Productivity Hack: Prioritize for personal energy.

I am re-reading “How to fail at almost everything and still win big” it’s probably one of the better books in this genre with practical/actionable guidance.

One of the key takeaways from the book that didn’t get a lot of my attention last time is the importance of the concept of “Prioritizing for Personal Energy”. Though it is right there in the book tease section & there is a whole chapter dedicated to it :)

Below are the takeaways:

Metric to use to organize your limited supply of time or approach the problem of multiple priorities is “PERSONAL ENERGY”.

Maximizing my personal energy means eating right, exercising, avoiding unnecessary stress, getting enough sleep, and all of the obvious steps. But it also means having something in my life that makes me excited to wake up.

What is “Personal Energy”

anything that gives you a positive lift, either mentally or physically. Like art, you know it when you see it

I don’t mean the frenetic, caffeine-fueled, bounce-off-the-walls type of energy. I’m talking about a calm, focused energy. T o others it will simply appear that you are in a good mood.

Manage it with the view to the long-term, not short term.

it’s not enough to maximize it in the short run or in one defined area. Ideally, you want to manage your personal energy for the long term and the big picture.

The risk with using energy as your guide is that there are plenty of bad choices that also get you energized in the short run

Be comfortable with it seeming like it could be perceived as selfish.

paradox with personal energy. If you look at any individual action that boosts your personal energy, it might look like selfishness

Match YOUR mental state/energy levels with activities

Simplify or Optimize

A simplifier will prefer the easy way to accomplish a task, while knowing that some amount of extra effort might have produced a better outcome. An optimizer looks for the very best solution even if the extra complexity increases the odds of unexpected problems

When to simplify and when to optimize?

If the situation involves communication with others, simplification is almost always the right answer. If the task is something you can do all by yourself, or with a partner who is on your wavelength, optimizing might be a better path if you can control most variables in the situation

prefer simplicity whenever I’m choosing a system to use.

If the cost of failure is high, simple tasks are the best because they are easier to manage and control.

Optimizing is often the strategy of people who have specific goals and feel the need to do everything in their power to achieve them. Simplifying is generally the strategy of people who view the world in terms of systems. The best systems are simple, and for good reason

Body has a vote

Your brain takes some of its cues from what your body is doing.

Consistency might be more important than the specific position you choose

Tidiness also impacts your energy. Both physical & virtual (device/app setup etc).

Energy killer — Not knowing how to do something. Finding the information is a lot easier than you think.

Think of priorities as concentric circle — You, Economics, Your family+friends & rest of the world. It’s not selfish.

Why economics is second — If you don’t get your personal financial engine working right, you place a burden on everyone from your family to the country.

All of your priorities overlap and conflict.

keep your priorities straight is by judging how each of your options will influence your personal energy. It’s not a foolproof gauge, but if you know a particular path will make you feel more stressed, unhealthy, and drained, it’s probably the wrong choice.

Right choices can be challenging, but they usually charge you up.

Actions:

• Have one or two projects (side/main) that you look forward to working on.
• Exercise
• Make sure your “setups” give you the preferred /relevant postures.
• Manage your personal energy like companies manage budgets.
• Simplify where ever possible.
• Clean work environment — physical / virtual
• Identify if you are worried because you don’t know how to do something, just ask, search, try.