How to structure the perfect work day in 12 parts
Leadership consultants like me can spend all day teaching business leaders how to manage better. Usually, that means emphasizing the skills needed to successfully manage other people. And while those are certainly critical, I’ve been at this long enough to know that leaders can only manage others effectively when they have a foundation of managing themselves.
Self-management has many facets. It involves having an awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, emotional restraint, and the discipline to do what has to be done even when it’s not fun.At a daily level, though, one of the most essential pieces of self-management is learning how to maintain your energy. We may like to believe that we can manage time, but the truth is that we only get 24 hours a day and there’s nothing we can do about that. The reason some people seem to get so much more done with the same number of hours is that they know how to manage their energy.
I recently gave a presentation at the annual convention of the Society of Women Engineers about how to get better at increasing your energy capacity and focusing on the things that really matter. Needless to say, this is hard work. There are so many distractions and demands that pull us away from optimal use of our energy. So why bother? Why not just go with the flow? What’s the payoff for getting really good at managing your energy?
The payoff, I think, is the perfect work day. Here’s what it would look like for me:
Wake up refreshed
Take a quiet moment to look forward to the day
Eat good meals
Work hard
Get stuff done that matters
Enjoy my co-workers
Get some exercise
Have some good time with family/friends
Learn something new
Appreciate my good fortune
Have some fun
Go to bed at a reasonable hour and sleep well
Don’t get me wrong — I know that no one gets this kind of day all the time. Sometimes external circumstances are to blame. But if you’re the reason you’re not getting most of these rewards most of the time, perhaps you need to re-evaluate how you manage your energy.
Want to know more about how to manage yourself for peak productivity and joy? Email me and I’ll help you structure your perfect work day.
