Tag: Energy Management

  • Energy Management in COVID-19 aftermath

    I wanted to intersperse how I used energy management intuitively while I was recovering from COVID-19 in my previous blog post about energy management. But, I left that out so that I can link to the post while writing future blog posts about managing with energy rather than with time.

    In my blog post about COVID-19, I had shared that I felt better energy-wise only after February 8, 2022. However, this was followed by difficulty in focusing on the task and bouts of tiredness. I was not able to work beyond 2 hour chunks of time. I had trouble comparing text or reading on Indian Philosophy. I could also not read lighter non-fiction or fiction.

    I decided to let the amount of energy I had decide when I worked. I put aside all other tasks and decided to do only my primary work role. I worked for two hours and then rested for half-an-hour. This has continued for the last two weeks. This meant I had to work longer to cover my 8-hour work day.

    It required a lot of sleep and plenty of water to recover energy-wise. As of today, I would still say that I have recovered only 95%. I still feel bouts of exhaustion ergo I can now work for a 3-4 hour block. As I did with the 2 hour chunks, I repeated the process for the 4 hours chunk.

    I think this gave me the experience of working depending on my energy situation. Although, I learnt this intuitively, Matt’s video helped me structure my practice in a much better way.

  • Managing your Energy

    Photo by Vlad Cheu021ban on Pexels.com

    The above image represents what I think when people say you need to be energetic at work. Since I could not do this, I just gave up.

    That was when I saw a video that YouTuber and productivity savior1, Matt D’Avella. The video is titled, “Why you’re so bad at managing time?” Do not be carried away by the title. It is an energy management video in the guise of a time management video.

    YouTube video version of this article

    Time Management was introduced by factories to make sure that workers worked like clockwork in the factory. Although many people work in factories today, many of us today are knowledge workers.

    As I have said before in this blog, I do knowledge work. So, this is something that I want to try.

    Matt says energy management works better than time management. He gives a few suggestions on how to work better as per your energy.

    Find your peak performance period:

    Matt says that everyone has a peak performance period. A time when they have the most energy. He suggests using a notebook or an app to track your energy daily. One can then identify their peak performance period. This time can change or stay the same.

    Find how much energy your task requires:

    This is also an estimation. Your estimation. How much energy do you need to do something. Split your tasks into high energy and low energy tasks.

    Refill your cup:

    Matt says, “rest is productive”. We should take rest before we get tired and not after we get tired.

    Make flexible to-do lists:

    The to-do list is where this energy management comes into action. Do tasks that take most energy during your high energy period. Do the low energy tasks when you feel low.

    Don’t be hard on yourself when things don’t work out. Remember that you are not perfect.

    Matt reminds us, “We may all have 24 hours in a day but they are not the same 24 hours.” We are asked rhetorically how we compare to achievers like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who have the same 24 hours we do. But, the difference is that they probably do not have to do their own laundry. They probably outsource these tasks unlike us.

    1 Matt does a lovey ad for Squarespace where he creates a website for a cult of his own called Productivity Savior. He creates a website for the same using Squarespace called productivitysavior.com.  I appreciate the amount of work he puts into his videos. Whois shows that someone has registered the URL.

    Tumblr version of this post.