Manage your energy instead of your time
Michael Banner
Leader | Software Engineer | Mentor | A passion for seeing people and products succeed
A toolkit for planning your day around your current and future energy levels, taking learnings from the Spoon Theory and my own experience
In a recent leadership team retro, we were talking about the topic of workload and subsequently how manageable it is. To a large degree, workload is subjective to the individual doing the work and only they can decide whether things are too overbearing or they have tonnes of slack to take on more. It is also important to factor in the dynamics of every team being on a slightly different journey, so one team may be in the middle of some mass recruitment, and another might be trundling along with little overheads.
Deeper into the retro we got talking about time management, where it was quickly steered in another direction by a fellow engineering manager. That direction was a shift from managing time, to managing energy.
The concept of energy management isn’t new to me.
My wife suffers from several chronic illnesses and has to be careful to manage the strain on her body otherwise she will suffer the consequences for days, weeks and even months beyond. During her time at a specialist rehabilitation centre following her diagnosis, she was introduced to something called ‘the spoon theory’.
The idea of the spoon theory is fairly (and intentionally) straightforward to understand. Christine Miserandino coined the theory when she was in a restaurant with friends, handing each one of them a spoon off the table. She explained that everybody with chronic illnesses or disabilities starts the day with a certain number of spoons (let’s say 5, with each representing a level of energy). As you complete tasks throughout the day, a certain number of spoons will be required in exchange for the effort needed to get through them.
For example, taking the dog for a walk might require a couple of spoons; going to the shops might take another spoon; picking the children up from school might take another and so on…
Caveat! You may be able to go beyond your limit of spoons within that given day, but if you do you will reach into tomorrow’s allowance. Starting Monday with 5 spoons, but using 7 will mean Tuesday only has 3. The compounding effects of energy depletion results in a deficit which is unsustainable, resulting in you hitting the wall several days later.
As a sufferer of Lupus, Miserandino used this example to give some explanation to how her condition affects her. Although those with no illnesses or disabilities will still start the day with a number of spoons, this number is much higher and they’re less likely to creep into that deficit zone - but of course, this isn’t to say it’s not possible.
Spending your spoons
So why am I going on about spoons and energy management? Surely we just need to look at our calendars and make everything fit nicely into the various slots, right? Wrong! (at least from my experience)
Different tasks in work take more energy than others, and this is definitely something we should take into consideration when organising our diaries. By focussing on things from an energy management perspective, we can provide ourselves with the best chance of being fully present when it comes to completing the tasks/attending meetings.
Here is how I would categorise things for myself:
Least-draining
Semi-draining
Most-draining
At a quick glance I can already see a bit of an unintentional theme between these tasks. The least-draining ones are less time-critical done (to a degree) at my own pace, or there is limited interaction with people. It is worth noting here that I always index towards being introverted when doing personality assessments, which isn’t to say I don’t like working with people (I really do). However, unlike extroverts who get a boost to their battery by being around people, mine is depleted. I think this is a key distinction to make, as ultimately it will mean the categorisation above will be different for everybody.
The semi-draining tasks are ones where there is more of a cognitive load. The likes of retrospectives require some deeper thinking to provide quality feedback to the team on how the last couple of weeks have gone. Similarly, sessions like refinement and estimation require a deeper set of considerations as we begin to delve into the crux of the things we have on our backlog.
Lastly, the most draining tasks (for me) are those which require me to be fully present and engaged. For example, 1-1s need the prep beforehand and some solid listening so that I can provide mentorship and coaching where it is due. There’s no room for listening in the background here - I’m (at some point at least) front and centre and need to be prepared for that moment. Using the all-hands as an example, I will eagerly await my slot to make sure I use my 2 minutes wisely and get the message across properly - when it comes to things like this I am a chronic over-thinker.
Managing your energy
To get to the key point of this post, let’s talk about how to manage your energy effectively. I must caveat this with the fact I’m not basing this on any scientific evidence, but merely my own experience as to what works well for me. Although my approaches won’t work for everybody, I want you to understand the concept of energy management and find a mechanism that suits you.
1. Don’t create back-to-back drainers
“I’ll stick all of my 1-1s back to back so that I can get them out of the way and have a clear calendar” - Michael Banner - some time in the past
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