What Is Energy Planning?
Many people will think of energy in terms of how tired they feel.
As an energy coach, just in this one area, I have seen many struggle with energy mastery. Some struggle to get moving in the first place, some struggle to know when to stop and rest.
Do you struggle to keep a steady physical pace? Do you get exhausted?
Then, I am so happy you are here reading this. Let me please take this moment to broaden your vision when it comes to energy planning. Let me ask you, how many different energies do you have?
We have briefly mentioned physical, but have you ever considered planning for your emotional energy, your mental/intellectual energy?
You may come up with other energies too, spiritual, social, there are many. So, when we are discussing here about energy planning our day, we are meaning that we are going to consider all our ourselves, then plan and reach our potential for the day.
How Does Energy Planning Work?
This approach to planning is a very individual process. It’s like planning based on your own unique fingerprint, because no other person has exactly your energy.
It works by supporting you and you alone. If you energy plan, you create a unique plan that tailors to you alone.
I believe this is the downfall of many mainstream systems for planning. You need to be the right person to fit the system.
I turn that on its head and say let’s make the right system to fit you.
How Do You Do Energy Planning?
Step 1 of Energy Planning
The first step of the process is awareness. What’s your starting point?
Try this exercise...
One a scale of 1-10 write down how strong you feel your different energies are:
PHYSICAL 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
EMOTIONAL 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
MENTAL/INTELLECTUAL 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
OTHER 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10.
Step 2 of Energy Planning
Now make a list of the general activities you do in a day and put them under the different categories, is it a physical activity or a mental one? Take note if you have a nice balance between the different energies.
Step 3 of Energy Planning
Now we are going to do an exercise to see how much an activity drains or energises you. Look at the list of activities below.
Take each one and on a scale of 1-5 intensity, write down how much energy is needed for that activity.
Write what you think could be the duration of focused energy on that activity and finally write how often it needs to be done.
By all means add more activities if you wish. This is just a guide.
Now that we have an awareness of our activities linking with our energy we can move on to planning.
Step 4 of Energy Planning
Let’s say I have about 4 hours or work to do, which is a mental activity, because it’s sat at a computer. My focus for work activity is about 2 hours. It is a good idea for me to include some other categories.
I also need to do some cleaning, that’s physical. I need to do about 2 hours cleaning but I have a limit of 1 hour for focusing on cleaning.
I also would like to have a heart to heart with my friend, that’s a good one for me emotionally, that will take about an hour. But I think I’d like to do a bit more. I might watch one of my favourite movies too.
Maybe you might see the next step naturally. Once you start bringing your energy into the picture, you can often see how best to plan and organise things.
Here’s how I would plan my day:
- Cleaning 1 hour
- Work 2 hours
- Cleaning 1 hour
- Chat to my friend 1 hour
- Work 2 hours
- Watch a movie 2 hours
Tips and Tricks For Energy Planning
When you start thinking in terms of different energies and different focus durations you can start getting really clever with this energy planning.
For example, take note of activities that can be done at the same time as each other. In the example above, I could use headphones and call my friend while I am cleaning things that don’t require focus.
That makes the cleaning much more pleasant for me and saves time too. My sister actually taught me this trick because she always calls me while walking the dog.
I often use the illustration of a phone. When you have the phone plugged in and charging you can still use it. So think of mental or emotional activities that you can do while resting physically, and vice versa.
Another tip is that you can get more micro with this planning. For example, maybe your work hours are decided for you. But within that category you can micro plan your tasks. You can focus on emails for one hour, then focus on creating product for one hour, etc.
What Are The Benefits Of Energy Planning?
The result of doing this kind of planning is that usually you can keep going. It means you can create a pace of life that is sustainable. No more hitting a brick wall and having to spend three days in bed.
It means you are doing true self-care, respecting, caring and supporting all of your energy types.
This is a message I wish was spread more in the world. Also this type of awareness usually leads people to realise that they are spending energy on activities that are not benefiting them and therefore start making changes to what they choose to spend their energy on.
In reality, the list could go on and on for the benefits of energy planning.
If you try this type of planning, please do let me know. I would love to hear how you get on.
Please feel free to check out more posts on energy management such as ways to support our emotional energy
Also, if you want to dive further into energy mastery, you could try this 60 page Energy Mastery workbook that brings you through the whole process.
Thank you to Kim from BujoPlanner.Kim for writing this guest post on energy planning! Kim is a time and energy coach who is passionate about helping people to feel satisfied and proud at the end of their day. She helps people with setting up new routines and habits, and empower people to support all aspects of their energy.
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Thank you for reading,
Em x
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