Cultivating The Art of Time: Energy Management Fundamentals

“The number of the hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. It is our most precious resource. Energy, Not Time, Is Our Most Precious Resource.” – Jim Loehr

There can be moments in our life when it can feel like there isn’t enough time in the day. Easily subscribing to the concept that we are not effectively managing our time wisely, assuming we need better “time management” since it seems like time is the culprit in the “not enough time dilemma.” Time management isn’t the only way to effectively manage tasks and your day.

Another concept to consider is energy management. Energy is defined as the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity or defined as the capacity to perform work. Our lives are summed within this definition, with the impact varying depending on occupation and lifestyle. There are studies, research, articles, and a significant book that discusses just this concept. 

Time is not our most precious resource; it’s the energy to accomplish the task that is most precious. Learning how to manage your energy with time constraints is a key skill. The book The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz explains that matching your energy to your task is a fundamental key to excelling.

Let’s discuss a proven theory that teaches you to manage your energy, which helps you manage your time. 

The Rationale
Time is finite. We all have the same amount of it, no more or no less. It is common when we are faced with project deadlines; we shorten meetings, cut into our personal lives, sleep less, don’t eat lunch or at our desks, and incorporate longer days of “work” in the hopes of catching up on time. When demands exceed our “capacity,” we try to capture the time instead of learning our energy to accomplish the work. In time, this is what will cause fatigue, to even burnout.

Time management is an important competency to have because it involves organizing the day and prioritizing responsibilities and tasks to achieve goals. Achieving this competency isn’t the only factor that determines your success; it’s the productivity of that task. Optimizing your energy and effectively focusing on energy first will yield higher productivity. What’s important isn’t the amount of time you devote to any task; it’s the quality of the energy you bring to it. Twenty-five minutes of high-quality energy will yield better than one to two hours of low-quality energy spent on that task.

The Benefit
Energy management is the process of managing your physical, emotional, and mental energy to permit you to be more productive and effective both in your professional and personal life.

Energy is a renewable source, unlike time. We can replenish energy through exercise, rest, sleep, spiritual /emotional rituals, and nutrition. Energy management creates improved resilience and adaptability to change. Energy management improves stress management, time management, relationship management, productivity management, performance management, organizational management, and more. Influential professionals understand and capitalize on this theory. 

The Application
Some tasks require more energy than others. High-energy tasks and multitasking can’t be done productively when an overextended task list depletes your energy. The mindset shift is that the center focus is you, not the time. The goal is the optimization of alertness and performance. 

Energy management theory is derived from four core capacity components that sum up your life: physical capacity, emotional capacity, spiritual capacity, and mental capacity.  Each component is interdependent on the other; the success of one can affect the success of the other. 

Energy Management Framework

Energy oscillates; there are levels of it, meaning there will be peaks and valleys. You will have varying energy levels from when you wake up to when you go to sleep. You will have energy intervals throughout the day depending on the four capacity components: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

When planning out your days, plan and consider your energy levels (oscillation of your day). Loehr and Schwartz call these oscillation planning “rituals.” The ritual of expending energy and recharging energy. It balances the function of work and rest. Important reminder; rest helps with recovery to do the next task.

First: Assess Energy to Arrange Schedule
Determine and assess what task will require high energy and what will require low energy. High-energy work will be work that is prioritized as important; it is work that you must be creative with, or it can be tasks that you hate doing. Low-energy work will be simple tasks or actual rest and formally scheduling time out or off.

Next, arrange your schedule to suit your energy levels and the quality of your energy for that day. 

Consider:
• If you have a meeting that requires high energy (i.e., a challenging stakeholder or topic), don’t plan another meeting immediately after that one.
• If you have administrative tasks of filing or purging emails, do that during low energy (maybe after a long meeting).
• If you are a morning person, do your challenging tasks first thing in the morning; if you need more time in the morning, save those tasks for later or vice versa.

This is why doing only time management is less effective; connecting with your energy will produce greater success.

Next: Cultivate each Energy Component
To cultivate each energy, it is developing the recharge needed for each – to consider what is needed to recharge. It should be proactively planned and focused on replenishment – what give you energy. One way to cultivate is to journal your levels, keeping track of what energizes and drains you. For example, you may recognize that one client or colleague does tax your energy more than you anticipated. Therefore, you meet with them when you have the highest energy capacity and know you will need recovery or a low-energy event afterward. 

Once you learn what energizes and drains, you can also learn to delegate when possible. Discuss arranging work that leverages each other’s energy if you are in a team. As a leader, you can also create development opportunities for your associates through energy levels.

Below are simple ritual techniques to improve each energy component.

Physical Energy
• Considered the most fundamental of the four, it impacts the other components most.
• Break at maximum from a task every 90 – 120 minutes and physically move from the location.

Emotional Energy
• Recognize your progress and celebrate even small wins.
• Make time and set clear boundaries for work and home.

Mental Energy
• Prepare each day, preferably the day ahead.
• Capitalize on downtime (when you are driving, waiting, or doing errands).

Spiritual (Values) Energy
• Identify your personal values and set non-negotiables. 
• Aligning values and creating space for the ideal life fulfilling, like meditation, reading, family/friends, and service to others.