💜 Back to Basics: Energy & Time Management
March is over. The first calendar quarter is over.
March was certainly a mad month for me:
Many macro and micro changes at work
Planning, creating, and delivering speaker training for Women in Product 2024 Conference speakers with my Toastmasters club
Forming a new team across to work on a side project as part of In the Lab Product Management
Celebrating my first Ramadan—adjusting my sleeping and eating schedules, praying, making time for reciting the Quran.
What a doozy! 🤪
Here are some lessons learned on managing your energy and time when your schedule appears to be fuller than you have time for.
🧭 Identify what matters
Depending on the “size” that each area takes up in terms of your energy, effort, and time, I recommend picking 3-5 areas (yet no more than 5!) of your life to focus on for any given period of time.
We have limited mental and physical bandwidth. To keep yourself motivated to stay disciplined towards attaining your goals or following through with your intentions, it’s important to make progress, which requires your attention and time. Hence, select a finite number of areas or themes to focus on—and say “no” or “not now” to everything else.
💗 Give yourself grace
If you feel as though you’re neglecting other areas in your life, resist the urge to blame yourself or wallow in feelings of guilt.
Instead, take these feelings as a signal for re-evaluating your focus areas.
😌 Make space and time for rest or play
Saying “no” to things can feel awful. You might even feel the “fear of missing out” (FOMO, for short).
A while back, I learned about the 7 different types of rest. This new paradigm around rest was totally new to me from a more academic standpoint, yet it immediately made intuitive sense.
We all need different amounts of different types of rest at different moments of our lives.
🚧 Define and reinforce your boundaries
You know what matters most to you for the next period of time. You’ve created slack for yourself to intentionally rest and recharge.
Do expect others to overstep their boundaries with you. Don’t take it personally. Instead, assume positive intentions, and take this opportunity to share your boundaries with them.
Again, recognize that “no” doesn’t mean “never”—it simply means “not now.”
🧘 Listen to your body and mind
Over the years, we may have unintentionally learned to tune out or brush off the signals that our bodies send to us, suggesting fatigue or even burnout. We get so good—too adept—at steamrolling over the natural indicators that it’s time for us to take a pause.
Pay attention to your physical symptoms, thoughts, and feelings.
I hope these principles:
Guide you in your journey towards a holistic, sustainable, and self-compassionate lifestyle. 💞
Encourage you to move towards this direction.