Take Leadership of your energy, not just your time!
Pretty much any definition of leadership will include the importance of managing yourself. In fact, many leadership courses start there. It’s the recognition that you can’t take leadership of anyone or anything, if you are not aware of yourself and your needs.
With Covid continuing to impact us for some time to come, resulting in a continuation of working from home, it’s important to think about what self-leadership means. In my coaching I notice themes: the difficulty of staying on top of things - workload, stakeholder management, team, family, community, friends, exercise, fun, social time. Many are saying they find it hard to have proper thinking time and the days and hours seem to disappear without being distinctive. The concept of time has changed. The day starts early, finishes late, yet often, not much has been achieved. People seem to be busy and tired but not productive.
One approach is to start managing your time differently. The analogy that springs to mind is that of a stuck bath plug, meaning the water can’t drain out. Managing your time is the equivalent of managing the amount of water you put into the bath tub rather than fixing the fact that you can’t pull the plug. It will eventually overflow. You might buy yourself some time but the day of reckoning will come.
Here are some ways of managing your energy.
Transitioning activities
Pre-Covid commuting and travelling provided structure for many of us. We used our travel time productively. Be it listening to podcasts, planning the day ahead or reviewing the day just gone, prepping for an upcoming meeting or even just chilling whilst looking out the window. Travel provided a natural transition point from one place to the next, which allowed our heads to catch up, rest, process, digest, think, idea generate.
Online we move from one meeting to the next, barely managing to squeeze in time for a quick coffee or the bathroom.
Top Tips
Shorten your meetings: Implement transitioning structures. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes, allowing you 15 minutes in between. Parkinson's Law is the adage that ‘work expands to fill the time available’. Make meetings shorter and you’ll achieve more in less time.
The worry tree: I heard this wonderful Zen story a little while ago about a man asking a Zen master what to do about all the worries he has at work. He takes them home every day and they affect his home and family life. The Zen master suggested a little ritual. Use the tree outside your house to stop and pause. Name your worries one by one and hang them up on the tree before you enter the house. Feel free to pick them up in the morning on your way to work.
Is there a place where you can put your ‘work thoughts’ after work so you can start your personal life? Little rituals can be powerful ways to mark the transition from one place to the next. It allows your mind to let go and relax, knowing it can come back to what matters the next day.
Energy peaks and troughs
Our energy peaks and troughs throughout the day. For some the most productive time is very first thing in the morning, for others it’s late at night. Being aware of your preference can make a huge difference to your productivity and motivation.
Top Tips
Plan your day with your particular preference in mind. It will allow you to get stuff done with more focus and better-quality thinking. If you don’t know your rhythm, observe yourself and experiment with what works best for you. Ensure you do high importance or thinking-intensive tasks in your high energy zone. The low energy zone can be used for tasks that require less brain power.
Set your Sat Nav in the evening for the next day. I’ve learned that it works particularly well for me when I decide at the end of the working day what I want to achieve in the next.
Morning routines. A lot of research has been done into the power of morning routines, most of it highlighting how important and useful it is in helping people achieve and perform whilst being motivated and energised. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for a good start to the day.
Do: Start with mindfulness. Exercise. A healthy breakfast.
Don’t: Look at your emails, social media or the news very first thing.
Health and fitness
It’s easy to get stuck behind the screen and not move your body all day, apart from the occasional trip to the kitchen or bathroom. Pre-Covid we walked as part of our daily lives – to the tube, train or in between offices. We are integrated human beings, not just brains. Our bodies are important when it comes to our energy. If the body sits all day, it gets stuck, which in turn has a detrimental impact on the brain’s ability to think.
Top Tips
Move your body. Go for a walk, schedule your exercise, stretch in between calls, get some fresh air. Do some yoga poses. Apparently downward dog is particularly good for getting some oxygen into your brain.
A client of mine does her 1-to-1 team calls on the phone, whilst she and they go out for a walk. They take notes afterwards to capture the main points and exchange those via email. Try it, observe how you feel, notice the impact on the conversation. I do all-day coaching interventions (visioning days). I now offer them virtually as well as face-to-face. Both options include a long, reflective walk in the middle of the day. It provides the brain with oxygen, the body moves and thus it’s easier to access fresh thinking, plus we come back and feel recharged, ready to go into the second half of the day.
The simple pleasures
The days can be reminiscent of Groundhog Day. MS Teams or Zoom, repeat, repeat. Most of us enjoy a bit of variation or something to look forward to. It creates anticipation and can inject energy and enthusiasm.
Top Tips
Plan your week. If you enjoy cycling, schedule some time with friends for a cycle ride, have some ‘me time’ - read a book, have a bath, take a walk in a favourite nature spot or park. Ask yourself what you would love to do, what you miss and find a way and time to schedule it.
This article is all about you managing your own energy levels, self-leadership, allowing you to work at your best. It will, of course, ripple out. Your role modelling will inspire those around you to follow suit.