How to Have More Mental Energy Across Your Day

Let's talk about energy...

Having more of it. So you can be more focused for longer. And do more of the things that build your business.

Fact is, most coaches I know and work with feel like they only get a handful of fully energized hours in a given day. If even that.

And as I often say…

“Energy management is more important than time management. Because no matter how well you manage your time, if you have little energy, you’ll get little done.” -APB

…particularly when it comes to the most energy-intensive work of business building: writing, creating new revenue streams, consistent follow-ups, consistent marketing, etc.

[NOT TO MENTION the incredibly EF-intensive effort required of effective coaching sessions!]

If you wish you had more energy across your day, this is for YOU. Cuz below I share some of the hidden 'Energy Vampires' that can undercut our daily output – and hobble our business-building. Plus, a few quick-win energy savers that can extend your mental stamina.

Reality Check: Our daily energy is finite…

We begin each day with a full tank of brain fuel and often feel, "I'm gonna get tons done today!" But throughout the day, we’re burning it off, usually at a higher rate than we'd anticipated. As Oprah Winfrey reminds herself in her every-morning mantra, “There is a finite amount of time and energy in this day.”

And for us coaches trying to create more impact in the world, aspiring to serve more of our peeps...our energy is indeed precious. As mentioned above, too many of us can only expect to get a few hours of really good mental energy.

But here's the thing: We waste energy all day long – knowingly and unknowingly. Which is why…

We need to talk about 'Energy Vampires'

Let’s first dispatch with three of the common energy-wasting vampires we might knowingly tolerate on any given day…

Pseudo-Productivity: Doing random tasks that feel productive but are really just ways to escape the important (and more energy-burning) work we need to do.

• Checking emails repeatedly
• 'But-Firsting' -- instead of diving directly into our intended tough task, we decide, "But first I'll just do this thing. And also that thing."
• “Cleaning up” our email inbox
• Miscellaneous, non-urgent admin stuff
• Etc.

In other words, any of what I call “Activity vs Action" that has us escaping into low-value work because we're avoiding the harder task we swore we'd work on today. All of which steals energy that's now unavailable for that tough task.

And then, of course, two biggies for our clients and often for ourselves…

Social Media and News: We might “escape” into these multiple times across our day, rationalizing them as, “Hey, I’m just gonna take a ‘break’ for a few minutes.” But social media and news are not restful. They burn energy.

Diet/Sleep/Exercise: Crappy Food (e.g., using quick-burning sugar or simple carbs to get mental energy rather than protein -- where the sustained energy is); Crappy Sleep (e.g., not shutting off devices earlier at night, lousy sleep hygiene reducing mental energy from the get-go every day); Crappy Lifestyle (not getting enough regular exercise and forgoing the increased mental stamina it affords).

Here’s a starting point in your D/S/E battle: Rate yourself from 0 (sucks) to 10 (badass) on each of these three. First number that comes to mind for each! Don't overthink. Then, for the lowest of the three, identify one action you could take to start moving that up 1-2 points.

Heck, just reflecting on all of these vampires is a start on reducing them. 

Some 'Invisible Energy Vampires'

These don’t get talked about much by productivity gurus, but they're just as harmful as the more obvious ones... 

Multitasking: According to a survey by The Energy Project, 66 percent of us can’t focus on one thing at a time at work. Not only when you multitask are you doing nothing fast, you are wasting energy in constantly switching between, and re-engaging in, the multiple activities.

Get into the habit of creating “immersive single-tasking sessions” on your toughest or most important to-do of the day. One 90-minute singletasking session a day is more “deep work” than a lot of coaches get across an entire week.

Clutter: To quote one prominent researcher, “Clutter makes our senses work overtime on stimuli that aren't necessary or important.” Clutter also makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally: that pile we're not putting away or organizing – it’s stealing our precious energy every single minute that it’s in our line of sight – even in our peripheral vision. So we gotta get physical and visual clutter out of our line of sight where we do our work.

The Quick-Win here is to do a Desk Re-Set: Set a time for two minutes and clear everything off your work surface. Put back into your workspace only the 3-7 items you use every single work session. Stop when the alarm sounds. The rest get moved out of your line of sight. Then, going forward do a mini-reset after each work session.

Our To-Do List: I talk a lot about the Zeigarnik Effect – which is when a multitude of undone to-dos (on our to-do list, in our email inbox, or in that pile of papers) burns mental energy by reminding us of all our un-done to-dos.

A Quick-Win here is, when you sit down to begin an immersive singletasking work session, keep your to-do list, your planner, and your phone OUT OF YOUR LINE OF SIGHT. It’s a subtle thing, but trust me: the research is solid on this.

That’s all for now. Hope even one of these lights you up to go steal back some precious energy...

-APB

What are your thoughts? Any energy-saving measures you use? I'd love to know. Shoot me an email at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram @alanpbrown.