Manage THIS, Not Time

[William]

In the book, The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz describe the difference between world class tennis players and average ones.

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For hundreds of hours Jim Loehr studied world class tennis players. His goal was to find out what separated the greatest tennis players from the rest of the pack. He struggled to do this.

It was only when he noticed what players did between points that he saw a difference.

What did they do differently? They developed habits between points. Some players walked backed to the baseline a certain way; held their heads and shoulders a certain way; focused their eyes a certain way; others had a pattern of breathing that stayed the same; and some others talked to themselves a particular way.

These players were maximizing their recovery. Lower ranked players had no recovery habits. Jim even hooked up the world class players to EKG systems. Their heart rates dropped as much as 20 beats per minute between points. This drop happened in a 16-20 second time frame. The greatest players were using habits to recover more efficiently and to better prepare for the next point.​

Managing Time vs. Managing Energy

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Let me just be clear: managing your time is important. However, you have to consider your energy when managing it. Good or bad energy will be a big factor in how effective your time will be. Imagine getting an argument with your spouse, watching an hour of depressing news, eating a double cheeseburger with fries, and then trying to do something productive after that. How effective will that time be?

What good is managing your time if you don't have the proper energy to be effective with that time?

To maximize time, your energy should be at its highest. You need to manage your energy just like you manage your time. According to Jim Leohr and Tony Schwartz, energy is broken down into types:

• Physical: Patterns of breathing, quality of sleep, when and what we eat, recovery and level of fitness.
  
• Emotional: Managing levels of self confidence, self control, social skills, and empathy.
  
• Mental: Appropriate mental preparation, visualization, positive self talk, effective time management, and creativity.
  
• Spiritual: Character, passion, commitment, integrity, and honesty.

Here's an example of how I increased my energy. My work schedule was 7-3pm. After getting home from work, I was too tired to do anything. I would sink down onto the couch and slouch down under my cloud of exhaustion. I had desire to plan and execute. But....just....too....tired...

"Too much energy expenditure eventually leads to burnout and breakdown. Overuse it and lose it. Too much recovery without sufficient stress leads to atrophy and weakness."

When I read this, a light bulb went off in my head. The major domino that was going to effect everything else was exercising. While in high school and college, I spent a lot of time playing basketball, running, and being in the gym.

Without noticing, exercise slowly crept out of my life. "Too much recovery without sufficient stress leads to atrophy and weakness." My weakness came from the absence of being physically active.

Here was my plan. Run after work. I started intentionally stressing my physical energy. I started by running 10 blocks. Then 12. Then 14. Now, I have made this a habit 3/4 days a week. Its only been 4 months, but I feel much better about myself.

How To Increase Your Energy Today
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Figure out which energy type needs attention in your life. I knew that I needed to exercise. It could be different for you. Maybe you need to pay attention to your mental, emotional, and/or spiritual energy.

Remember these few points:

• Your energy is at its highest at the beginning of the day.
• Strategically recover: you have to let your "muscles" rest.
• Write: come up with a plan and put it on paper. You're more likely to stick to it.
• To build energy capacity slightly increase your threshold.. An example of this would be increasing your lifting weight from 150 to 160 to 170, etc. in a reasonable time frame.
• Start with one thing. Start with the biggest domino. Usually when your physical energy is churning, the rest falls in place.

These are just some points that have helped me. Hoping one of you benefits!

 

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