How to Wisely Use the Limited Energy We Have Each Day?
To be more productive, we need to manage our energy too just like we manage time. Our energy level is different at different times.
Lessons to Learn From Sloth(slowest mammal)
Sloth is the slowest mammal in the world. What to do when faced with energy shortage, either eat more or do less? Sloth decided to do less. This mammal is able to all the things that one expect of mammals but with so little energy that it’s mind boggling. We also start our day with limited amount of energy, using it wisely is the key to success.
Energy Vs Time
There is lot of discussion around time management but very little about energy management. Not every hour in our day is equal, during some hours we feel energetic and sometimes we feel low on energy. Tackle the most important tasks of the day when your energy level is high and mundane tasks like cleaning in that part of the day when your energy level is low.
Some Examples to Illustrate the Importance of Energy
Good is the Enemy of Great
When a business is hiring someone they only tend to see the level of competence of the individual, so they might hire someone who is good enough but not perfect for the job. Thinking that we might use him somewhere else if he fails in this job. But if we look at this problem from the energy angle then picture won’t look rosy enough to hire a good enough individual. There is a saying that Level 7 employee kills the company. Level 8, 9 and 10 being great and 7 being good enough. When a business hire a good enough person then they have to spend energy training him up or spend energy in transferring him from one job to another. Spending energy here means less energy for more important areas of business. The result of which is the downward spiral of business and ultimately its death ☠.
WOOP (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan)
Lot of our energy is wasted in thinking, over and over, about the things that we want. Like if I love someone and want to give them a gift, then I would think thousands of time about it. This daydreaming of mine will ultimately rob me of actually doing that action in reality. Why? Because I would have spent my energy in daydreaming, so I won’t have much energy left to actually achieve it!
Research has shown that the more students positively envisioned themselves getting a job, the fewer job offers they received. The more hip replacement surgery patients, imagined themselves having a smooth recovery, the less they were a able to move their new joint. And the more positive overweight people’s fantasies about their success in losing weight was, the fewer ponds they lost. Dreaming about the positive future saps energy needed to reach the positive future.
Is it Useful?
Another way of wasting our precious energy is by worrying over things. If the anxiety forces you to work hard then it’s good but if it paralyzes you then it’s bad. If we have a flight to catch later in the day, then thinking about the worst case scenario 17th+ times won’t help. So a good mantra to remember in this kind of situation is: “Is It Useful?”
Meditation helps in becoming mindful and to clearly see the stupid things we are doing at the present moment. But meditation is not cure for our problems, according to Dan Harris it will make us 10% happier than before. As meditation make us aware of our bad thoughts and habits but does not cure us of it.
When I lie down in my bed to sleep, I keep thinking about different worries and wishes, over and over, wasting an hour or two everyday. But now I have decided to do meditation when I lie down in my bed. Because when we try to keep focus on one thing our mind goes to sleep, as we all have experienced falling asleep when reading textbooks for exam preparation.
In meditation, we need to take deep breaths and keep our attention on breathing. In the beginning if one is able to become aware once or twice that he is distracted in the half hour practice session is a great achievement. Because when a train of thought starts we get sucked into it forgetting about everything else.
Hedgehog 🦔 Concept
Jim Collins advocate for a very good concept in his book Good to Great, called Hedgehog. Fox is clever and could do many things at the same time, but hedgehog knows only one big thing and excels at it. When fox attacks hedgehog focuses his energy on just one strategy for defending itself: curl up into a ball and raises the spines.
Companies who focus on multiple things at once are the foxes. They won’t have enough power to succeed in any of their endeavors. Successful companies focus on only one thing.
Exercise: The Best Way to Increase Energy
There are many ways to increase energy like eating nutritious food, drinking coffee (has its side effects), having a full night of sleep or exercising. In the next article we will see the numerous benefits of full body workout.
Listen to the podcast about this topic, in Urdu: Search T-Syed in your podcast app. Google Podcast, Apple Podcast
