Rebuilding Energy

My family just recently recovered from the flu. While it swept through our household quickly, the post-flu effects slowly lingered. I took two days off of work and then returned with a new baseline energy level: near-zero energy.

One of my coworkers experienced a similar situation while recovering from being sick. We lamented our shared frustration of the energy dip we experienced. During the conversation, I shared tips on rebuilding energy I found while recovering my own.

Understanding Energy is the critical prerequisite for improving your ability to manage it. But even when you understand your energy, there’s no guarantee you can improve it—a goal that feels especially unreachable on those off days. We’re all wired differently, but there are tactics I found for rebuilding my energy. These can help in long stretches of low energy, or those in-between moments when you need a boost.

Create Space

Nothing will shred your ability to increase your energy like a jam-packed schedule. You need breathing room. So the first step when you’re rebuilding (or improving) your energy is to create space for yourself.

This will, understandably, be contingent upon your ability to control your schedule. I hope you’re in the position to do so, but if not, I recommend finding the space wherever you can, even if that means post-work hours.

Space should come in the form of time. This is where you need to do the opposite of working within a Compressed Schedule, where every minute is filled with a task, meeting, or errand. You need a Decompressed Schedule. This is a schedule of margin, time, space—a schedule where you can recharge your energy.

Here are three ways to Create Space:

1. Meeting-Free Days: Block meeting-free days where you can focus on deep work and recharging. This may feel unattainable, but if you don’t prioritize your time, someone else will. It’s worth the conversations you may need to have to get there.
2. Buffer Time: Schedule buffer time between meetings and tasks to avoid constant context switching. Give your mind a chance to reset and realign on a new focus. This removes the “attention residue” problem.
3. Recharge Blocks: Set aside dedicated “do nothing” periods in your calendar where you can rest and recover without guilt. I know saying “don’t feel guilty” is easier said than done, but remember this: Your brain makes connections not when you’re actively working on the problem, but when you step away and create space. Ignore the guilt because this is highly productive time.

Start Small

Once you have space, your focus will turn towards the active tasks on your list. But how can we make progress when energy is still in short supply? The answer is best explained through physics.

This is a problem of inertia. Inertia is the reason objects at rest tend to stay at rest, while objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This is the case unless acted on by an external force. So how does this relate to energy? When we’re in low-energy mode, we can consider ourselves at rest. Using the lens of inertia, it will stay this way unless an external force changes the state, which, in this case, is our energy. Starting small is the pathway to apply an external force that’s just enough to create forward motion.

This is my Start Small Rule:

Start with the smallest unit of output your energy can create.

Here are three ways to Start Small:

1. Micro Tasks: Find the smallest unit of work you can do, and start there. Instead of designing an entire auth flow with high-fidelity designs, spend 15 minutes researching existing designs in other applications. Remember the Start Small Rule.
2. The Next Step: You don’t need to know every step—you just need to know The Next Step. Keep it simple and start small. You can even use The Next Step Framework I’ve written about to map, move, and multiply.
3. Five-Minute Rule: If you’re struggling to get started, commit five minutes to focus time. This simple start will build momentum and allow to you to keep moving, five minutes at a time. Just get started.

Find Flow

The last step is to find your flow, which is the result of a collection of activities, uniquely sequenced, to prime your ability to focus with renewed energy. This is the special cup of tea you brew; the specific playlist that boosts your energy; the short walk outside to clear your head. This takes experimentation to unlock your unique Flow State Routine, but it’s worth the effort to uncover.

We recently watched (multiple times) the animated film, Flow, which is a dialogue-free story of a cat’s unlikely alliance with other animals after a devastating flood. If you haven’t seen it, please watch it. It’s fantastic. The vibe of this movie is meditative and calm, and the soundtrack matches that vibe perfectly. Part of my Flow State Routine is playing the Flow soundtrack (aptly named, I know).

The other part of this routine is using a macOS app called Portal, which changes my desktop background to one of many curated 4K videos of gorgeous outdoor landscapes from around the world. It also plays ambient audio and will adjust the Hue lights in my office.

Here’s how I create my unique and personalized Flow State Routine:

• I play the Flow playlist through Apple Music at about 60% volume level.
• I pick a scene (right now I’m loving the Radovna River in Slovenia) and set the audio to 60% volume level.
• I Create Space and Start Small with this new Flow State Routine to build momentum and let my energy naturally increase.

A New Energy

Each day, we have a chance to balance our energy and work in our optimal state. But in order to get there, we need to make mindful decisions to support that effort.

As you approach work, try these three simple steps to rebuild your energy:

1. Create Space for your energy to recharge.
2. Start Small with the simplest task.
3. Find Flow in your ideal state.