Energy Management vs. Time Management

I've talked about self-awareness around optimizing your day for your best energy for years, because it can make such a difference in your life, especially if you are a digital entrepreneur (or side hustling outside a 9-5).

A lot of people preach time management, which is, of course, very important.

Being productive and efficient is important when it comes to time management, but also having self-awareness around your energy will significantly help you be more productive because you are working with your body and not against it.

Yes, you can remove tasks that don't make a difference to your bottom line or outsource tasks that chew up all of your time.

In addition to that, having the self-awareness around your energy will significantly help you enjoy every day and be more productive, because you are showing up rested and ready to take on each task or activity.

This doesn't mean that energy management is the equivalent to laziness, however. Far from it. 99% of things worth doing require self-discipline.

There is a difference between getting a good night of sleep and eating food that fuels your body before launching into "doing" mode (energy management), compared to taking a week off because you're "kinda tired" and "don't really feel like doing things."

See the difference? It's about optimizing and planning for your day in a way that works with your body and feels good, versus using it as an excuse to not do anything, ever.

In my opinion, Energy Management should be just as big of a conversation as Time Management.

You can have decent time management but not be efficient because your energy is off or you feel tired/unfocused.

Having the self-awareness around what food, sleep style, movement, work style, relaxation, and social time works FOR your energy instead of against it is a game changer.

Energy management is especially helpful for digital nomads who need to optimize their schedule so they can work in productive, efficient chunks in the day because they are also exploring a destination.

Or, for anyone side hustling outside a 9-5 job, who literally only have a small window of time each week to make significant progress on their side hustle.