Focus and Energy Management | 120 Seconds to Better Leadership

So I posted a super spontaneous post on LinkedIn a couple weeks ago and the exchange has been really interesting. And the topic was about not just time management but focus management and energy management. Here are the variables that I’m hearing people talk about that I’m playing with that make a difference in terms of not only how much can you accomplish, but how you feel while you’re accomplishing it.

Are You Getting Enough Sleep? 

One thing to keep in mind: sleep. Everyone has a different amount of sleep that their body needs, and what I’ve heard is that most people don’t get enough. Tack on an extra hour and see what that does in terms of your ability to focus.

Listen to Your Biorhythms

Two: we all have our natural biorhythms. Times when our body naturally wants to shut down for the night. And times that our bodies and minds really want to start working during the day. For some people, that’s going to be 5:30 am, for some that’s going to be 9:00 am. If you can figure out when you’re at your most optimal, when you can focus, and where the end of that window is, try to put your most meaningful, difficult work in those windows. Try to push things that are menial. Things like email or paying bills. Things that you just have to clog through, for those periods of the day when you’re sleepier.

Save Energy for What’s Good for You

And here’s another tactic and I’m working on it too. Try to put some things that are good for you in the windows when you still have energy. So, go to the gym over your lunch hour if that’s a period of energy for you. If your energy period is morning, go to the gym before you go to work. Try to find those ways that we can work with, yes, the demands on our schedule, but also stack activities into the windows where we have the appropriate amount of focus, the appropriate amount of energy, while hopefully trying to take care of ourselves as well. So, interested to see if we get more comments on this one. I think it’s an issue we’re all working on.

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