Leveraging Energy Cycles For Work-Life Balance

For a full year during my consulting days, I had a 6-day work week. And it was a wreck of my own making. My work day started Sunday thinking about my Monday and by the afternoon, my brain was in full work mode - thinking about the Monday check-in, deliverables, my flight, etc. I was basically working Sundays to deal with my "energy trough" on Mondays where I didn't have time to "wind up". And I carried this throughout my professional life, consulting or corporate, in multiple contexts (e.g., switching between draining meetings, working out before work). Here's a 3-step move that can help you be better than me:

1. Identify your "energy cycles" - the phases you hit your energy peaks and troughs. You want to reserve your peak performance hours for the most important work.
2. On your calendar, block those times off along with time buffers in yellow. You'd only give time to others if its high priority. (e.g., you could block your entire Monday morning if that's not your thing).
3. Communicate transparently with your team - chances are they'd have cycles of their own that they'd appreciate your accommodating them as well. This process lets you perform at peak levels when you’re most ready to take on challenging work while enabling you to work your way out of the trouphs – this is an absolute key to avoiding burnout! Downloadable Summary ?