Grow With Soul: Episode 153 - Energetic Working 101
Today I’m doing a quick crash course in energetic working, or working according to your energy levels not in spite of them. I know energy is often a topic that people are interested in, and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two years getting to know how my physical and mental energy works and changing the way I work, and the entire rhythm of my business, to work alongside those patterns. In this episode I’m talking about how I’m defining energetic working, how to get started with planning your tasks with your energy, and how to start making this work not just in theory but in reality too.
What I talk about in this episode:
My own energy cycle
Planning for your energy levels
Being honest with yourself about your energy
Giving your body what it needs for mental and physical energy
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Read the episode transcript:
Today I’m doing a quick crash course in energetic working, or working according to your energy levels not in spite of them. I know energy is often a topic that people are interested in, and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two years getting to know how my physical and mental energy works and changing the way I work, and the entire rhythm of my business, to work alongside those patterns. In this episode I’m talking about how I’m defining energetic working, how to get started with planning your tasks with your energy, and how to start making this work not just in theory but in reality too.
What do I mean by “energetic working”? It’s something that rolls off the tongue but could mean lots of different things to different people. For me, energetic working is letting your energy lead the work you do, rather than set a pace and style of work regardless of energy (and when I say energy I’m incorporating concentration and focus, not just get up and go energy). This feels counter to what we’ve always been told, to show up to school and our jobs and our Instagram feeds consistently and regularly and with the same energy and outlook every single day. That feels like the right way, the way we should be behaving. But it is not the human way.
My energy levels are not the same every day. I find there is a correlation with my cycle, where in week 1 I am very tired but also able to create, I can get a lot of planning done in week 2 and deep work going into week 3, but by week 4 my concentration is not at the races and I’m scattered and unsettled. This pattern isn’t clockwork, and of course there are exceptions, but often I find my energy maps to this cycle. My energy is also affected by what I did the day before, the weather, the ups and downs of my love life, how much I’ve been reading, what I’ve been eating, and on and on. The more you think about it, the weirder it is that we expect to show up consistently.
With energetic working, we are planning our work around these energy patterns so that we are always matching the work we’re doing to the energy level we have. Of course, there are always going to be exceptions and things that come up and unavoidable deadlines, but more often than not this is what we strive for. There is a bit of groundwork we need to do to get to that point though.
First, we need to figure out what our energy patterns actually are. It can take a few months to feel confident in this, and then the patterns will tend to shift a little seasonally, but to get started observe your energy through one month, and then plan the following month according to the levels you observed in the first month.
In order to make that plan, you need to know what kind of work needs what kind of energy. Perhaps if you do a craft that is repetitive or you have a lot of muscle memory for, you can do that at a time when you feel more scattered and your concentration is low. Perhaps if, like me, you need to really focus in and think to write or create, you need to set aside your high energy hours. Think about all the tasks you have, and how your energy is when you perform them best. Sometimes, too, the tasks themselves can make us feel better - when I’m in my unfocused period, getting a batch of graphics created in Canva actually makes me feel more grounded and in control.
If you already have a good grasp on your energy flows, or know you can’t be bothered to observe your energy first for a month (no shade, I’m the person who would be thinking that!), you can skip ahead to that planning part. Have a master list of your work and tasks as well as the kind of energy you want to be working on it, and then when you have that energy, do that task! That’s often how I work now - I have a list of things that need to get done in a certain time frame, and I pick and choose from the list according to how my energy is.
Now, you might be thinking that this sounds all very lovely in theory but in the real world things have to get done and you can’t wait for the right energy to appear before you do them. And I agree. Once you get to grips with your energy patterns you can start to make sure that the rhythm of you whole business is orientated around it - for example, my launches are timed with my energy cycles, and for ongoing projects I set deadlines in such a way that creation happens during high energy weeks. But life happens and the best laid plans don’t always work out. Energetic working is not passively waiting for the muse to arrive, it’s working with your body and energy levels. And so there are some things we can do to start really cooking on gas with this.
The first is being truthful with yourself about your energy. I am writing this episode on the Tuesday morning before it’s due to go out, a bit close to the wire for my editor’s liking (sorry Alex). I spent ten minutes debating with myself this morning whether to not do it, just take a break this week. The devil on my shoulder said “I’m tired, I don’t have the right energy to write an episode today” - which was, convenient. I could have believed that voice and had an easy morning. But I also had to be honest with myself that it wasn’t that I didn’t have the right energy, I was just in that beginning-of-a-task discomfort. And sure enough, I’ve been typing consistently since, the ideas are coming freely. My energy was just right for this kind of task, but I need to be brutally honest with myself about that because otherwise energy can be a real nice excuse to go back to bed.
Second, you need to give your body what it needs. With energetic working your body is the key; it’s the engine, the wheels, the indicator lights. It’s the whole show. If you want to be getting energy out of one end, then you need to be putting something in the other. That’s just chemistry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat at this desk wondering why I’m so unfocused when I haven’t fed my body, and therefore my brain, in eighteen hours. Energy requires nourishment. Eat something.
Another thing to think about is that sometimes we can create the energy. Nourishing your body is a very physical way to do that, but we can create the mental energy too. There are things we all dread, not necessarily because we don’t want to do them but because they are big and hard and will take a lot of effort and focus. Even if you are at your energy peak they feel daunting and you might procrastinate around them. This is where we want to create that mental energy so we can capitalise on the physical energy. Put simply, I trick myself into looking forward to doing things. Rather than feel dread about all the time and effort it’s going to take I tell myself “this is it. This is what you set all of this up to be able to do. How exciting that you have nothing to do tomorrow but create. What a lovely day you’re going to have. And how amazing you’re going to feel when you’ve done it”. It sounds silly, but as that deadline starts really looming large, creating the energy to get it done on time really works.
So just a quick wrap up. What I want you to take from this episode is that you are not supposed to be at peak performance every day, and nor do you need to be. Different tasks need different types of energy, and if you can match those up together then you will experience your work as more easeful, more flowy, and more rewarding. Start there, eat some lunch, and learn more about how your energy works, and how you can work together.
If you want to really start elevating your work, creating more flow and enjoyment whilst getting more done, we spend more time on energy, planning and rhythms in Your Beautiful creative Process. There are a couple of days left to join this round, so head to simpleandseason.com/process to get your spot.