Is your personal battery drained?
I've been wearing a Garmin Venu 3S for over a year now. It's a smart watch that like to nag me to do yoga (I'm not a yoga bunny) when I've had an easy day to "wind down"; why would I need to wind down if I've had an easy day? Anyway, the watch has a concept of the body battery and tracks things that drain your body battery such as workouts, and those that refresh it such as sleep and rest. It's been fascinating to see whether I can truly influence these patterns.
The concept of body battery is interesting though as it hints at a common experience that sometimes we're super productive and can get far more done than at other times, so perhaps when thinking about workloads we need to think about energy not time. I came across the phrase “people don’t run out of time, they run out of energy” recently whilst deciding what prioritisation and time management tools and ideas might be useful additions to the RiF Inner Circle. I don’t agree with it wholeheartedly as many, many people I’ve worked with do seem to have far more on their to do lists that can possibly be achieved even with zero sleep!
The concept, thinking about managing our energy, rather than just our time, did resonate though. For example, can you think of a time when you were totally exhausted, but a close friend called and invited you out for dinner, to an event, etc. maybe you reluctantly agreed, thinking you were likely to nod off part way through, or have to head home early, but once you found yourself in the presence of your energetic friend, or in vibrant environment somehow your exhaustion totally disappeared!
Perhaps to implement this focus on maximising our energy and using our highest quality energy states to focus on the most important, or challenging tasks, we could ask ourselves:
- How might I care for myself in a way that maximises the energy I have right now?
- What long term investments in myself can I make to improve my energy levels?
- Accepting that I cannot do everything, which tasks will I not do/delegate/etc? Which will I devote the minimum viable energy too, and which need my full energised self?
- When am I at my best?
- What is the most important thing I need to do “now” and when will I do it to ensure the most energised version of myself is working on it?
- What micro activities can I do to stay energised, or to reenergise myself when I feel depleted?
Check out the RiF Inner Circle for an energy boosters and drainers reflection worksheet and good luck!
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