Energy Investment Portfolio | Feel Good Productivity
Energy Investment Portfolio | Feel Good Productivity
“You can do anything, but not everything” - David Allen
I was visiting a local support group recently, in a community room they hire each week for people to come together for peer support, guidance and surprisingly good coffee. It was an initial consultation for me to see for myself what they do before I begin my strategic work in trying to help them to stay open. But as we were talking about what they did and how we were going to work together, the manager, the only paid member of staff, was explaining how she worked for this charity four days per week and at a local supermarket a couple of evenings a week, and that was alongside looking after her grandchildren. The two volunteers split their time between facilitating these groups, a part-time paid job with the council and their semi-retirement.
This meeting happened in the same week when I'd been telling a friend I knew I was close to burnout. It was like I could feel it coming but couldn’t do anything about it. I’ve been here before and I take full responsibility. I’d committed to too much again, juggling my freelance work with a part-time position plus two kids and a dog. I love what I do and I really really care about my work, but it’s easy for the pressure to become overwhelming.
So I said to this group I was with how I can’t remember the last time I met someone who had just one job, who wasn't trying to juggle and balance multiple responsibilities, at the same time as trying to make sure their work was somehow doing some good, that it had a purpose, that it was making a difference.
I've written before about how the third sector is full of altruistic, generous, selfless people. It is. But what good are we doing for the wider world if we forget to look after ourselves in the process?
I often feel like a hypocrite, talking to people about wellbeing: meditation, journaling, yoga - it’s true that I do all of these things and I’m passionate about them, but it’s not true that I prioritise them, or that they always work.
So with a finite amount of time, limited energy and the intention to not run ourselves into the ground, how do we prioritise, focus, and manage our time effectively, so we can achieve that elusive balance between impact and self-care, between being productive and rested?
I’ve been following Ali Abdaal’s rise on YouTube for some time, and even though his content is largely targeted at a younger demographic, those eager to start their own business or have a successful career, I find that the ideas he shares can be adapted and useful for all stages of life. So when I pre-ordered his first book late last year I waited excitedly for the ideas he was going to share. The book didn’t let me down. It is essentially the perfect self-help book, with a beautiful balance of inspirational stories and practical exercises, backed up by research.
I’ve enjoyed working through many of the concepts in the book, but the chapter on burnout has been the most influential for me. I'd like to share one of the exercises here, as well as to show you how I’ve adapted it to help me navigate my current problem with overcommitment.
The World Health Organisation defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon, characterised by:
feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and
reduced professional efficacy.
So, it’s not necessarily related to the number of hours you're working, it’s how you feel about your work and how you’re using your time.
Ali writes about three different types of burnout:
Overexertion burnout - from taking on too much work.
Depletion burnouts - you haven’t given yourself the periods of deep rest you need to recharge.
Misalignment burnout - you've put all your effort into something that doesn’t bring you joy or meaning.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things” - Steve Jobs.
This exercise is designed to help us think more long term, rather than to get caught up in the moment, saying yes to too many things.
The Energy Investment Portfolio
You can download the template here:
Here’s how it works.
You come up with two lists.
List A is a list of all your dreams, hopes and ambitions. Things you’d like to do at some point but not necessarily right now.
List B is a list of your active investments. The projects you're actively investing energy into right now, or want to be.
I find it helpful to look at my task list for the week, or my calendar for the current and next month to fill this in.
The active investments list should be limited to how much time and energy you've got to invest in them, so anything from 3-5 is probably realistic for most people.
You can watch me filling this out here.
If you want to move a dream from list A to list B you have to make sure you have the time and energy for it. This is why there are a limited number of slots. This can help you to resist overcommitting and thinking you can do everything all at once.
When I first did the exercise though, I wondered how to make it work in prioritising across multiple jobs and roles plus my personal and family commitments.
So I made a further two lists.
List C - what does my calendar really look like?
What am I actually doing with my time and how much time is each task taking?
List D – what would I like my calendar to look like?
I have a version of a weekly schedule that I aspire to achieve. It’s not my current reality, but I do find that just having it there to glance at, especially as I plan for the month ahead, does remind me what I’m aiming for.
You might find the following free online courses useful:
Please don’t think for a second that I’m perfect at this or somehow have it figured out - I don’t. But it is something I'm working on constantly and committed to improving at.
Here are a few other questions that might help:
What are your priorities that are not currently in your calendar?
What do you say is the most important area of your life? Does your calendar and energy investment reflect this?
My mum wanted to meet for a walk and coffee the other day and I had to say no. Saying no once is okay, but when it becomes a recurring theme and it doesn’t make you happy, it’s time to reflect. For me, when I haven't got enough time for my mum, I’ve failed. Something is out of alignment and I need to fix it. Now.
What is the line you don’t want to cross?
To finish, here are a couple of other nuggets I took away from Ali's chapter on burnout.
According to Derek Sivers, whenever you’re asked if you want to do something, you've got two options, hell yeah or no. Nothing in between. Which is it?
According to Juliet Funt, asking “Would I be excited about this commitment if it was happening tomorrow?” can help you to remember that it’s unlikely your energy levels are going to be significantly different at a set point in the future. If you wouldn't say yes to something happening tomorrow, you shouldn’t say yes to it in a month or more.
Schedule time in your calendar to do nothing.
And schedule more of it than you think you need.
Breaks aren’t a special treat. They're an absolute necessity.
If you're looking for a more philosophical viewpoint on focus, motivation and goals, then I’ve also recently enjoyed Dan Koe - The Art of Focus.
Let me know what you think of this exercise in the comments below.
Rachel x