Manage your energy, not your time

I recently had the pleasure of speaking alongside global leaders from the design community including Chris Do and Michael Ventura at the NO/BS Conference in Melbourne. The topic was an open brief, so I decided to share my thoughts on a subject I’m passionate about: “Manage your Energy, Not Your Time”.

As I high energy person (some would even say hyperactive!) managing my energy has always been a challenge. It’s a bit like the goldilocks syndrome – either too much energy or not enough. It’s hard to get it just right.

Here are some ideas for an era when the nine-to-five workday no longer seems anything like reality, and being able to match your energy to life’s demands seems more like the secret to success. Thanks to the talented Shelly Shao for the fabulous illustrations.

Even at rest, our bodies produce around 100 watts of power – enough to power a light bulb. At least 20% of that energy is firing off in the brain. There are five types of brain waves, pulsating from as fast as over 40 hertz – that’s 40 cycles a second – to as slow as less than four hertz during deep sleep.

That feeling of being full of ideas is the Gamma state, when you’re having a massive number of electrical impulses in your head. But what’s interesting is that it’s the slower Alpha and Theta states when we’re most creative. Alpha brain waves help to inhibit habitual ways of thinking in favour of unexpected, more ingenious ones. Even closing our eyes increases Alpha activity.

The Theta state is when you have that daydreaming feeling. One of the smartest people who’s ever lived, Albert Einstein, was a huge believer in daydreaming. He called it Gedankenexperimente, a technique he used to help develop the Theory of Relativity.

This is an important call out to slow down in an ever-accelerating world. If we want to be at our most creative, we need to learn how to calm ourselves and our minds.

One of the best articles I’ve ever read about leadership was with the CEO of BHP Billiton. His theory was that as you get more senior, you need to work less and rest more. The reason? Because you need to be fresher. Rather than burning the candle, you need to be at the ready for when you’re needed to step into a difficult situation or solve a tough problem.

I think this is critical. Think about what you need to be fresh and ready for the things and people that matter. Make sure you always have some energy in reserve.

During COVID we discovered the power of small breaks – like putting on the washing or going for a walk. The value of these breaks is grounded in our physiology. “Ultradian rhythms” refer to 90 to 120 minute cycles when our bodies slowly move from a high-energy state into a physiological trough. Toward the end of each cycle, the body begins to crave recovery. The signals include restlessness, yawning, hunger, and difficulty concentrating, but many of us ignore them and keep working. As a result, our energy reservoir burns down as the day wears on. Without this intermittent recovery, we’re unable stay positive for long, let alone do our best work. We need to plan for these high and low moments and create a new type of routine.

As we all know, the most powerful source of energy is the connection we have between our spirit and what we do. In the words of music legend Brian Eno: ‘Everything good proceeds from enthusiasm’.

He says, “the sense of I really want to know how this turns out will drive you through many long nights of no results. Whereas the feeling of ‘I think I ought to do this’ dries up very quickly.”

Enthusiasm is energy vibrating at the highest level. The word comes from the Greek enthousiasmos, meaning ‘inspiration or possession by a god’. It is a combination of being hugely interested in something, but also applying yourself, to the point where it becomes divine.

In a post-COVID world we’re starting to see that life can be different. It’s freeing us to bring the right energy to the right moment rather than being stuck in the old ways of dividing up time. The more you consciously manage your energy in everyday life, the more you will find you have for yourself and to give to those around you.