Energy Allocation
How and where you spend your energy can make or break your productivity and culture.
All too often, we allow our pride to convince us that we can handle everything on our own if we just work harder, longer hours. Not only is this incorrect, it’s damaging. When you try to wear all the hats at all times, you (1) position yourself to experience workplace burnout, (2) produce inferior quality work, and (3) lower your capacity to fulfill your primary role. Lowered energy leads to lowered capacity. And lowered capacity leads leads the business to hire more people to complete the same amount of work. This results in productivity and profitability losses.
This Energy Allocation exercise helps you focus on performing roles that you do well and choosing the best time of day to do them. You will decide which time of day is best for each type of work. Then, you can construct your weekly schedule based on those observations.
Benefits
The benefits of understanding your energy allocations are:
- Provides a visual representation of your “best” week
- Ensures every role gets its due attention
- Maximizes your time
- Reduces feeling overwhelmed
- Allows quality performance
- Prevents burnout
- Improves workplace satisfaction
- Enhances the client experience
Exercise
- Download the Energy Map below
- Update the color blocks to match your levels of energy.
- If you work on a team, this is a great exercise for everyone to do and then compare. You might find commonalities, which help shift team meetings and calls to better-suited times of the week.
Reflect and Prioritize
We are all gifted with our own unique talents and natural rhythm. At the end of the day, no one can do your job quite like you do. But if you are trying to do aspects of your job at the wrong times of the day, your energy levels will drain and lower your ability to perform. This energy map allows you to take advantage of the times of day when you are most alert and still be productive in the times when you tend to feel less focused.
Please remember to add any new epiphanies and ideas to your Master Plan of Ideas and Initiatives.