What’s The Biggest Time Management Mistake You Make?
There is one crucial mistake you are making when you want to learn how to maximize your productivity. And I see so many other people making this .. It’s time to call this bullshit out.
You might be surprised but productivity management priority is NOT about managing time … it’s actually about managing ENERGY.
This is the most neglected aspect in being productive and becoming a high-performer.
See Productivity consists of 3 elements ☟
1. Focus
2. Time
3. Energy
I see many ‘productivity experts’ highlighting the first two, but not the 3rd one and think about it … Energy affects your
* Motivation
* Enthusiasm
* Willpower
* Discipline
* Perseverance
* Feelings
💡 You don’t need to first get good at TIME MANAGEMENT, you need to get good at ENERGY MANAGEMENT.
We have to take a look at our energy as a gas tank. We can’t drive with the pedal to the medal and not expect to be exhausted, depleted, tired or burn out. And we definitely can’t be productive when we drive full speed with the brakes on. (worrying, ruminating, anxiety, ….)
See we humans are a weird species. We panic when the battery level of our phones reaches 5%, but we don’t pay attention to the energy level of our bodies.
So I want you to learn how to manage your ENERGY, so you can replenish your willpower. (which will also affect your focus).
The problem in today’s world is not hard work. The problem is insufficient recovery – Peter Drucker
You need to be ON and OFF. You need to restore energy, so you can get back to work with full focus. If you are on all the time you deny yourself the rewards of calmness.
SO HOW DO YOU DO ENERGY MANAGEMENT?
✔︎ 1. Get in touch with your body
See how you are feeling. How is your body? How is your focus? Often we are so busy with being busy and active, that we lose touch with what’s going on inside and with our body. So to have checked in with your body is crucial to prevent burn out or overworking.
You might think you LOOSE time but taking time for this .. but you ‘ll GAIN energy and actually gain back a lot of time and momentum over the long term.
✔︎ 2. Take real work breaks
You want to learn how to be OFF. What this means is to do activities that actually CHARGE your instead of depleting you.
So no mind-numbing scrolling or watching a screen, or reading self-help books.You want to take a nap, take a stroll, go to nature, meditate, stretch, deep breathing, read a fiction book, meet a friend, exercise …
Whatever get you out of your head and ‘work-mode’ and helps you be in the moment and let go. Our willpower is limited so we want to find ways how to restore it during the day.
You want to learn to take breaks from focus, instead of breaks from distraction.
✔︎ 3. Match your High Impact Tasks (HIT’s) when your energy is highest
Make sure you do the HIT’s when you feel the most energized. For most people, this is in the morning because they are getting more distracted as the day progresses, but you can also do it after a healthy restoring break.
✔︎4. Get a healthy sleep routine
One of the biggest influencers of your overall energy will be your sleep. So make sure you get enough deep healthy sleep and try to wake up and go to bed around the same time so you have a stable biorhythm
✔︎ 5. Get a morning and evening routine
Combined with the previous point, install a morning routine that builds up energy (non-work activities that charge you) and have an evening routine that helps you unwind and relax. This will also MASSIVELY impact your sleep. Try to avoid social media an hour before going to sleep.
✔︎ 6. Plan unwinding and free time
Just as you have mini and meso blocks of recharging time, you also want to plan unplanned time to give yourself some spontaneity, play and rest.
It might sound counterintuitive, but when you are in work-mode all the time, it’s easy to keep postponing giving yourself some much needed time off. So if you’re the type that always delays it, you want to plan it in your agenda and make it non-negotiable.
For a workaholic, the art of not doing and not being busy is a skill, so you want to give yourself enough time and space to be good at it once in a while. Whatever get you out of your head and ‘work-mode’ and helps you be in the moment and let go.
Our willpower is limited so we want to find ways how to restore it during the day.
You want to learn to take breaks from focus, instead of breaks from distraction.
✔︎ 3. Match your High Impact Tasks (HIT’s) when your energy is highest
Make sure you do the HIT’s when you feel the most energized. For most people, this is in the morning because they are getting more distracted as the day progresses, but you can also do it after a healthy restoring break.
✔︎4. Get a healthy sleep routine
One of the biggest influencers of your overall energy will be your sleep. So make sure you get enough deep healthy sleep and try to wake up and go to bed around the same time so you have a stable biorhythm
✔︎ 5. Get a morning and evening routine
Combined with the previous point, install a morning routine that builds up energy (non-work activities that charge you) and have an evening routine that helps you unwind and relax. This will also MASSIVELY impact your sleep. Try to avoid social media an hour before going to sleep.
✔︎ 6. Plan unwinding and free time
Just as you have mini and meso blocks of recharging time, you also want to plan unplanned time to give yourself some spontaneity, play and rest. It might sound counterintuitive, but when you are in work-mode all the time, it’s easy to keep postponing giving yourself some much needed time off. So if you’re the type that always delays it, you want to plan it in your agenda and make it non-negotiable.
For a workaholic, the art of not doing and not being busy is a skill, so you want to give yourself enough time and space to be good at it once in a while.
