Time--I Mean Energy--Management

I read an article in the Harvard Business Review last week on time management that was apropos to me, and I'm guessing to many of us at this time in the semester. It approaches time management from a different perspective of "energy management", positing personal energy is a renewable resource, whereas time is finite. But first the backstory.

At the start of Spring break last week, I relished the oodles of time I had to complete two projects due this week for classes. I intended to do extra research for one of classes, the topic was so interesting. I took a few days break, did other things, went out of town, etc. Before I knew it, time had nearly run out and I was saying "there's not enough time in the day."
Multi-tasking, the essential skill that many job descriptions list as "required" is largely the culprit, according to many studies. The Journal of Experimental Psychology found that a temporary shift in attention from one task to another--stopping to answer an e-mail or take a phone call, for example--increases the amount of time necessary to finish the primary tasks by as much as 25%. Said another way, it takes your brain four times longer to recognize and process each thing you're working on when you switch back and forth among tasks.

That's clearly a waste of time. And here's what was interesting in the HBR article: businesses that had implemented programs with support for physical energy, emotional energy, mental energy and spiritual energy had fewer sick workers, better employee retention, even higher revenues.

I've put some of these concepts to the test for three days now, and miraculously, I'm feeling more focused with work tasks under control. Here are a few tips for anyone wanting to give this a try:

1. Take brief but regular breaks, away from your desk, at 90- to 120-minute intervals throughout the day.
2. Turn off your email alert and log out of email. Schedule 2 times during the day to check, respond to, and compose email for 30-45 minutes at a time. Don't check email first thing in the morning, or you could easily get sidetracked on an "emergency" that throws the rest of your schedule out of whack. Let co-workers know that if it's absolutely urgent they connect with you to call.
3. Find an empty conference room, or if you work from home, go to a library or coffee shop with the one project you need to focus on. This prevents chatty co-workers from dropping by and helps you resist tidying your desk, or taking a call, or any of the other convenient procrastination methods.
4. And the kicker for me that's been helpful: take a 15-minute walk outside in the morning and in the afternoon. It may seem like too much time away, but it actually allows you to gain perspective on remaining tasks and encourages creative ideas--and often better ways to tackle remaining tasks.

Give it a try. And if you have a proven time management tip, let me know. From the number of time management books on the market, I'm guessing I'm not the only one who could use it.