Personal Energy Management

Do complex work when you are most energetic and do low priority work when you are least energetic. This is obvious, and we all know it, but we don’t do it. Time management is something we write about on occasion. But time management needs to be integrated with personal energy management.

Yes, I know, it sounds like one more thing to do when we can’t do all the other things we’re supposed to do. But we’re already on auto-pilot for periods of high and low energy throughout the day.

Your Body Is On an Automatic Energy Management Plan

Our energy management plan is our circadian rhythm which is a twenty-four hour cycle which governs the physiological activities of our bodies. [1] We can’t change it, although we all try. The key is to go with it and not fight it. Most of us have the standard circadian rhythm, so we are speaking of this in general as it applies to the majority of people. As Financial Advisors, we all know it is normal for there to be a deviation from the mean, so not everyone shares the most common rhythm.

Do Your Complex Work in the Late Morning

“When it comes to doing cognitive work most adults perform best in the late morning,” says Dr. Steve Kay, professor of molecular and computational biology at the University of Southern California. “As body temperature starts to rise just before awakening in the morning and continues to increase through mid-day, working memory, alertness, and concentration gradually improve. Taking a warm morning shower can jump-start the process.” [2]

Work on a Complex Financial Plan for a Client

Because you feel more energetic as the morning goes on, that’s always a great time to call your clients. You’re sharp and awake. But if you want to work with your body clock instead of against it, you would best use this time doing complex work such as a retirement spending plan for one of your UHNW clients.

Sleepiness Peaks About 2:00 pm

Energy drops off after an energetic morning. For most of us, this begins around noon, for others it can be later. But after we eat lunch, almost all of us become sleepy both from digesting our food and because of our natural circadian rhythm.  Sleepiness peaks about 2:00 pm. [iii] This would be the best time to stretch out on the floor of your office and take a nap although everyone would then think you had lost your mind.

Don’t Force It

We get sleepy in the early afternoon isn’t news. This is self-evident to everyone and is the reason the afternoon nap or siesta is a part of so many cultures. The point is no matter how hard we try and force it, we usually won’t do our best work in the early afternoon when we want to sleep. After a few hours of dragging, our alertness picks up around 4:00 p.m.

Our Bodies Are On Solar Time Even If We Are Not

Scientists at Harvard have confirmed that our circadian rhythm matches the solar day which is approximately twenty-four hours. [iv] There has been much scientific argument over this issue. Had we no worries, no schedules, no demands on our time, then we could match our lives to the solar day. Unfortunately, we can’t, but the closer we can get, the more productive we might be.

Bright Light Tells Our Bodies the Sun is Shining

Over time, many things have interrupted the solar cycle but none more than lighting. Darkness tells our internal clock that its time to sleep. But if we keep lights on, especially bright lights, the signal gets garbled. We turn the lights off and try and sleep, and it isn’t so easy since our internal clock has been interrupted.

Benjamin Franklin famously said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Perhaps this is true. But then again, it was easy for Franklin to say since he didn’t have much choice in the matter. If you want to do a deep dive and understand the benefits of a personal energy management plan and how to create one for yourself, I recommend “When: the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing,” by Daniel Pink. The book has fascinating insights applicable both to your work and your personal life.

Resources: 

[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/circadian_rhythm.htm

[2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444180004578018294057070544

[3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444180004578018294057070544

[4] https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/1999/07/human-biological-clock-set-back-an-hour/

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Contributing Writer: Subject Matter Expert Charles McCain