Manage your energy to enhance productivity

IN the ruthless business environment, organizations are demanding ever-higher performance. To meet the increasing demand, most people resort to working longer hours. But is longer working hours effective in improving performance?

Longer working hours is not the solution to improve performance. Performance depends on how effective we are in getting the results. The problem with working longer hours is that time is a limited resource. Our body wears down and our performance drops the longer the hours we work without taking breaks in between. A more effective way to enhance performance is to manage our energy. Energy is a different resource. Energy is renewable. Energy is defined in physics as the capacity to work. When our energy is depleted, we can take a rest to recharge. We can develop simple rituals to help us replenish our energy and increase our capacity to work. To recharge ourselves, we need to recognize the costs of energy-depleting behaviours and then take responsibility to change them. These energy-depleting behaviours may include not having enough sleep, being easily agitated by challenges, subjecting ourselves to disruptions and interruptions and so on.

We can divide energy at work into three main categories – physical energy, emotional energy and mental energy. In each category, energy can be systematically expanded and renewed by establishing specific behaviours that are intentionally carried out with the goal of eventually making them unconscious and automatic habits.

Most companies invest in developing employees’ skills, knowledge and competence. Very few help build and sustain employees’ capacity or energy at work. In fact, greater capacity makes it possible to get more done in less time and at a higher level of engagement. Higher performers don’t simply work longer hours; they manage when, how and where they put their physical, mental and emotional energy to work.

Physical energy is our primary capacity at work. Inadequate sleep, malnutrition, no regular exercises will diminish our basic energy levels as well as our ability to manage our emotions and focus. Despite all the demands at work, many people don’t find ways to practise healthy behaviour. Are you getting at least seven to eight hours of sleep? Do you often wake up feeling tired? Are you taking regular breaks during the day to truly renew and recharge? Are you doing regular work out to keep your body fit and healthy? We need to constantly fill up our energy reservoir to avoid burning out. Adequate sleep, regular exercises and intermittent breaks for renewal will result in higher and more sustainable performance as our physical capacity is regularly replenished.

Our emotions affect the quality of our work. We are not able to focus and think clearly when we are angry. We tend to lose our cool and become agitated when confronted with relentless and unreasonable demands. We slip into negative emotions. We become irritable, impatient, anxious or insecure. Such state of mind can drain our energy and cause friction in our working relationship with our colleagues or our customers. Very often, these negative emotions make it impossible for us to think clearly, logically and reflectively.

We can improve the quality of our energy when we are able to take more control of our emotions, regardless of the external pressure we are facing. To take more control of our emotions, we must be aware of how we feel at various points during the workday and of the impact these emotions have on our effectiveness. We tend to perform best when we are feeling secure and peaceful at work. Anxiety and negative emotions disrupt our focus and concentration.

How do we contain negative emotions? One way to defuse negative emotions is to practise deep abdominal breathing. To do that, take a deep breath and exhaling slowly for five or six seconds repeatedly for a few times. This will induce relaxation and recovery, giving us time to turn off our negative emotions. Another powerful tool that fuels positive emotions is to express appreciation to others, a practice that can be beneficial both to the giver as well as the receiver. We can also cultivate positive energy by being positive and confident about ourselves. Instead of blaming others in times of troubles and seeing ourselves as the victim, take up the courage to face the challenge and learn to be resilient and move forward.

Distractions are costly. How often do we struggle to concentrate? Distractions deplete our mental energy and disturb our focus on the task at hand. Unfortunately, many people volunteer themselves to be distracted at work by checking messages and emails constantly, playing games or watching movies. Even a temporary shift in attention from the task inevitably increases the amount of time necessary to finish it.

One way to mobilize our mental energy is to focus systematically on our work especially those that have the most long-term leverage. We can practise time-blocking techniques. It is far more efficient to fully focus on a certain task for 90 to 120 minutes, take a break, and then continue or go on to the next activity. Unless we intentionally schedule time for our work, we tend not to get through it at all or rush through it at the last minute. You can improve your performance by identifying your most important task each night for the next day and making it a point to concentrate the first hour on it every day and you will emerge at mid-morning feeling as if you have already had a productive day.