Productivity: How to Manage Your Energy

How efficient are you in completing tasks?

Sure, you may submit assignments on time, but were you maintaining a steady work-rate?

Before you know it, you’re pulling an all-nighter or working outside of normal hours to meet the deadline. As a result, your stress levels may be raised during that period of time and will most likely affect your mood negatively.

If you find yourself struggling with productivity often, continue reading this blog post for some helpful tips to mitigating this.

Managing your energy

Whilst some people focus on time management, the real focus should be on managing our energy. You will never maintain the same energy levels throughout the day and there are so many factors which contribute to this such as:

• Sleep
• Exercise
• Workload/type of work
• Diet
• Deficiencies
• Mental health
• Other health issues

There are various ways (physically and mentally) you can manage your energy:

1. Eat a balanced diet to suit your body’s needs and get active; these two combination will in turn improve your quality of sleep. Make sure to get in a lot of water too.
2. Take regular breaks when you notice a dip in your energy (yawning, getting distracted). Go for a short walk outside, or even around your work area. Have a stretch or consider a 15-minute nap if possible.
3. Work in a well ventilated room to avoid the sluggish feeling when in hot areas. Open windows, turn on the air-conditioning, get some indoor plants or an air purifier.
4. Be aware of your emotions as negative ones (stress, anxiety, sadness) will set you up for an unproductive day. Try to compartmentalise.
5. Improve your mental well-being. If you’re a pessimist, an over-thinker or someone who complains a lot, your day at work or school will undoubtedly reflect your mentality. Get onto some meditation and therapy.

If you want to be productive, take charge of managing your energy. Keep this up and you will notice an improvement on how you deal with a stacked workload and how you solve problems.

Give yourself a break and your mind, body and spirit will thank you for it.