Time Management vs Energy Management

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If you're suffering because you're not motivated and you're having a hard time being productive at your job, your business, or just in your general life, you've probably been thinking a lot about time management as something that you're lacking. Everyone says "if only I could manage my time better, if only I could allocate it more effectively, then I would be getting the results that I want". While time management is a crucial skill that we all have to learn, it might be even more important to think about energy management when it comes to finding that optimal level of production from ourselves when we need it most.

What's the difference between time and energy management? Time management means looking at all of the hours in the day and coming up with a plan that best utilizes those hours towards some productive purpose. People run into a few problems at this stage: they may not have a clear purpose to work towards, so they aren't sure how to best leverage their time, they may have difficulty aligning their actions with their purpose, so they're suffering on that basis, or they may not understand what actions are needed to move forward. Ultimately, however, time management is the ability to form a plan and stick to it.

Energy management means understanding that you can only be productive for a certain amount of time each day, and that this time needs to be used effectively in order to optimize your productivity. You can't plan for 10 hours of work if you know that you'll be exhausted after six hours. In addition, you need to include things like proper sleep and diet, and even exercise into a plan that manages your energy. You need to optimize your input in order to optimize your output.

When it comes to managing yourself, scheduling is obviously very important and the number one mistake you can make is putting yourself on somebody else's schedule. If you want to be successful, your time has to be your own. You can't let anyone else tell you when to wake up - if your wife wants to cuddle in the morning, you have to say no. You can't say yes when your friends invite you for lunch each day, because those people aren't going for the same dream as you. It's so important that you put your energy into making your dreams come true than into looking cool for your friends or other equally trivial things.

To better manage your energy, you have to sleep enough and eat healthy. Learn when you have the ability to be the most productive, or develop a productivity routine that you can jump into at anytime. For me this includes listening to certain music in my office and working consistently while I do that, with occasional breaks for a chess game. Don't worry about spending all the time you have in the office, live a balanced life and use your energy in the right ways and you'll be successful.
#energy #management #time
  • Profile picture of the author debburns47
    Agreed, but I think energy management is part of time management. You have to manage your time so that you have the physical and creative energy to use it effectively. I used to try and cut back on sleep but found that all the time in my day could be compromised, so now I make sure that I get enough sleep. I also invest time in regular exercise and preparing healthy low-calorie food. On the flip side, some people spend so much time working on their physical health that they never achieve anything else.

    Time-management and energy management are so inter-related that I don't think you can view them individually.
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