Many of us think that the thing that is holding us back from living our dreams most is a lack of time. Thus time management is widely believed to be a crucial skill if we want to be able to achieve what we want and to make real change in our life.
Of course this isn’t wrong as such – time management is indeed a very important skill and most of us do need more time to do the things we want to do.
But the point is that this is only one piece of the puzzle. An even bigger piece that we all too often overlook is energy management. Here we will look at why energy management is such an important aspect of your success and how to start handling it better.
The Biggest Enemy to Your Productivity: The Couch
Most of us have big plans for what we want to do on any given day. Perhaps we want to spend some time learning another language. Maybe we want to cook a nice homemade meal. Or maybe we just want to work out or pay some bills.
Either way, there’s a good chance that what will actually happen when you get home is that you’ll sit down on the sofa and then you’ll crash to the point where you can’t get up and do anything constructive at all.
What you’re now experiencing is a lack of energy – and once you’ve had dinner you may well find that you no longer have the enthusiasm for those bills or that workout. You have the will to be productive but a lack of energy is holding you back.
And in fact, it’s also a lack of energy that is probably tempting you to eat that big chocolate cake or to stay up late and procrastinate (ironically).
How to Get Your Energy Back
So how do you get that energy back?
One simple answer is to go to bed earlier and to wake up later. To start putting sleep at the forefront of your priorities instead of at the back of them. Likewise, you should also look into choosing a diet that will help to give you energy rather than sapping it.
And similarly you should also change some of your priorities. Instead of expending energy doing things that don’t really matter – even stressing over what to wear – understand that your mental energy is on a strict budget and that you need to conserve it to do the things you really want to do!