How often do you feel like there are just never enough hours in the day?
No matter how much you plan and time-block, your daily to-do list always seems to spill into tomorrow.
And this can leave you feeling perpetually behind and, well, seriously stuck. That feeling that you can never “get ahead” starts to wear on you:
You’re working hard… but it never feels like enough.
But what if the problem isn’t you, but rather the way you’re managing your time?
The truth is that traditional time management tactics don’t work for everyone. In fact, merely managing your time can lead to an uphill battle where you’re fighting against your natural rhythms. Inevitably, this doesn’t exactly set the stage for outstanding work or productivity.
However, don’t panic here. We’re not saying you should do more. Instead, we want to encourage you to focus on energy management over time management.
So, what does this mean exactly?
Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean managing your hours. Rather, this strategy focuses on harnessing your energy and utilizing it in a way that aligns best with your unique rhythms.
At first, this might sound complicated. Yet, it actually makes things way easier and way less stressful. Plus, it can completely transform your productivity and overall well-being.
Traditional time management focuses on scheduling, prioritizing, and optimizing hours.
Common methods include:
The above works great for some people, just not everyone. And yes, it sounds straightforward. You have a task that needs to be completed. You plug it into your calendar, block off the time, and you do it. So, what’s the problem?
Well, there are numerous factors at play here.
This traditional time management approach ultimately fails to account for variations in energy and our natural biological rhythms.
It assumes our energy is constant throughout the day (it’s not). It ignores the fact that as night approaches, we tend to become more fatigued. The idea of “pushing through” can further lead you straight toward burnout and decreased performance over time.
It’s no secret that time is valuable, yet it’s not the whole picture.
There are things like the planning fallacy, where people often underestimate how long a task or project will take—even when past experience shows their timelines are usually off.
There’s also the constant pulls of attention, such as the 2.5 hours per day the average person spends on social media—is that in the calendar? Probably not.
Social media further creates unrealistic expectations, specifically regarding what we can achieve in a day.
We all know how easy it is to compare ourselves to others when scrolling through these apps. However, comparison can lead us to measure our productivity against curated highlights or idealized routines, setting a bar that’s not only unrealistic but unsustainable.
This constant pressure can fuel overwhelm, making us feel like we’re always falling behind, even when we’re doing just fine.
Then, of course, there are emotional variances in our lives that impact productivity and time management. Simply put, if we don’t feel our best, we won’t perform at our best.
And, as we all know, there are many factors that can impact how we feel.
Decision fatigue can also play a role in our energy levels.
If you’ve already had to make five or more decisions before you walk out the door, chances are, you’re already feeling cognitively exhausted. And this is going to impact how quickly and attentively you can achieve the rest of the tasks you set out to do.
When it comes down to it, time management answers the question: When should I do this?
But it doesn’t answer: When am I naturally equipped to do this best? And this is where energy management can not only fill the gap but change the game entirely.
Energy management is essentially aligning your to-do list with your natural energy cycles. To understand this properly, it’s worth noting that there are four main types of energy, including:
Efficient energy management means balancing all of the above and planning tasks at optimal times. Yet, this can greatly vary from person to person, depending on your lifestyle, hobbies, work, life stress, and more. In many ways, it comes back to filling your bucket first before stretching yourself across even more tasks or projects.
It also means learning to notice when your energy is low—and giving yourself permission to rest or shift gears instead of pushing through on empty. Just as budgeting your time or money helps you become more intentional with how you spend your resources, managing your energy enables you to be more intentional with where and how you allocate your effort throughout the day. So, how can you do this?
Related Article: Procrastination and Productivity: Why You Feel Like You’re Not Getting Anything Done
It’s best to do this step by step. Taking little steps forward is far better than feeling overwhelmed. So, try this:
Step 1: Identify your chronotype. Are you a morning lark or night owl? If you’re unsure, take this quiz to determine your unique chronotype and when you have the most energy.
Step 2: Track your energy levels. The simplest way to do this is by keeping a daily journal and having regular check-ins throughout your day (such as when you first wake up, mid-morning, mid-day, afternoon, and evening, or doing it every hour). Make a note of the time and date, and rate your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10. Also, be sure to jot down any notes that may be affecting your energy levels, such as meals, tasks, sleep patterns, stressors, and other factors.
Step 3: Recognize energy drains versus energy boosters. Once you’re tracking your energy levels, it’ll be easy to start to spot patterns. Perhaps you’re noticing that certain people or tasks drain your energy. Or maybe you’re noticing your sleep could be better. Identify these areas for improvement and try to reduce energy drains while increasing energy boosters.
Step 4: Work with your 90-minute ultradian rhythms. Throughout your day, your body naturally goes through 90-120 minute cycles. And yup, these impact your focus, alertness, energy, and performance. And yes, it’s also very similar to those 90-minute REM/non-REM sleep cycles! Interestingly, it has even been shown that individuals who work in 90-minute cycles experience a 40% boost in productivity compared to those who work in unstructured intervals. Even more compelling—these focused time blocks also resulted in fewer mistakes and higher-quality work!
So, how can you work within your ultradian rhythms? Here are a few tips:
Once you begin tracking your energy highs and lows, as we mentioned above, trends will start to emerge. This allows you to schedule energy-based tasks at a time that works for you and your energy levels.
For instance, high-energy times are ideal for more complex and creative work. Medium energy moments work well for routine tasks and meetings. Meanwhile, low energy times could be best used for more administrative work or planning.
And make sure to make time for rest and recovery! To manage your energy effectively, you need to intentionally build in moments of recovery throughout your day and week. But not all rest is created equal.
There are two main types:
Ultimately, both types of rest matter. And during these restful times, don’t forget about the importance of nutrition and hydration timing for sustained energy.
While a whole other topic, many experts recommend eating every three to five hours throughout the day, ensuring you balance your macronutrients correctly, and sipping on plenty of water throughout the day. Unfortunately, this is often a highly underutilized side of energy management, but one of the most important ones!
Related Article: When to Push Through and When to Pause: Listening to Your Mental Health
Throwing time management into the wind isn’t a good idea.
It’s still necessary to manage your day-to-day life using time. For instance, in many cases, you’ll have deadlines, appointments, and time-oriented commitments. You never want to let these fall through the cracks, which is why a combined approach is truly the best approach.
The best way to combine time and energy management is by creating a flexible schedule. Once you’re more “energy aware,” you can create flexible time blocks that adapt to your energy states, as well as have more rigid ones that adhere to appointments or deadlines.
A good way to think about it is to use the 80-20 rule: allocate energy management for important work and time management for everything else.
And use your common sense on where you can be more flexible versus where you can’t. For example, you can’t be flexible on an appointment time. However, if you have a week until a project deadline and feel low on energy, and you have the time available at a later date, you may want to consider being flexible with when you work on it.
Now, you might be reading this thinking, “This all sounds great, but I don't actually control my schedule.”
You may need to show up to work at a specific time, or perhaps you’re assigned to particular shifts by your superior. But even when you’re stuck in a rigid work environment, there are still small wins to be found.
Perhaps you can’t reschedule the 9am meeting, but you might be able to tackle your most mentally demanding work during your natural peak hours. Or try using those tiny breaks between tasks to actually reset instead of scrolling your phone.
But what about those all-too-common afternoon energy crashes?
Well, this might be more about managing your food intake than anything else.
Sometimes, it really is that simple.
And if you’re someone who just naturally runs on lower energy, try to focus on the basics first:
Figure out what genuinely gives you energy (maybe it’s your morning coffee ritual or texting with your best friend) and actually make time for those things. Small moves could give way to impactful changes!
Let’s round this all up. What should you do next? Follow this plan:
Ultimately, sustainable productivity stems from effective energy management, not merely time management. Knowing how to allocate your unique energy at the best times can significantly reduce burnout and improve overall life satisfaction.
Your next step: Track your energy starting tomorrow. The sooner you start this, the sooner you gain valuable insights into your unique rhythms and needs. From there, watch your productivity and energy soar!
Read Next: 9 Powerful Ways to Increase Self-Discipline & Achieve Your Goals
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July 27, 2025
July 25, 2025
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