You’ve probably heard this quote before and either used it yourself, or had it used against you, to support cranking through your to-do list. Because otherwise you would be that worst of all bad things…a procrastinator! We are taught in some sense, and by the use of this quotation, that productivity is measured in number of things accomplished as quickly as possible. I have also always subscribed to that belief until pretty recently.

A few months ago I read an article with headline “Manage your energy, not your time.” And it stuck with me. I’ve always been really good at time management – making lists, calendar blocking, setting a timer for tasks I dread – but I’ve never been great at managing my energy. I tend to put 100% effort into everything as it pops up on my to-do list, which means by the middle of the work day I’m pretty much spent. And while it seems like I’m being more productive because I’m checking things off my list, it actually reduces the amount of total work I’m able to get done in a day, not to mention the quality of the work I’m doing.

I’ve worked in several difference environment with several different bosses and teams. Each situation had a unique set of expectations that came with unique challenges, but I found more success overall by sticking to the formula below as closely as possible.

– Look at the full picture. Whether it’s taking time at the beginning of the week or at the beginning of each day, take stock of everything that needs to get done and by when. Organize tasks into priorities and schedule them. Managing your time would look like blocking your calendar for “working time” and then just tackling your to-do list during that time. Managing your energy would be determining when you feel the most creative and scheduling time to create those slides, graphics, etc… during that time. Or when you feel the least cranky during the day and earmarking that hour for answering email.

– Use the snowball method. You may have heard of this method in reference to paying off debt. Start with the small things first and leverage the momentum to carry you through the bigger things. This works with task lists also, it feels good to check things off and it motivates you to do more. In fact, I know a guy who tops his daily to-do list with “get out of bed” just so he can start each day with a win.

– Break up undesirable tasks. I hate making power point decks. I always use too many words and not enough graphics. I’ve never gotten the hang of what should be in the main deck vs the appendix. However, this was a pretty central responsibility in my last two jobs. So I would plan at least three chunks of time to work on my slides. The first round was just outlining – I’d create the title and agenda slides, then just put the headers on each subsequent slide. Then I’d take a break and do something else. Round two was all the words. I didn’t hold back and just loaded those slides up with walls of text. Then I’d take a break and do something else. The third round was going back and editing the words down and really thinking through places where I could show something instead of telling. And then if I had time for a fourth round, that’s where I’d make formatting changes if needed. In order to make this process work for me I had to plan pretty far in advance of when these slides needed to be completed. Sometimes my breaks were just a short coffee break or another meeting. Other times I could wait a full 24 hours before coming back to it. Both ways let me be much more productive with my time than if I sat with those slides and just forced my way through in one sitting.

– Be over prepared, if possible. This is a bonus tip if you are doing a lot of work at someone else’s request. They are going to ask questions. There will be follow-up. Once you’ve gone through that process once or twice you should be noting what kinds of questions you are getting frequently and start coming prepared with those answers. For example, if you are in a role that is creating new processes for a certain group of people and presenting them to leadership for approval…be prepared to answer the questions of how much is this going to cost,will this take more time than the current process (if yes, how much), and have you run this past any of the end users to get their feedback? You will be asked these questions even if they weren’t in the original request for information. Coming to a meeting over prepared is going to save you a lot of back and forth time in the long run.

You may have seen these tips before but maybe not int he context of thinking about how to best use your energy throughout the day or week. SO go ahead and try it out. It might just help you to work smarter instead of harder. Or it might give you back a few well earned moment in you day.