Your Greatest Resource – Energy

When I first started working from home, my main concern wasn’t a lack of time as you might suspect, but lack of energy.

While your age doesn’t necessarily define how much energy you have, there are not too many people who have the exact same amount of get up and go in their forties, as they had in their twenties.

When you get older, you can eat well, get enough sleep and still occasionally run out of steam. Sad but true.

Here are 10 ways to have more energy (particularly if you work from home). I’m still working on mastering some of these myself, so we can work on them together!

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Work with passion

Doing a job you hate will suck the energy right out of you.

If you hate your job, you might feel sluggish, tired, fatigued and exhausted.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer from tiredness or lack of energy working on a business that you totally love either.

You will most likely have a lot more enthusiasm, drive and motivation, but there will still be times when your energy levels are low.

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you want to have more energy focus on the parts of your job that you like and enjoy doing.

Related post – What To Do When You Hate Your Job

Work to your natural bio-rhythms

When I was working in an office for an employer, my energy level would slump at around 2 pm every day.

I naively thought that once I was working for myself this would change. Yet surprise, surprise it didn’t.

Between 2 – 4.30, my energy is at its lowest for the day.

On the odd occasion, when I have felt totally exhausted I’ve actually had a sleep during this time (though I definitely don’t make a habit out of it).

The interesting thing is after 5 pm, I’m ready to go back to work again. I can usually get a lot of productive work done between 5 and 8 pm.  As it turns out my most productive hours are 6 am – 2 pm and 5 pm – 8 pm.

Most of the time, I try to work through my 2 pm slump. Some days I am successful and get a lot done, while other days are a complete flop.

What I need to do is embrace the hours that I work best and step away from work during those low energy hours.

Clearly if you work in an office you can’t take a nap under your desk from 2 – 4.30 (or whenever you low energy time is) but you can plan ahead and try to schedule tasks that require less brain power at those times. If your job has an element of boring administration work, your afternoon slump might be a good time to get this work done.

Another thing that has come as a complete surprise is that I am a morning person.

For someone who was always a bit of a night owl growing up, I write best in the morning. Mornings are definitely when I am at my most creative and when I also have the most energy.  I use this to my advantage as much as possible by not being distracted and getting straight into writing first thing in the morning.

Know when to push yourself

It goes without saying that sometimes you need to push yourself.

You might be exhausted, tired and ready to veg on the couch but you need to push yourself to get the job done.

Know when to take time out

You need to know when it’s time to give your body a rest. Over the last couple of months, I’ve often worked 7 days a week, though I do tend to take Sunday afternoon off.

When I work every day for weeks in a row, I find my energy levels come Monday morning are incredibly low (and Monday is normally my most productive and energised day).

The first time I was exhausted on Monday, I was surprised, until I realized I had worked several days straight without any sort of decent break.

I was tired, because I wasn’t giving myself time to rest and recharge.

Get in the flow

This doesn’t mean waiting for your creative muse to strike if you are a writer, blogger or any other sort of creative.

If you are running a business or trying to start one, this sort of hit and miss work when you are inspired stuff, just won’t cut it. Believe me, I wish it did.

When you are in the flow or on a roll (or whatever you choose to call it)  it’s important to get as much quality work done in these sittings as possible.

Personally, this is when I am at my happiest working.

Get up and move

Writers, bloggers and basically anyone who works on a computer tend to spend a lot of time sitting.

That’s a lot of time being sedentary. On some days, that alone can make you feel tired or at least sluggish.

People are often telling me to go for a walk to clear my head. Since I don’t own a motor vehicle, I tend to walk a fair bit anyway, which is good. Walking is a great way of brainstorming and coming up with blogging ideas.

If you work in an office, the same applies – get up and move. Take a small walk, even if it’s to the photocopier and back.

If you can’t get out to do some exercise, then at least stretch. Take a lesson from my gorgeous cat. Stretch, stretch and stretch some more.

Have a good work chair

I didn’t have a decent work chair for a long time when I first started working from home.

I would spend hours every day working on one of my dining room chairs. For someone who was seeing a chiropractor every three weeks with neck and back pain, this was a pretty stupid idea.

A friend of mine offered to buy me a proper chair and while I normally like to pay my own way, I gladly jumped at his offer.

Having a better chair definitely improved my energy and productivity.

Back and neck pain (and the headaches that accompany them) are a total energy killer.

Whether you work for yourself or for someone else make sure you have access to a decent chair if you are going to be sitting for long periods of time.

Don’t drink too much alcohol

The old cliché of the writer that drinks for inspiration; is just that a cliché. In theory it sounds fine, but in practice it’s a terrible idea.

Back when I starting writing for fun, I would happily sit at my keyboard on a Sunday afternoon, glass of red wine in hand tapping away at the keyboard.

Now I notice if I drink too much (and believe me that doesn’t take much nowadays because I’m such a lightweight drinker) the next day my head feels fuzzy, I don’t concentrate as well and my energy levels are low.

I don’t even have to have a hangover to feel like this.

If you want to stay alert and focused and have your brain firing on all cylinders, cut down on how much alcohol you drink.

Better still, cut alcohol out completely during the week and save a glass of vino for the weekend.

Have a set work plan for the day

Sitting down at my desk at 6 am and thinking what am I supposed to be doing today, always results in a less productive day than if I already have my work planned out for me.

Most days I plan ahead but occasionally I get behind in my planning and without fail it always affects my productivity (and my energy levels).

Make sure you know exactly what you are meant to be working on the minute you sit down at your desk.

Again this applies to working in an office as well. Granted your day might go quite to plan due to outside influences but you should still have a plan of what you want to achieve for the day.

Having a messy office can also be a drain on your energy, not to mention a waste of your time if you are constantly searching for things.

Piles of paper will not fill you with joy. More likely you’ll feel exhausted just looking at them!

Related post – How to Stick To Your Plan

Watch your stress levels

I was going to write about eating correctly and getting enough sleep, but let’s face it, most of us know about that already (regardless of whether we actually do what is best for us).

Though we all know we should be eating better, a situation that tires us out more than anything else is stress.

Worry, anxiety and stress can zap your energy levels in record time.

Now while I would love to sit here and tell you not to worry, that would make me a total hypocrite since I woke up this morning worried about quite a few things. So much so that my brother (who is staying with me at the moment) asked me if I was okay and if I slept all right. I apparently looked stressed at 6.30 this morning. Not good!

What I can say about worry is try to keep it to a minimum.

The most obvious thing is try not to worry about things that have not happened.

We have enough problems to deal with that actually happen without worrying about stuff that might happen.

Energy is one of your greatest resources. Know what energizes you and be aware of what drains your energy. Use this knowledge wisely to have more energy.

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