage stress that is really unavoidably in our life. It’s a matter of your mindset and there are tools and techniques to manage it effectively so it doesn’t ruin your life. My clients know what I am talking about. If you’re interested to learn more, book a free session with me.
One simple and free of charge tool is your own breath! You can learn how to work with it!
Take deep breaths, breathe into your belly, and focus on what you want to accomplish rather than what you fear might happen. There are several breathing techniques I can introduce you to to manage stress. And they work! Why?! Why is it that simple?! Because breath is connected with your brain, you’re getting oxygen in your blood, in your brain. And brain manages your body, your thinking…
7. Work with your emotions: Quality of energy
When it comes to emotional intelligence, most people know what they want to accomplish, but they don’t always know how to achieve it. They might think about their goals, but they rarely consider the effect their emotions could have on their success. And that’s exactly what I teach my clients. How to live the life you want despite the circumstances you’re in. To learn how to be aware and regulate your emotion is a skill. You can learn it too.
When people are able to take control of their emotions, it enables them to improve the quality of their emotional energy. This can happen even when they’re under intense pressure.
When people are able to take control of their emotions, it enables them to improve the quality of their emotional energy. This can happen even when they’re under intense pressure.
To do this, they first need to become more aware of how different emotions affect their ability to think clearly and make decisions, especially when they’re dealing with high stress. They also need to recognize the difference between emotions they want to experience and those that aren’t helpful.
Most people know that they tend to perform well when they’re feeling positive emotion, such as enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and gratitude. But what they find surprising is that when they’re feeling any negative emotion, including anger, fear, anxiety, and frustration, they’re not able to sustain their performance levels or to lead others effectively.
Unfortunately, without intermittent recovery, most of us are not physiologically capable of maintaining highly positive emotions for very long. We often slip into negative emotions, such as anger, fear, anxiety and frustration, multiple times throughout the day.
Confronted with unrelenting demands and unexpected challenges, many people fall victim to the fight-or-flight response, which causes them to enter a state of physiological arousal. In turn, they lose focus, become less effective and struggle to manage their emotions. In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to let ourselves get caught up in the daily grind. We spend countless hours working, commuting, running errands, taking care of kids, and otherwise trying to keep things together. As a result, we often don’t give much thought to what happens inside us. But what goes on inside us affects everything else we do.
When we’re feeling energetic, we’re able to think clearly, concentrate, and make sound decisions. We’re better able to manage our workload, handle difficult situations, and respond appropriately to others.
But when we’re low on energy, we’re less effective. Our thinking becomes clouded, we lose focus, and we struggle to cope with stressors. In addition, we’re prone to making poor choices. Without intermittent recovery, we’re unable to sustain high levels of positivity over extended periods of time.
8. Don’t multitask
A lot of people think that it’s a must have skill for success in todays environment. I’d say that being able to juggle priorities is a better skill and know how to focus properly is yet another one. Our lack of attention span is an increasing problem for us humans.
I’ll dive into this in the next post because I think it deserves a serious focus.
9. Get to know how you work
Are you a worker who thrives on last-minute crunch time? Do you take on too much and find it difficult to say no? Or do you work steadily and slowly on a project? Consider this for a moment. Acquaint yourself with the work you do and how you do it. And when you do it. Is it late at night? Early in the morning? Get in the flow – manage your energy during the day – when you’re tired, do something that is low energy demanding and yet you still accomplish things. Set up power time for when you know your energy is usually high and tasks that must be completed that day…
In summary, determine your peak hours – when are your most productive hours in a given day. This is where we are able to accomplish our best work. You might think that your peak hours are different every day. But they aren’t. They’re actually consistent throughout the day. And you know what else is constant? Your energy levels. When you begin to understand how your body works, you’ll be better prepared to manage your energy levels.
A workplace study found that an average working professional experiences 86.9 interruptions per day. These interruptions come from a variety of sources, including colleagues, customers, email, social media, phone calls, meetings, etc. But knowing what to do about them isn’t always easy.
The study was conducted by Workfront, an online collaboration software provider, and surveyed over 2,500 professionals across multiple industries. They wanted to find out how people manage interruptions while still getting things done.
They found that most people are interrupted every 15 minutes, which equates to roughly one interruption every hour.
So knowing that, you could divide your days up into smaller chunks and aim to maximize your productivity during each segment.
10. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate
It’s your spiritual energy, your sense of meaning or purpose, which is arguably one of the most effective ways to feel fulfilled at work. A study found that people who felt like their jobs gave them a sense of purpose performed better and worked faster. (And yes, that’s one of the reasons you’re reading this article. I LOVE what I do!)
So how do we tap into our inner wisdom? Well, studies show that focusing on what you love and finding meaning in your work is pretty good way to start.
How does that help? Well, it turns out that feeling like you’re working toward something bigger than yourself—a cause greater than yourself—helps boost performance. This is because tapping into your sense of purpose makes you more productive.
The problem is, many of us don’t know where to find meaning in our work. So here are some tips on how to make sure that happens:
1. Think about why you want to work in the first place. Why did you choose your career path? What do you hope to achieve?
2. Find activities outside of work that give you a sense of purpose. For example, volunteering for a charity, joining a sports team, starting a hobby.
3. If you already have a passion, use it to fuel your work. You’ll be motivated to keep moving forward, even when the day gets tough.
11. Know your values and what’s important to you
This is a big one. And I am giving you a tool here. Download it free right here. This will literally change your life!
12. Protect your creative energy
When you know you’re in the flow, dedicate the time to the task. Stick to it, work around other things, just like you would if you had a doctor’s appointment. It’s there, you work around it, you dedicate the time and energy to it.
13. Learn to say “no” by reminding yourself of your values
I recently had to remind this one to myself. It doesn’t mean that I will say YES just because I can do it. I said NO, because it’d drain my energy too much and I wouldn’t be able to spend my energy to what is more important to me. Like my family… Again, knowing your values is critical and I have a tool for it. Download it free right here.
So as you can see, there is a lot to energy management. Hope you found it useful! I honestly thing it’s a skill that we are learning all our life because priorities, circumstances and our body itself are constantly changing.
Let me know what struck you the most from this post. Looking forward to hearing from you.