Time Management & Productivity: Don't Forget to Manager Your Energy!!

We’ve addressed Time Management and Productivity in The Coach’s Playbook before—and it’s still one of the most important yet least consistently implemented ways a person can improve their business and their life. Specifically, we’ve recommended David Allen’s great book, Getting Things Done, as a simple, practical guide to organizing our days and our task list. If you haven’t given Allen’s methods a try yet, log onto Amazon right now and download a copy. We’ve also talked about the Peak Producers’ approach of working on those Big Rocks First, that is, the activities that help you build your business for the long term—those calls, handwritten notes, coffees and, yes, even those “pop-by’s”—while filling in the pebbles and sand of returning client phone calls, reading emails, and doing the paperwork that keeps our clients delighted with our service. (You don’t play CandyCrush, do you?)

Most of these discussions and ideas for time management and productivity, though, don’t address what’s probably the most important element of how we handle and process our daily activities, both business and personal: our energy levels.

First of all, there are five “wells” of energy from which we draw each day. The five wells are: Spiritual, Family, Business, Financial, and Personal. It’s a good idea to take a few minutes and consider whether our tanks are on full, three-quarters, half, or even on Empty, and how that impacts our attitudes and abilities.

It’s also important to remember that our energy is a dynamic resource—it wants to move and flow rather than sit idly in the tank. If we don’t control our energy and its flow, it will go somewhere anyway! So, give some thought to the following ENERGY DRAINERS, ENERGY GIVERS, and ENERGY SUSTAINERS:

ENERGY DRAINERS

            Fear—False Evidence Appearing Real! The best counter: have a detailed plan!

            Worry—how do you approach problem solving, both short and long term?

            Indecision—does it take you a long time to reach a decision? Do you overthink things?

            Drama—so much of this is available to us in this business! As Dr. Phil might say: what’s in it for you?

            Personal Conflict—how is your personal life complementing or interfering with your business?

            Poor Physical Condition—remember Gino’s M.E.D.S!

            Lack of Direction—do you have written goals—both personal and business—and are they S.M.A.R.T. goals?

ENERGY GIVERS

            Associations—the folks you hang out with and the things you do have a huge impact on your energy levels. Choose wisely!

            Mental Intake—the books you read or the games you play

            Taking Care of Yourself—again, remember Gino’s M.E.D.S!

            Alignment of Values—does your life and work reflect your personal values?

            Written Goals—yes, those with written goals are statistically far more successful than those without them!

ENERGY SUSTAINERS

            Tracking Your Progress—yep, in detail so you know where you are and can celebrate success or add course corrections

            Visual Anchors—consider a vision board with photos of your BIG WHY—why are you doing all this? Retirement in five years? Send the kids to Harvard? Tour India and China or buy a new carbon fiber bike? Put it on your wall and keep it as a shiny carrot!

            Consistency—the tortoise ALWAYS wins the race. ALWAYS!

            Taking a Break—daily, weekly, annually, take a break to recharge your energy level so you can knock it out of the park when you’re “on”

            Accountability—yep, again tracking your progress toward those written goals—and that vision board—and remembering it’s you who is in charge

So how are your energy levels? Remember, our energy will absolutely go somewhere . . . Make sure YOU choose where it goes!

David M. Hassler

VP, Professional Development