Experiment with your energy
In yesterday’s essay about energy management superseding time management I closed with a recommendation that you experiment with something new. A new way of working, or doing, or living, or being. But let’s not boldly declare to the world (in a grandiose and probably poshly accented tone) “I have evolved! I am no longer that. Henceforth, I have decided I am instead this!” (substituting in whatever negative character trait you identify in yourself for that, and your desired new character trait for this). New Year’s resolutions typically have that tone, and we all know how well they generally turn out.
Instead of trying to reimagine ourselves in a single epiphanous moment (my word processor is telling me that’s not a word, but I think you gather the gist), I’m proposing that we instead "try on" new ways of being, like clothes in the change-room at Uniqlo. That way, when you put something on and it fits, you can choose to commit to it. When you try something on and it doesn’t, you can let it go without guilt or attachment.
Declarations of the "New Years” kind often result in us actually feeling worse about ourselves, because we strongly identify positive change with a single declaration of intention, and are subsequently deeply hurt if the intention doesn’t stick. It is akin to saying “I will be a good person worthy of love... so long as this chequered shirt fits me nicely across the shoulders and doesn’t give my skin a weird green tone”.
So, create an experiment, and try it. Make sure you give it time to breathe. I find most experiments need to last somewhere between a week and a month. By default, I commit to the new way of being for two full weeks before deciding whether or not to continue. Not sure what to experiment with? Here’s a list of possibilities.
Don’t open your email inbox until 2pm.
Walk for an hour per day with a headset on, and call clients (or potential clients) the entire time. As soon as one call ends, call the next person.
Journal for 15 minutes right after you wake up.
Write a summary of your achievements each night before bed (I started this experiment a few months ago and it’s still going strong).
Have a “work space” and a “faff space”. Don’t work away from your work space, don’t faff away from your faff space*. (I’ll explain this one in greater detail in a future essay).
Work standing at least once a day.
Work outside from 1-3pm (if it’s not raining).
Take a three hour lunch break every day.
Work from 8am till 2pm and then have the rest of the day off.
Allow yourself to stop working and ride your unicycle whenever you want. I did this about five years ago and it was fantastic. I stopped wasting anywhere near as much time while sitting at my desk, AND I learned to ride the unicycle. Win-win!
Hire an assistant to sort your emails into 3-5 useful categories, and simply put the three most important ones for you to respond to into a “START HERE" folder. (Opening your emails certain that you’re only going to have to respond to three does amazing things to your psychology).
Download Otter.ai onto your phone and dictate a blog into it once per day.
Turn off all notifications other than phone calls on your phone. (And for the love of god definitely don’t have notifications or message apps on your primary work computer).
Send an email to 10 potential clients every Friday, saying “Hey NAME, I’m going to give you a ring on Tuesday to talk about <that thing we could work together on>. Let me know if there’s a particular time (or different day) that would suit. Looking forward to the chat”.
Write 500 words per day.
“Reverse block” your calendar. IE, rather than starting with a calendar that is by default empty, and fill it with stuff, start with a calendar that is full (of time reserved for you to live your life), and carve out spaces in it to work in.
Make one day of the week “meetings day”, and invite people in your network to book in time with you on that day to discuss whatever is going on for them that you might be able to help with. (In non-coronavirus times, this can happen in-person at a central location in your city).
Spend one day per week without using any electronic devices at all.
Exercise for 30 minutes before you start work.
Shift all weekly cadences to fortnightly*. (I personally love this one).
There you go, 20 experiments you could try. Don’t go overboard, just do one (either as above, or of your own design). I’d love to hear what you decide to try!
*Faffing is wasting time, in case you aren’t familiar with Australian vernacular. A fortnight is two weeks, for those not familiar with British vernacular.
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