Manage Energy, Not Time

Manage energy, not time, to get more things done.

This concept really resonates with me.

I also like it because it can be counter intuitive or non-obvious.

One way to try and get more things done is to, jam more in your schedule.

Yuck!

Unfortunately, that’s a fairly common practice.

It’s Not About More Time Management Practices

I actually have lots of practices for managing time.

For example, outcome-based work breakdown structures, managing outcomes vs. activities, prioritizing outcomes based on usage and value, avoiding over-managing minutia, using outcome-based agendas for meetings, distinguishing getting results vs. building connections in meetings, using time-boxes to deliver incremental results in projects, "zero-mail in the inbox" practice … etc.

While I’m always open to new time management practices, I think I was getting diminishing returns from yet more time management techniques.

Energy is the Key

So stepping back, here’s the situation … I was using a full arsenal of time management techniques, I was known for getting results, and yet I wanted to reach the next level.

What happened next was, I noticed a common thread among a few very different training sessions and books around leadership and results.

Energy was a recurring theme.

Know Your Catalysts and Drains

Of course, then it made total sense (the beauty of 20/20 hindsight!). We’ve all had that great hour of brilliance or that unproductive work week.

I did a reality check against several past projects.

It was easy for me to see the connection of energy and results, when all else was equal. The problem was, I didn’t have an arsenal of practices for managing energy. It turns out, I didn’t really need to. Simply by knowing what drains me or catalyzes me helped a lot.

Knowing is Half the Battle

Now that I’ve been aware of this underlying concept for a while, I have learned a few practices along the way.

One practice I use is I explicitly ask the team when and how often do they want to deliver customer results (i.e. how often do they want to see the fruits of their effort?).

I balance this with capability, customer demand, project constraints and a bunch of other drivers, but the fact that I explicitly try to leverage energy and rhythm, helps crank the energy up a notch (and, as a bonus, results).