Energy scheduling

(Because I can't handle socialising)

At the start of this week, I had two days off with my friends. Monday and Tuesday, I hung out with some of the people I know and love best, whom I'm relaxed around and can very much be myself with. Then I had a Wednesday and Thursday of client calls, and now, today, I have a day of computer work for an agency I'm employed with.

What is kind of hilarious and ironic is that despite having two ‘days off’ at the beginning of the week, I am probably more exhausted and frazzled than I would be if I had just stuck to my regular work schedule.

Of course, it makes sense; if you condense your work into three days, it’s probably going to feel more intense than usual. But what I’m noticing — and this is not a surprise or a new thing — is I find socialising really energetically draining (and somewhat emotionally tumultuous) — even if it’s with my very best friends, and it’s actually a very chill setup.

I have to accept that socialising drains my battery, big time.

I have to accept that I may not feel very good first thing in the morning when I wake up after I’ve spent a couple of days out of my 'normal routine.'

I may have a whole load of sad thoughts, disparate questions (about the meaning of life, what is everything for, etc. etc.), floating around in my peripheral mental vision, whilst my body is delivering me a cocktail of cortisol and nerves.

When I woke up on Wednesday, my brain was a recurring monologue of no, no, nope, no, and NO.

Thankfully, I know myself well enough (this isn’t anywhere near the first time it’s happened!), and I was able to ease myself into client calls that were thankfully not scheduled first thing in the morning.

I’m appreciative that I have a lot of flexibility and agency in my schedule. I have calls throughout the week, but I get to choose how many there are and how they’re spaced out. (And, to be honest, what this is teaching me is that I may need more space in my calendar than I've been giving myself.)

I've also recently taken on a few more clients and different work projects, and this has left me feeling more scattered than usual. Having to switch between different roles and tasks can take a lot of energy even at the best of times. (And I can confirm it is definitely harder when you’re already drained; even if it's because you've been doing something wonderful and lovely, like hanging out with your friends.)

All of this reminds me of a concept I came across recently: energy scheduling.

This isn't the technical term for it, but essentially, the idea is you organise and manage your schedule by your energy levels. (As well as time/location/whatever else you take into account when organising your calendar.)

What this looks like in practice is, first of all, having an idea of what types of tasks drain your energy, and what activities restore it. Then, organising your calendar in a way that takes into account you're not a robot and will have fluctuating energy levels.

I recently listened to a talk by Leonie Dawson, who is autistic and has ADHD, and uses a colour-coding system so she can easily see on her calendar how much of her schedule is filled with 'energy-draining' activities — which she then spaces out amongst lots of wholesome, nutritious 'energy-giving' activities like taking a nap or doodling. This helps her avoid burnout, keep enjoying herself, and keep on doing what she does best.

This 'energy management' system is obviously most effective if you have full control over your calendar; but even if you only have partial control, you can more quickly see potential challenges that come from having lots of energy-draining activities close together. It might be that you can choose to reschedule or shorten the length of some of these activities to mitigate the energy drain.

This also, of course, requires you to have an understanding of your own energy levels in the first place, and it doesn't take into account unexpected illnesses, headaches, emergencies, etc. However, I suspect a system where you’ve intentionally built in spaces for 'restorative time' is going to help more with recovering from illness and unforeseen events than a schedule that is jam-packed with draining activities.

For me, I could imagine a system that uses red for energy-draining activities (like any socialising that goes beyond 1:1), yellow for 'neutral energy' activities (like client calls), and green for walks, reading, and lying in bed with a heavy blanket. I might actually go further and code some activities as 'energy-draining but not so energy-draining as socialising,' like marketing and communications.

So that’s my wee mini revelation for this week — I may have to go and sort out the colour coding of my calendar! If you’ve tried something similar for yourself, I’d love to know how it works for you; what have you found? Would you recommend it?

Until next week, 
Kathryn

PS. If you’d like to work together, I currently have one spot available; and then I’ll be taking a wee break over summer before starting up again in August. If you’re interested, you can find out more about coaching and working with me here.

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