Being productive is often defined as a state where you are able to finish tasks or to produce work during a certain amount of time. While the main goal is to get more things done, however, we often fall into the cycle of toxic productivity. We ought to abuse ourselves by not having breaks, as it is deemed as being lazy and unfruitful. But, this is a baseless argument and that being intentionally "lazy" is good, once in a while.
In "The Power of Full Engagement", Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz mention that "The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. It is our most precious resource. The more we take responsibility for the energy we bring to the world, the more empowered and productive we become". In order to perform at our best, they argue that it is fundamental to manage our energy and not our time. We all have just 24 hours in a day, and it's practically impossible to do everything within a day time frame. It's not about how much time you can put into anything, but it's more on how much energy and intention you can bring into the table.
Therefore, if you want to double or triple your productivity, it is essential to know how to "hack" your energy.
Either be fully engaged or be disengaged, and never in between.
Humans are not designed to run at high speeds, consistently for a long period of time. Rather, our body needs time to replenish the energy. Ernest L. Rossi, the author of "The 20-minute break" illustrates our body energy level the best.
Ultradian rhythms refers to the wave patterns or cycles of energy that happen many times in a day. This depicts that our body functions best when we oscillate between expending the energy and intermittently renewing the energy. Identifying these patterns during the day will help you to regulate your energy output and recovery better and thus increase productivity. To learn more in depth on the topic, check out this page which clearly explains why skipping the breaks may affect our physical and mental health.
Separate your tasks based on your energy level.
Knowing that we have our ups and lows throughout the day, it'll be best if you can plan your task according to your energy levels. Try to segregate your work as below:
Work that requires idea synthesis, creative team discussion, planning and high-risk decisions should be categorize under high level work
Routine works like filling up forms, monitoring and replying emails is classified under low level work
Relaxing levels includes eating, meditating, social interactions, gaming and sleeping
Take advantage of your "In the zone" moment -
While it is critical to manage your time effectively, true productivity can only be achieved by knowing and harnessing your optimum energy states. After knowing which tasks require more energy, do them at your high energy states.
During this phase, we can easily be immersed in the moment in which our body and mind are naturally having the best flow to do the tasks. In my case, It's easier to plan for big projects after lunch, specifically, around 2 - 4 PM. By knowing so, I strategically place high-level work during this time when I know I'll be having a much better flow.
Having the ability to enter the zone at will, is definitely a superpower that will boost your productivity even higher
The Bottom Line
Understand that your body and mind needs some time to relax. Never antagonize your relaxing time as it's needed for you to bounce back and do much better and awesome work. To double your productivity, try hacking your energy patterns and flow within a day by planning accordingly.