The Magical Benefits of Energy Management

Note: This is a continuation of yesterday’s post, so kindly do read that before this.


Most people think productivity is about managing time, but in reality, it is about managing energy. We already talked about how time is fixed, but energy is not. Energy fluctuates throughout the day, depending on sleep, nutrition, stress levels and mental workload.  When you align tasks with your natural energy levels, you work smarter, not harder, leading to better focus, efficiency, and overall well-being.

The biggest benefit of energy management is the fact that it helps you prioritize deep work when you mind is the sharpest or the most well prepared. At that energy level, a 3 hour essay only takes 2 hours; a gruelling homework assignment can take a third of the time. I’ve already talked about Decision Fatigue on a post before, and we learnt we make poorer choices as the day goes on because of a drain in energy. Same goes with productivity. So, strategically, research found that it is better to do analytical tasks like math, physics, etc, in the morning and low-effort tasks like inbox clearing, calendar scheduling, etc in the evening. Of course, that’s not feasible as a student sometimes. At times when you have a huge amount of work, try to put essay writing, reading into your evening schedule as they allow for the mind to roam and also relax, unlike 50 difficult calculus problems staring at you. 

One last thing energy management helps you do is sustain Productivity. It is very easy to do one hour of work and slack off. One big reason that happens is you push through the first hour, but due to the preexisting lack of energy, you can’t propel through anymore. Energy management schedules, however, give you natural breaks, accounting for mental drain and allowing energy to regain. This is not to say time management is useless. Sometimes, you will only have energy for 3 hours, but need to get 5 hours of work done. It’s similar to the Motivation vs Discipline argument; you definitely need a bit of both in a real scenario. All I’m asking you to do is to be mindful of your energy levels when using methods like time blocking.