Have you ever spent hours studying or working, only to realize that you hardly accomplished anything? Many students believe the key to productivity is managing their time better, but in reality, time is fixed while energy is constantly changing.
For productivity’s sake, it improves more when you have the energy rather than the time. According to Harvard Business Review, “Humans have been known to work in 90-120 minute cycles, and after an intense focus cycle, the brain requires breaks.” Yet students–myself included– often find themselves cramming for countless hours. Thankfully, there is a better way to study.
It’s important to know there are four types of energy–tiered in importance like a ladder. The first is physical energy. This is the top rung of the ladder. It includes daily necessities that relate to physical health. Without proper health, you can’t continue on to the other important rungs of the energy ladder.
The next rung is emotional energy. This includes your mood and stress levels. If you’re in a positive mindset, your energy increases, and vice versa. When you feel yourself slipping into a negative headspace, short resets (like walks) are extremely beneficial to get you back on track.
The third is mental energy. This is your ability to focus on specific things. For more tasks that require more concentration, you should aim to complete them when your mental energy is high.
Finally is spiritual energy, which comes from feeling a sense of purpose in your work.
With this information, you’ll be able to maximize your energy scheduling and break it down into practical steps. For these steps, make sure you check-in within yourself:
Step 1: Identify when you feel your peak energy (when you are your most focused, creative, etc.)
Step 2: Match tasks to those energy blocks
- High: hard work, learning, writing
- Medium: planning, brainstorming
- Low: email, simpler tasks
Step 3: Work during your peak energy periods and add in short breaks to help continually increase productivity
Step 4: Don’t waste your peak energy time on simpler tasks
In the end, managing productivity is not really about controlling every minute of your day, but about understanding how your energy works. Time will always move at the same pace for everyone, but energy changes depending on how we take care of ourselves and how we structure our work. By recognizing the different types of energy and paying attention to when we feel most focused, creative, or tired, we can organize our tasks in a way that works with our natural rhythms instead of against them.