Don’t manage your time, manage your energy

There is a lot of talk around how we should get more from our time and our days. Get up at 5am (I’ve started trying this!), plan your day and week (I do this), set your GOALS (I have these) and then just smash it. There’s tools out there that make all of this easier. From the 80/20 rule to using To Do List apps such as todoist (I absolutely love this) to using the high important and high urgency matrix. However, what we need to take into account is that we are not machines, we are not perfect and are prone to just doing what we feel like at times.

The way to take advantage of this is to MANAGE YOUR ENERGY and not your time. You could achieve far more in 4 hours of work in a FLOW STATE compared to 8 or even 10 when you are simply working for the sake of working. When you feel truly engaged in a task or even better a project, then it does not feel like work. You do not watch the clock or wonder what you will have for dinner (or tea if that works better for you). This is such a precious state for you to be in that you need to harness it when you can. It may be 5am in the morning or 9pm at night, just be aware of your energy levels and the state you are in to truly capitalise on this.

I truly believe that the impossible happens by people operating at their highest levels as often as possible and not as long as possible. Be creative with your time and with your mind to see some extraordinary results. If you are self-employed or run your own business then it’s likely to be easier to take advantage of these spikes in energy where you have serious momentum. If you are an employee then you need to get creative and look at your role in terms of the outcomes you need to achieve instead of the time you put in. Tim Ferris’s 4 hour week is a good read in this field.

At our business Cheltenham Tax Accountants we have just reduced the full-time hours from 37.5 to 35 or a 7.5 hour day to 7. There’s many studies on how this does not only result in the work levels being maintained but actually improved upon! Here in the UK we seem to value the hours we put in rather than the results. I think that there’s a lot to learn from some of our European neighbours.

We believe in THREE FREEDOMS for any business owner. Financial, Time and Mind. Managing work around your energy levels can help towards time freedom in your life by ending the reliance on judging your impact by the hours you put in regardless of the outcomes.