Time Management is Yesterday's Noodles

I was talking with a friend recently who is feeling crushed by her work load and can't seem to get off the treadmill of 6am to 6pm days chained to her desk, seemingly into perpetuity. She asked me what tips I might have for her around time management. I’ll admit, the question surprised me. I've never thought of myself as someone who has great time management skills, mostly because I tend to eschew rigid productivity systems, believing (erroneously or not) that they cramp creativity.

So I wondered why this friend thought I might have something to offer her. She cited the work I produce coupled with the variety of lanes I swim in including storytelling and communications strategy, leadership coaching, Enneagram prison work and theater. It wasn't until after we parted that it hit me. I don't focus on time management, I focus on energy management. Somewhere along the way I learned that the time something takes is secondary to the energy it takes. I would argue that one could work six hours on a task that gives them energy and come away feeling fresh, revitalized and ready for what’s next. Or, one could spend 3 hours on a task that is draining and unfulfilling and need to check out for the rest of the day. From a productivity standpoint, I'm a fan of lists and getting things crossed off the list. But maturity has taught me that satisfaction comes not from crossing things off the list, but rather intentionality about what goes ON the list. If everything on the list is an energy drain, how will it feel in the end to get those things done?

Enneagram teacher Russ Hudson said something in a training recently that blew the doors open for me on this concept. He was speaking about the energy of frustration, but it could be applied to any default negative emotion. He said that frustration is an addictive emotion because it causes us to be adrenalized, stressed-up. Speaking for myself, I don’t like being frustrated, but if I'm honest, I can default to it if I’m not awake to what is going on. Seeing this as an addictive response is enlightening, but more important is what Hudson said next. "Life force gets trapped in frustration." So that extensive energy that I spend in frustration is trapping life force energy that might be funneled toward more useful, productive, creative pursuits.

Thinking back to my friend’s plight, as well as that of many clients who live on an endless treadmill, there’s an interesting confluence of addictive hormones like adrenaline that are exacerbated, if not promoted, by hustle culture. And time management is often touted as the antidote to burnout and an enabler of surviving in hustle culture. I purport that over-rotating on time management sustains and perpetuates hustle culture. 

I’d like to see a world where we’re less focused on squeezing every drop out of the hours in our days and more focused on the energy we’re creating, using and keeping within our days. How do we do that? It begins with awareness, discernment and choices. 

Awareness - Energy is not all equal. There are different types of energy. One type might be frenetic and driven while another type is open, free and vital. The latter is the sustainable one and can come from any activity that sits squarely in one’s sweet spot and that leaves us feeling powerful and more expansive after an activity. Coaching does this for me.

Discernment - Know which of your activities create which type of energy and opt for the ones that expand you. Know also which activities are a simple drain of energy. Organizing a closet or putting together a budget renders me cross-eyed, but for some people, those activities are deeply satisfying and rejuvenating. It may not be possible to eliminate all of them, but time management is not the remedy for a calendar of energy-draining activities. 

Choices and Sacrifices - Choices are inevitable. We can’t do everything. But if we’re aware and discerning about what we say yes to and what we say no to based on the energy creation or depletion result, we at least have the chance of creating more energy and satisfaction.  

And what do we do if we’ve tipped the scales into those negative energy-draining emotions? Hudson advises presencing them. Presence as an active verb. Presencing means noticing the emotional hijack and breathing into it, seeing it, acknowledging it and continuing to breathe into it. If I become frustrated, my goal is to notice it, name it, and breathe into it. If I don’t do this, I’m on the path for energy drain. If I presence it, Hudson likens it to rocket fuel that fills one’s limbs with energy and light, getting you out of the story of what’s going on and into the energy of it. And from that harness of energy comes the creativity to do the next right thing. 

(this article published in Fast Company Magazine on May 15, 2024)