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Understanding Your Personal Energy Cycle

Article by Laura Stack

Understanding Your
Personal Energy Cycle

by Laura Stack

An important piece of productivity concerns
what time of day you select to work on which
activities. Everyone has a natural time during the
day when they are "UP" (prime time) and a natural
time when they are "DOWN" (down time). During
prime time, your brain is "on"; your batteries are
charged and you're able to focus. During down
time, your brain feels "slow"; it's difficult to
muddle through your work.

First, let's chart your energy levels. Get
out a piece of paper and draw a big "L" for a
graph with a vertical and horizontal axis. Mark
the vertical axis "0" to "100" to represent your
energy level as a percentage. Mark the horizontal
axis with your work hours, in one hour increments.
When you arrive at work in the morning, draw a dot
where energy intersects with time, to indicate how
you feel in terms of your energy level. As the day
progresses, draw a series of dots horizontally to
show how your energy ebbs and flows. Then connect
the dots and analyze your line chart.

Draw a dotted line at about the 75% energy
level mark across your line drawing to represent
your peak productivity zone. Write these exact
time ranges out to the side of your graph. These
are your "expensive" hours, compared to other
times during the day, because your brain is
capable of doing higher-level activities in that
range. It's important to know when you're in prime
time, because you can get so much more done.

The key is to
focus on:

� Important tasks
� Critical
decisions
� Problem solving

� Complex thought

If you wait until you're in down time to work
on these types of activities, it will take much,
much longer and be much, much more painful. The
challenge for most people is that when they're in
prime time, they feel GOOD! The last thing you
might feel like doing when you're "up" is working
on that report, writing a proposal, or analyzing
those figures. But if you wait until you're going
down, you've lost the opportunity to get it done
quickly. The trick here is a lot of
self-discipline. Resist the urge to do "fun, easy,
trivial" things during this period or talk to your
friends.

I actually have two prime times: one in the
morning, and one early afternoon. When I'm in
prime time, I need to make my marketing calls,
because I need to be "up" and on top of the
conversation. Sometimes, I will purposely let my
voice mail pick up my calls, when I know I'm in
down time and won't be as articulate as I'd like
to be with a client. I will also respond to
Requests for Proposals (RFPs) sent by prospective
clients in prime time. I want to write quickly and
succinctly, and my prime time is the key
opportunity for that work.

Similarly, I listen to my body when I'm in
down time. When I feel my energy level waning, a
quick glance at the clock will usually tell me
why. I know I need to get up, stretch, perhaps go
for a quick walk around the block, eat an energy
snack, or make a cup of tea. Then I will go back
and work on some different activities, not
necessarily ones with low priority, but those that
don't require the brain power of the prime time
tasks. If I don't listen to my body's signals and
respond appropriately, I will get a rip-roaring
headache, preventing me from taking advantage of
my second prime time.

Another consideration is when to hold
meetings. If you're a manager or professional with
the ability to call a meeting during a certain
time, really think about when to hold them. It's
often eye-opening to do this prime time graphing
activity with your staff or the people normally in
attendance. I think you'll find that corporate
America has trained most people to be "morning
people." Our natural energy cycles cause us to be
"up" or have "prime" time first thing in the
morning. Unfortunately, most people insist on
holding meetings at that time. *Some* meetings are
good to have during prime time, like those
involving brainstorming, problem solving, or
strategy. But routine staff meetings, project
updates, or information-only meetings should be
held during lulls in productivity.

I think about my energy level like a dimmer
switch my hubbie John recently put in our
bathroom. People don't operate at "OFF" and "ON."
You're not running full-tilt all day long, then
sleep at night. It's not "0" and "100%" but rather
various levels all day. People are more like
dimmer switches.

People say things like, "I *have* to check
email at (x) time of day." Why? Better to schedule
times to handle email when you're in down time and
stick to a self-imposed limit. Rarely do people
need to be going a hundred miles an hour to handle
email. Pay attention and slow down when your brain
and body tell you to.

Be a dimmer switch. Follow your rhythms and
work with your brain's and body's desires for you
throughout the day.

Remember, it's costly to have key people,
including yourself, tied up in routine meetings
during periods of peak energy and productivity.
And it's costly for you to work on things you can
do in your sleep during your peak productivity
zone. Once you know what that zone is, protect it
for all your worth! Be self-disciplined when
you're "up." And listen to yourself and rest when
you're "down."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura
M. Stack, MBA, CSP, is "The Productivity PRO,"®
helping people leave the office earlier, with less
stress, and more to show for it. She presents
keynotes and seminars on time management,
information overload, and personal productivity.
Contact her at 303-471-7401 or visit her website
at http://www.theproductivitypro.com/.

__________________________________

God bless your marriage and
family.

Jim
Stephens

Another example of the differences
between guys and girls.

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