Time and Energy

I first wrote this to my newsletter community in August 2021, but I thought you should get to read it too

…Racing against the clock

As we stepped into August, I found myself reflecting. Where did the year run to? With seven months gone, and the eighth counting, the year feels like time so often does: like sand grains slipping through our fingers, rushing faster the tighter we attempt to hold on to it

What does your relationship with time look like? Is time some abstract phenomenon you were taught in school, and that you only remember exists in the face of deadlines, or do you feel it passing?

For some of us, inherent blindness to the concept of time as a finite, measured quantity that can be used as a marker of life flowing by translates into an almost constant overwhelm that manifests due to several reasons:

1. disproportionate scheduling – allocating too much or too little time to individual tasks leaves you with the sense of moving too slow, or having too much to do
2. overestimating (or underestimating) what you can get done in a time frame
3. hyperfocus
4. inadequate sleep

I addressed some of these challenges and shared tips and hacks I default to in this article about the Sands of Time (also available on Twitter as a thread). However, for autistic (and some other neurodiverse) people, there’s the added  layer of complexity that comes with near constant exhaustion, and time management goes beyond simple scheduling and gets well into energy management. It’s hard to set out schedules when you’re tired all the time – when physical and mental exhaustion are very real components of your life day in, day out

Beyond delegation and automation, you want to figure out how tasks fit into your energy cycles, how your rest should be planned and interspersed with daily plans, and make room for the days that no matter how prepared you are, you simply did not wake up with enough *spoons to get through that day

(Read about the Spoon Theory HERE)

It’s a major reason why when someone signs up for my Time management coaching track, I always start with an evaluation to determine whether what they have is truly a time management problem or an energy management problem, so I can guide them accordingly  

Finding out your natural energy cycles is one of the major hacks to staying on top of your execution and productivity game, because it helps you do what you are able to do in the time frame that is optimum for doing that task e.g. you would not be attempting to sleep when your brain is most alert, or attempting chores when you desperately need to refuel (unless doing chores help you to refuel).   

REFLECT:

When are you most alert? What recharges you? What drains you? What do you enjoy doing (or are naturally productive with, or is tied to your purpose and assignment) that leaves you mentally exhausted? Can you tell physical exhaustion from mental exhaustion?

If it’s hard to immediately provide answers to these questions, you can try to do a time log exercise (I recommend doing 4 day log stretches twice or thrice, with a 2-3 day break in between the stretches). The goal would be to record how you already spend your time from hour to hour, not to achieve whatever you think “perfect should be” (you are measuring, not performing). Based on the patterns you then observe, and your observations about what your energy cycles look like, you can then start to reorganize your schedule – and your life:

1. Put productive, but mentally draining tasks when you are most mentally alert
2. Put mundane, but necessary physically draining tasks when you are most likely to be mentally drained, but still physically agile
3. Automate or delegate repetitive tasks as much as possible
4. Space your schedule out to make room for recovery between bg tasks and projects

I could go on and on, but answering these questions and getting started on the action plans would be a good start for the sort of redirection and changes that lead to growth, decrease overwhelm, and help you recover and rebound from chronic stress. And as you find answers, drill down on each one, weigh it, and then ask yourself what you could do with the new information to move yourself towards the life you prefer.

Remember our very first lesson?

Action, change and growth are the end goals, not just being a repository of knowledge)

– Jane OLUWADARE

For extra support in your internal work, you might want to sign up for Personal Development with Jane. It is specifically tailored to help you lean into your unique wiring and turn your weaknesses into strengths

hope you enjoyed this letter. If you’d like to read more on intentional growth, self-awareness and productivity, you should consider signing up for my newsletter

Was this helpful? Leave a comment, share with your circle, or read more like it

Yours in growth, development, and with a lot of love

Jane OLUWADARE