Great Tips to Manage Your Energy and Stay Extremely Productive

In this post I’ll show you how to manage your energy to stay extremely productive! With a full-time job, young family and side hustle, I feel tired a lot. So, I’m learning to manage my energy. This is very important because staying energized and focused is crucial for reaching your goals. It at least makes the process more enjoyable.

Pay Attention to Your Body

We are not robots that can consistently maintain the same level of output and work non-stop. We have to pay attention to our body and take care of it to feel energic and vigorous when working on our goals. All human beings have their own internal rhythm. For some it is easy to rise early while others like to snooze a little longer.

Regarding productivity, it is the same. People differ in the times when they are naturally most productive. When are you highly alert, more creative and able to work best? You can graph out your energy potential using time of day on the X-axis and level of energy on the Y-axis.

I am most concentrated in the morning and during the last part of the workday. For whatever reason, from about 11am to 2pm my energy takes a dip. With this knowledge, I try to schedule tasks that need a lot of concentration and uninterrupted attention during my peak times. In this way, I can optimize my performance according to my energy potential.

My next points focus on managing your energy by increasing your energy levels.

People often respond to demands by putting in longer hours and neglecting proper diet and exercise. As a result, we become less engaged and more distracted. Constantly working with depleted energy reserves takes a toll on us mentally, emotionally, and physically.

No matter what the circumstances are, it is important to take the necessary steps to recharge your batteries.

Manage Physical Energy

• Go to bed at a regular time
• Sleep longer
• Do cardio and strength training
• Eat healthily
• Drink enough water
• Take regular breaks
• Go for a walk
• Eat healthy snacks throughout the day to maintain glucose levels and avoid dips in energy
• Schedule time for rest and relaxation

Manage Your Energy by Managing Your Emotions

We mostly perform best when experiencing positive emotions. This helps us to feel motivated and engaged. However, experiencing negative emotions like impatience, anxiety, anger, and irritability can drain your energy. Furthermore, depending on the intensity, these emotions can make it hard to think clearly and logically. A key question is how do I keep my emotions from becoming too negative?

Some strategies include:

• Identifying triggers and countering them
• Deep breathing to relieve stress
• Reframing how you think about certain situations to have a more balanced perspective
• Expressing appreciation for others
• Cultivating gratitude

More Ways to Keep Your Energy High

• Avoid switching between tasks and set dedicated times to focus on specific tasks
• Set times for concentrated, uninterrupted work
• Get the most important task in a day done first
• Use your strengths and find ways to use them more – do what you are good at and what you enjoy
• Do what is meaningful for you
• Live your core values in daily behaviors

Another thing you can do to manage your energy is map out your main tasks during the week using a calendar. Color the tasks that drain you with red and the tasks that energize you with blue. Try to find a good balance between the two. For example, you can switch between periods of red tasks and blue tasks so that your energy reserves do not become depleted.

Hope this helps!