How to understand and honor your own energy capacity

I used to read every productivity and time management article I could find. I was obsessed with soaking up all of the helpful tips, but didn’t actually put them all into practice, because there were just too many! Besides my problem with over-researching, I was looking in the wrong place. 

Time management articles have the underlying assumption that our ultimate goal is to get as much done as possible, and sure, we all want that. As creatives, we have so many different components to making our creative pursuit happen (like marketing, writing, planning, admin, accounting, the list goes on), and it often takes not just multiplied, but exponentially more energy to be more than one thing. When we feel that we’re expected to do ALL of that, and constantly stay in busy mode, no wonder most of us are feeling overwhelmed! 

The problem with focusing just on time management is that “get as much done as possible no matter what” completely ignores our energy capacity. If I’m not feeling well, it doesn’t matter how much free time I suddenly have when I take a sick day - I don’t have the capacity to show up to do the work. 

It’s so easy to say, “Oh, I’m just busy right now, I’ll rest after <insert current big project here> is done.” Looking at our energy capacity instead of time is much harder because it requires a total shift in how we construct our schedules and to do lists - not based on what we want to get done, but based on how much energy is actually available. (Humans are notoriously bad at predicting how much time things will take, and how much energy we have to do those things.)

If you don’t know how to do this yet, this is one of the things we delve deeply into in creative coaching.

ENERGY IS FINITE BUT RENEWABLE

Energy is really tricky, because each of us has different energy capacity in general (especially people with chronic illnesses), different capacity for different activities (my ability to spend time at a mall, for example, is very brief, because I get overstimulated too easily). It’s so personal, and varies from day to day.

Think of spending your energy like spending your money - you only have a certain amount, and yes, you can put it on a credit card, but you still have to pay it off. If you don’t pay it off, the interest piles up, and you end up with a growing mountain of debt. If you continue to go beyond your energy capacity by working hard when you’re already depleted, you end up in a state of burnout, which also takes a long time to get out of. 

If you want to spend more money, you need to earn more somehow, and it’s the same with energy, but you earn more by resting or doing replenishing activities, which also can vary from day to day - no wonder we often choose to push through instead of trying to figure all of this out! 

The trouble with this analogy is that money is very easily quantifiable, but energy isn’t. For we sensitive creatives, it often feels like our energy is more vulnerable, but your sensitivity is also a superpower that you can use to your advantage and channel into the power of observation. 

I’ve been thinking about how we could more accurately calculate how much energy capacity we have in a day, and how we use it, so I’m going to experiment with tracking my own energy over the next month. I’ll be sure to share my results and exactly how you can do this, too. 

Ever since the burnout I experienced 2 years ago, my awareness of my energy levels and sensitivity to feeling depleted has heightened, but even so, I find myself wanting to go beyond my capacity often. 

WHAT IF I HAVE MORE COMMITMENTS THAN I HAVE ENERGY FOR?

I hear you, it’s easy to overcommit yourself, and then feel like you need to uphold all of those commitments.  Is it worth it to push through when you’re not feeling great? Maybe? Temporarily? Sometimes.

There are a lot of factors to weigh: whether you’ll be able to rest more after the period of “hustle”, how healthy you’re feeling, whether additional stressors are present in your life right now, whether it’s a typically busy season, etc. When it comes down to it, is it worth it to you to give up rest, time with loved ones, hobbies, home-cooked meals, etc. in order to pursue your career goals? Or how much of that is okay to give up? And for how long at a time?

My work has always been really important to me, but I know I’ve always swung too far to that side of the rest/work seesaw, at the expense of a lot of things, including my own health. So, even though I do struggle with it, I am committed to resting and recharging as a basic personal value, even if it means that I make a little less money, or that some of my goals take a little longer to achieve. 

After all, no one ever says “I wish that I had worked more” on their deathbed. I want my workload and lifestyle to feel sustainable, and I’m sure you do, too. 

What’s sustainable is obviously going to be different for every person, and change over time, but having time to recover and reset is always going to be essential. One of my favorite reset strategies is the mandatory lazy day. My personal rules are: no doing anything productive out of obligation (or, if there is some obligation, it’s relegated to a short window of time), usually involving a cat and a couch. (Rusty the Cat is my relaxation mentor because he always honors his capacity - he can’t keep his eyes open long enough not to!) I almost always notice a huge difference in my capability to show up with renewed energy the next day. 

I know how it feels to be seemingly drowning on the sinking ship of overwhelm, but I also know that even simple lifestyle shifts can vastly improve the situation and help replenish your energy!

WHERE’S THE EDGE? 

Despite what I’ve learned from my various bouts of burnout, I have become a pro at testing the edge of my personal energy limits. 

In May 2019, I was preparing to move across the country, crazy busy with both work and social stuff so my capacity/energy level was diminished, while simultaneously, my life was requiring more of me. 

The old "eyes are bigger than your stomach" saying transfers pretty well to schedules, which I've been working on, but it's always a practice. Maybe I committed to doing too many things during a major life transition, but most of them are things I wanted to be doing, or served a financial purpose. Here’s how I managed not to lose my mind: 

My method, given the circumstances, was to sidle right up to that pool of lava (the overwhelm), but not pretend to dip my toe in. 

• If I needed to cancel going out for a birthday dinner in favor of Thai takeout and TV on the couch, that was okay. (Actually, it was great.)

• If I needed a break to lie down for 15 minutes, and it became an hour, that was okay.

• If I wasn’t able to do more than the minimum effort required (I'm talking about teaching in May here!), that was okay. 

Maybe some of the craziness at that time was self-imposed, but some was definitely inevitable, and because I'm a creative wellness coach, sometimes I feel I have to show that I'm "doing it right". But I don't - we are each the best judge of our own capacities in the moment, we're all doing our best, and we're all imperfect humans (also okay!) 

Even at less pivotal moments, it can be hard to know where the edge of your energy capacity is, since it’s always shifting, but increasing your awareness is like throwing yourself a life raft. Developing that skill is also one of the main things we work on together in creative coaching.

WHAT CAN YOU DELETE?

So maybe you’re right around that edge of your capacity, or just beyond it, and feeling quite overwhelmed! (You know I totally understand.) When we're overwhelmed, the most important action we can take is to simplify things, which likely means doing less.

In the short term, what can you delete that’s not that important? Maybe you don’t need to uphold all of your commitments! We have so many expectations on ourselves - what can you let go of?

I often think that my default needs to be going above and beyond on everything, but we can choose where to specifically put those efforts, and everything else? Make it easier. It’s amazing what I do without thinking about it, because I’ve assumed that I HAVE TO.

When all of those “requirements” pile up, you’re headed toward the land of burnout, and it's so easy to stay busy due to inertia, without questioning why you're doing what you're doing.

If there's an event that you'd like to go to but isn't totally necessary, maybe skip that one this time. If there's an overwhelming project you need to finish, maybe stop at 80% effort - it'll be totally fine. (Fellow overachievers, I know, I see your horror. 💆)

Think about what will give you energy, what will deplete it, and be laser-focused on what you really need - don't be afraid to delete!

WORKING BETTER WITHIN YOUR CAPACITY

If you have a hard time with managing your time and energy, don’t despair, you can absolutely learn to work better within your capacity. Here are a few suggestions: 

• Make a list of kinds of work you find tiring and won’t do anymore (unless the money is great). 

• Support yourself in other areas of your life to fill up the well

• Treat yourself with kindness and surround yourself with people and influences who do the same 

• Make a practice of asking yourself what you need each today

• Reduce the amount of work that you expect from yourself each day as a default

• Try breathwork to help move stagnant energy out of your body. Amy Kuretsky and Ashley Neese are both great resources in this area, and I talk about my first experience with breathwork in this blog post.

And lastly, you do not have to explain your capacity to other people.

The emotional labor of explaining why you're saying no to something adds extra stress to your already depleted mind and body. There might be certain relationships, collaborations, or work situations in which more explanation is needed, but generally, "I'd love to, but I just don't have the bandwidth right now" will do the trick. 

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If it feels like you’re always in overwhelm mode, you know I’ve been there a million times, but we don’t have to live there.

I wish that I could wave a magic wand and create more energy for you AND for me, but what I can do is help you spend your energy more wisely, and work with your capacity, not against it.

If you want to go deeper to find out exactly what's depleting your energy, so you can commit to your creative practice no matter what, sign up for a free discovery call (or message me on Voxer) to learn more about coaching and leave with at least 1 tip that you can put into practice right away!

Wishing you enlarged capacity now and whenever you need it! 💚

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What’s your biggest struggle around managing your energy? Let me know in the comments!

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