1290: Manage your energy, not just your time

We all live busy, complicated lives, and it can be so easy to get caught up in time management that we forget entirely a HUGELY important part of the equation: energy management.

Episode transcript:

Good morning, Daily Peppers, and a very happy Monday to you. As we start any new week, we tend to be thinking about what we've got on our plate, and also whether we'll have the time, or let's face it, the fucks to be able to do it. But there tends to be one thing we massively tend to overlook and underestimate, and that's energy management. We tend to focus on time management in terms of, do we have enough time? How are we gonna fit things in? The logistics of when things are gonna happen. But we tend not to think as much about energy management. Now there are life context where we might tend to naturally have to think about this more, for example, if you've got a chronic illness. And I just wanna acknowledge the fact that energy management can be really, really frustrating. But it can also be a compassionate way of really helping us understand how to get done the things that really matter to us.

We all have pretty loud dream shitters around here, and I know that I can start a day and get really excited in the morning about all the things I'm gonna do after work and get excited about the projects and the ideas I wanna work on. And when I get to the end of the day, I can be exhausted. And rather than acknowledging the fact that I've actually spent a lot of my energy for the day, I immediately and also automatically tend to stop beating myself up and questioning why I had so much energy and enthusiasm for it in the morning and why I can't do it now. And my dream shitter likes to convince myself it's because I'm a lazy person, and I never had any intention to follow through in the first place. And I massively apologize if your dream shitter sounds similar because it fucking sucks. So as you go about this week, it might just be helpful to take a mental note or take a note on your phone or journal about it. What activities and what things drain your energy the most, and what give you the most energy? And, also, just to look at your calendar, and rather than seeing any blank space, if you have any, as time to be productive and get shit done, see it as time where you could potentially recuperate some of that energy or just give yourself permission not to go a % all the time. Now managing your time and your energy is a complicated and nuanced thing because all of our lives look wildly different.

And that's okay. It doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. And if this is something that piques your interest and is something that you would like to dive in deeper rebel style, last year, I did one of my solo adventures around here. So the my solo adventures are kind of DIY digital mini retreats where we really dive into a particular area of personal development, cut away the bullshit, and really learn to work with ourselves rather than against ourselves, and find our own way of doing it. If you wanna find out more about my solo adventure all about managing your time and energy, you can go to the rebelrousers.com/timeandenergy. That's all one word, and I've also put the link in the show notes. And that one is really about helping you throw the bullshit toxic productivity out of the window and finding a new way that acknowledges that life is fucking messy and helps you find your own flavor and strategies for dealing with time and energy management in a way that works for you and your context. So just wanted to put that out there in case today's episode particularly resonated with you.

Here's to knowing that you are not lazy, that you're not doing anything wrong, that life can be pretty fucking exhausting, and you also get to spend your best energy on yourself. That is not selfish. So happy Monday. Have a fabulous start to the week, and I'll see you again bright and early tomorrow morning.

Transcription produced by Castmagic.io

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A short, snappy and sassy daily podcast to keep your internal - and external - dreamshitters at bay!

The Daily Pep! is the rebel-rousing, daily podcast for couragemakers, creative, multi-passionate and unconventional women. If you’re surrounded by people who don’t get who you are or what you do, if you want reminders you’re on the right path (no matter how scary it feels), or you’re sick of being your very own worst enemy, this is the podcast for you.

Every weekday, your host - writer, coach and professional rebel-rouser - Meg Kissack helps you build a creative and wholehearted life, one day at a time. Through short and snappy insights, reminders and stories, The Daily Pep! is here to remind you you’re not alone, and that everything changes when you believe you matter. Each episode is short and snappy, designed to fit in with (or help you start) your habits and routines.

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