Cory Cook on Time

Have a glance at your diary.


Go ahead, do it now. How does this week look, how about next week?


I’d wager your calendar is fairly full of all sorts of tasks, meetings and engagements.


Now ask yourself, how did each commitment get booked to begin with?


Was the time simply available? Or did you selectively plan for a balanced week?


When there’s no real rhyme or reason to how we book our time, we may find ourselves unintentionally overcommitted.


I have seen people drive themselves into the ground from an overloaded diary, where no consideration was given to the energy needed to get through the week.


If, similarly, you’re finding yourself exhausted, behind and on the brink of burnout, chances are you’re maxing out your schedule based on time available and not based on your energy available.


Don’t just schedule your time, instead schedule your energy.


Before you add one more appointment to your diary, or RSVP to another event, give yourself a pause to consider how your future self will feel about it, mentally and physically when that time comes around.


How you feel now, isn’t necessarily how you’ll feel then.


Have you ever been about to leave for an afterwork evening event, but you’re exhausted from the day? You’d rather go straight home and put your feet up. You wonder why you RSVP’d to attend in the first place.


“It sounded like a good idea at the time”, we muse.


Of course it did! We were bounding with energy Tuesday morning three weeks ago when we signed up. What we weren’t anticipating was how mentally drained we would feel on a Thursday evening following a long week and a gruelling day at our business’s quarterly strategic meeting.


Know when to give yourself a breather.


The time available does not guarantee the energy available.


We don’t always like to hear that, do we? We want to think we can push ourselves and maximise every spare minute. But this is what leads to overdoing it and ultimately hinders our productivity.


Just because our calendar shows an empty time slot, doesn’t mean it’s really free for ‘anything that comes along’.


Sometimes the best thing to do with that free time slot is recognise it as a welcome break to do nothing.


Relax. Recharge. Restore.


Counter-balance extreme circumstances.


Of course there may be exceptions at times, weeks heavier with important engagements you wish to keep. In extreme instances, consider measures to help counter-balance your energy between your work day and a line-up of evening commitments.


For instance, could your work day start later to give you a morning reprieve? Or perhaps close your day earlier to allow a time-gap to revitalise yourself in some way, e.g. a 20-minute nap, a brisk walk or quick run, a mini yoga session, you get the idea.


Pay attention and plan wisely.


Starting today, pay attention to your energy levels each day as the week goes on. Where are you overloading yourself? What workday activities could shift or be distributed across the week to equalise your energy expenditure? Could anything be eliminated altogether?


Know yourself. Are you someone who can handle three evening events each week and maintain workday efficiencies, or is one night out each week your winning number? Knowing yourself and how far your energy goes makes the process of balancing your diary much easier.


Don’t just schedule your time with wild abandon.


Avoid planning randomly based on your time available.


Instead, plan selectively based on your energy available.


What else do you do to ensure your week is as balanced as it can be?

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