Manage Your Mental Energy

Productivity is directly related to your energy level.

Find your most productive hours — the time of your peak energy — and schedule Deep Work for those periods. Do low-value and low-energy tasks (also known as shallow work), such as responding to emails or unimportant meetings, in b...

Instead of watching the clock, energy management can be used instead of time management. Our positive mood is high in the morning, dips in the afternoon, and rises again in the evening. We can use this information to our advantage and plan for our high-priority work when our mood...

We tend to ignore our energy levels when planning our work, but it's a major player in productivity. Everyone's energy spikes at different times—we each have our own built-in body clock called a circadian rhythm.

If you know you're most productive right before lunch, for instance, don't pla...