The modern world constantly demands our attention, time, and energy. We place pressure on ourselves to handle more tasks at the same time we work harder to complete more tasks quickly. In the absence of achieving enough to feel satisfied we are frequently left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or disengaged. We are often unhappy and depressed.
This hectic lifestyle does not just affect your outcomes but it’s also hard to sustain. Something has to go eventually, and if it’s not your relationships or satisfaction, it’ll be your health. A car requires regular maintenance in order to run smoothly and batteries must be charged, so our bodies require nourishment, rest, and renewal.
Although burnout is an easy way to fall into when you’re faced with a multitude of things to complete, research shows that employees get no more accomplished when they work 50-hour days than working 40-hour days. What does this mean for those who work 70+ hours per week? The unproductive time is mostly spent on disruptive activities like responding to phone calls, and emails or attending meetings that are not needed, or recuperating from fatigue, stress, sleep, or low levels of caffeine or sugar.
The most effective way to manage our hectic lifestyle and become more productive in everything we do, even work is to manage our energy. Find more activities that energize you and provide energy, so that you succeed with what you decide to concentrate your attention on.
As I have built an executive design and marketing career over the last 14 years, I’ve achieved everything I need to do in an hour-long workweek. This has allowed me to have time for relaxation, traveling as well a hobbies, building connections, and becoming an athlete who competes. I achieved this by managing my energy outside of work, which meant that when I was working, I was able to succeed and be more productive.
Here are five management of energy techniques and activities that you can implement to achieve more clarity, efficiency, and happiness in your life.
1. Start your day right.
The way you begin your day can have a significant impact on your productivity for the remainder of the day. I’m not talking about the amount of coffee you drink. Relaxing your mind and ensuring that your body and mind are receiving adequate nutrition is essential to being productive. If you awake with anxiety, fear, or any other negative feelings, do everything you can to return to a peaceful state. Be aware that you decide the way you feel, and nobody else has the power to control that. Make notes in a journal, sit down or do some exercise to release the tension out.
In the next step, give your brain and body healthy food. Try to choose food that is natural and unprocessed which will not result in an energy crash or trigger cravings for junk food. Give your body and mind the nutrition it needs to bring about the best results.
2. Visualize your accomplishment.
Visualizing success can open the way to achieving tangible success. Similar to how athletes imagine their race repeatedly in their minds, picturing your day running smoothly and mentally puts you on the right track to achieve your goals.
Each day, you should create an outline of the way you want your day to progress by visualizing your objectives. Visualize your main events such as meetings, conversations, or meetings of your day going smoothly. Imagine the day’s scenarios in your mind in a single step, with solely positive ideas and feelings.
On a neurologic level, the brain isn’t able to tell how to distinguish between what happens and what we think about. The brain responds similarly to both imagined and real events. This is why chronic worry sufferers experience tension in their bodies as if the possibility of disaster is already happening. A positive outlook can lessen anxiety and stress since your brain is already experiencing an outcome that is positive.
3. Make sure you set a specific time for completion.
Before beginning work, you should set an unavoidable deadline for the time you’ll finish. Knowing that you will only have the time to finish your task is often a way to focus and less temptation to get distracted. This is why students who cram will be able to complete more work prior to exam time because they are forced other than to concentrate.
If you’re a worker and don’t think you’ll be getting to your goal of finishing by the time you want to, then you need to make firm commitments for the time after work. Set up a table for dinner and take a yoga or fitness class, purchase tickets for an event or park your car at a location where you will need to get it moving to finish your work. Do whatever you can to complete three or four tasks completed for the day in the time allotted. It’s amazing how much your productivity increases when you have focus and are not multitasking/time-wasting.
4. Meditate or exercise during your lunch break.
The benefits of taking a physical and mental break from work give you the chance to unwind, recharge and then return to work with a renewed concentration. Throughout my professional life, I’ve been consistently taking at least one hour for yoga, exercise, or meditation. Whatever the amount of work I am on a particular day, I know that taking breaks will supply the energy I need and allow me so I can perform better after returning. In actual fact, during the midst of high workloads and deadlines, my meditation or exercise breaks are one of my primary ways to relieve anxiety and allow me to keep my focus.
Consider a cardio-based activity, like a 45-minute exercise class, weights, or running, to increase the amount of adrenaline within your body and generate an increase in creativity by the time you return. If there isn’t an exercise facility near your workplace or shower facilities in your building to exercise outside Try meditation. Find some fresh air and relax in a park to meditate, take a meditation guided or do a mindfulness walk.
5. Use Online Tools For Quick Fix
The internet has evolved to make life easier for all and office workers are the ones to rip most of the fruits. If you are an office assistant, for instance, you can use some simple online tools that will help you do your job quickly and easily and also maintain your productivity. There are tons of online tools for specific jobs, e.g. use invoicedoor.com for free online invoicing rather than typing on your computer again and again and printing the invoice or emailing them. Similarly, use the word to pdf generator to save your files in PDF format if you received a word file by any chance. These are just examples to make you look around and get most of the tools out there waiting for you to be smart and productive.