There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Tasks that ought to take a few minutes stretch into hours and more work mount up. When you have too much to do, and there’s too little time, and your daily schedule leaves you utterly tired, you need to manage your energy, not time.

You need to learn how to be ‘energy smart’ from a young age. Learn behaviors that make you super efficient and high on energy. If you want to get more done from your day, you need to learn how to manage your energy.

So, instead of trying to cram too much into an hour, learn to manage your energy for the most important jobs.

Here’s how to go about it.

Take an energy audit
Ask yourself what is depleting you? This will include four questions in each energy dimension – body, emotions, mind, and spirit. Your energy is depleting if you are doing things such as skipping breakfast, failing to express appreciation to others, struggling to focus on one thing at a time, or spending too little time on activities that give you a sense of purpose. Find your ‘sweet spot’ to feel inspired.

Build rituals to renew energy
You need to build rituals for improving and renewing emotional/physical energy. Eat light and right, and exercise. Avoid things that make you restless. Pay attention to things that sap your energy reservoir, and avoid them. To renew your energy mid-day — just when you think you may be getting a little tired — get up to talk to a colleague about something other than work, listen to music, walk up and down the stairs at work. If you take a mental and emotional breather, you can become creatively charged.

Don’t deplete emotional energy
When people are able to take more control of their emotions, they can improve the quality of these emotions. Most people realize that they tend to perform best when they feel positive. During your day, do some deep abdominal breathing exercises, and exhale slowly for five or six seconds for relaxation and recovery. Some people help others at work by mentoring; this is a great energy enhancer. Appreciating and praising people will also raise your own energy. Don’t blame anyone for anything that goes wrong, or play the victim.

Don’t forget to recharge
Recognise energy-depleting behaviors and change them, regardless of the circumstances. Renewing your energy needs your inner commitment. A number of firms have built “renewal rooms” where people can regularly go to relax and refuel.
To renew your energy mid-day, get up to talk to a colleague about something other than work or listen to music.

Hope you start applying these tips to your daily life and achieve more balance.