Don’t have time? Make time…. for yourself!

Wow, is life busy these days. It really does feel like there’s never enough time to do everything you need to. For many people that means trying to do too many things at once, never really doing anything to a satisfactory level of quality and generally never feeling like they’re succeeding.

Not only do scenarios like this lead to a career that, at best, stagnates, it’s a one way street to an unhappy and unhealthy life. Less time doing what you want, less time with family, less sleep, etc. And that’s when the problems really start, because you’ll very quickly become perpetually exhausted. All those things you have to do take even longer, because you struggle to concentrate, making the situation even worse.

My advice, therefore, may seem counterintuitive. People often say, when you have something important to do, that you should ‘make time’, as if time is something that can be manufactured. And of course it’s important that you practice good time management and delegate wherever you can. But ‘making time’ is a physical impossibility. What you need to do is make more time for yourself! Stick with me on this.

What’s more important is not to keep trying to better manage your time, but to manage your energy levels.

You know those times when you’re full of energy. You feel like you can conquer the world. Things just get done! At lightning speed. You make quick, decisive decisions. You rattle through your To Do list. As a leader, those around you pick up your energy – it’s contagious – and everyone performs better.

And that’s the point. When you are full of energy, you get things done quicker. It feels like you are literally ‘making time’.

So what do you do if you find there’s just not enough hours in the day? How do you better manage your energy levels?

Exercise

It’s really important to regularly exercise. There is so much scientific evidence on the benefits of exercise, that I shouldn’t have to convince you of this one – you most likely know it’s true. Where many people fall down is in prioritising exercise.

When you’re busy at work, it’s easy to forgo that trip to the gym, that home workout or that run round the park. But it’s false economy. You will have more energy to do more things, more quickly, if you exercise regularly.

Take regular breaks

This is just as critical throughout the day as it is throughout the year.

On a daily basis try to plan out regular breaks away from your computer. For some people blocking out a lunch break works, for others it’s turning all your 1 hour meetings into 50 minute meetings instead. Particularly while most of us are working from home, it’s a good habit to step away from your work at regular intervals. And at least daily plan a trip outside – even if it’s just a walk around your neighbourhood whilst listening in to a work call.

Throughout the year it’s fundamentally important to take a number of decent breaks from work, for a week or two. It’s worth doing the extra planning and spending the extra preparation time in advance to clear as many things off your desk in advance of your holidays. Make sure colleagues are fully briefed on your projects. And when you’re off – turn off your computer and phone!

Go to bed earlier

I see this problem in my team fairly frequently, despite my constant advice to the contrary. When someone gets busy, you see emails from them later and later into the evening as they try to get more and more stuff done in the day. Or, and I’m frequently guilty of this, the days are so busy that nighttime feels like the only time you have to yourself. So you stay up later to read, watch TV, engage with your hobbies.

Now, for those of us that work in professional services, or even in large dynamic corporates or governmental organisations, project working means frequent deadlines. And occasionally that means some long hours and late nights. However, you need to start worrying, and course correcting, when this becomes the norm.

When late nights become standard, quality starts to drop. If you don’t get enough sleep, not only is that bad for your long term health, your ability to get stuff done decreases. Your energy levels drop and you actually spend longer doing less.

Get 7-8 hours of good quality sleep every night. You’ll wake up with more energy and better prepared to deal with whatever the day throws at you.

Eat and drink more healthily

This can be another tough one. When you’re really busy you eat and drink whatever you can get your hands on quickly. Often that means rubbish, snack-like food and lots and lots of caffeine.

This is yet another area that can be hugely counterproductive though. Eating and drinking the right things, at the right times can really help to manage your energy levels. Again, a bit of time investment up front to plan your weekly meals can more than pay you back in higher energy levels, greater focus and the ability to get more done.

And this isn’t about starting a super complicated or restrictive diet. It’s just about putting the right kind of fuel in the tank. We all know when we’re eating badly: you cycle between feeling hungry to feeling bloated, your blood sugar levels are all over the place, you feel lethargic and regularly ‘crash’ to deeper levels of lethargy throughout the day. Making sure you have decent meals and snacks will help manage your energy levels, increase your short-term focus on work and improve your long term health and well-being.

Be mindful

All too often when we’re really busy, it’s easy to think/hope that things will be better in the future sometime. At the end of your current project. Once this financial year is over. Just a few more years in this job. Once you retire…

It’s really easy to see how you could wish your life away and not enjoy anything about the journey. With your head always focused on some point in the future, your heart can’t be on what you’re doing right now. You’re going through the motions!

Mindfulness is all about being in the present. There’s whole books on the subject, so I’m not going to give it justice in a couple of paragraphs. Just know that the more you focus on the present, on what you’re doing right now, the more energy you’ll have for that particular task. And you’ll get it done much more efficiently. Try it. Have a go at being truly mindful a couple of times a day and see how your energy levels improve.

Energy management is a great way of thinking about how to manage your life. You can’t make time, but you can create more energy – and with that, you’ll be amazed how much more you can get done.