We hear a lot about time management but much less about
energy management. Time is fixed. We all have 24 hours in the day. But energy
is fluid. Our effectiveness in that 24 hours is very dependent on the intensity
and intentionality of our energy.
I can go for a walk, and after an hour, I may have gone
three miles or so. I’ve been working and exercising that entire time. But if I
jog that same three miles, I’ll have knocked out the three miles in half the
time. By managing my energy and increasing the intensity of my output, I now
have more time but still accomplished the same amount of work.
Many areas of our lives work in much the same way. We all
know people who are always seem busy, but get very little done because their
energy isn’t focused. They hop from task to task, never fully engaging long
enough in one thing to be effective. They operate with little intensity or
intentionality and thus manage to cram 180 minutes of real work into a ten-hour
day.
However, because these people remain “busy,” we assume they
are effective. And since they are always moving and experience little downtime,
we assume they are managing their time well. But what they have failed to
manage is their energy.
Managing time isn’t effective until you have first managed
your energy.
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