00:01Hello, sweet potatoes! So, welcome back

00:02I chopped off my hair

00:03According to conventional wisdom, time management is the foundation of productivity

00:08You manage your time by setting goals for when you want to finish a specific task and planning your day so thoroughly that you even schedule time to go to the bathroom

00:18 This is how I used to approach productivity

00:22I spent most of my 20s trying to manage my time and my ever-growing to-do list

00:28I had to check all the boxes and cross off all the to-dos for me to feel like I had any semblance of a good, productive day

00:35And when I didn't accomplish all the things I wanted to at the set times I wanted to, I honestly felt like the world's biggest failure

00:41 More recently, I started taking a..

00:43A closer look at what consumes my attention, as well as my energy levels

00:48So, these days, if in a day I do the three most important things I need to do, along with at least one act of self-care, I am more than happy

00:55If you're trying to be more productive, don't just analyze how you spend your time; pay attention to what consumes your attention or energy

01:03Here's what's on the agenda today: the difference between managing time and managing energy, what is an energy audit and why is it important, and how to perform an energy audit so that you can become your best and most productive self

01:17If you guys have been following me for a while, you know I've had my fair share of burnout and resetting

01:26It's a lot of burning and resetting

01:33I know this is a prime example of where Managing my time has led me to realize that it's not how many hours you put in that determines how productive you are, but how much energy or focused attention you're able to invest during the hours you work

01:46Time management versus energy management: managing your time gives you set times to do certain tasks, which can be constricting and inflexible

01:53If you don't do the things within the set times, you may feel like the world's biggest failure

01:58Energy, on the other hand, gives you the element of choice and is flexible

02:02Time is a finite resource—there is a limited number of hours daily, which is something we can't control

02:06Energy, on the other hand, is something that can be systematically increased and regularly renewed, and that is within our control

02:14Management makes you stop distractions cold turkey, like endlessly scrolling through Instagram; you just completely cut that out of your life

02:22While energy management teaches you to be mindful about the timing of these distractions

02:26Time management is what you're doing; energy management is when you're going to do it

02:32So, why is all of this important? It's important to maximize your energy because you perform best when you're doing things that energize you

02:39If we're able to spend most of our time doing work that energizes us and we know when to do specific types of work throughout the day depending on our energy levels, magic will happen, and we will reach the highly coveted state of flow

02:51Oh, I'm having too much fun! And, as always

02:59The best use of our time is to focus on things we can control, which is something like our energy, versus things that we can't control, which is something like time

03:06Energy audits help us identify activities that give us energy and drain our energy

03:15They help us understand our fluctuating energy levels, which is totally normal, as well as the seasonality of life

03:22It helps us choose what to focus on and when to do it so that we can replenish our energy and take better care of ourselves, to be our best and most productive selves

03:31I can't with myself sometimes

03:33Within the energy audit, the first and most important thing is to identify which activities give you energy and which activities drain your energy

03:46So, with this, we're going to go

03:49With a trusty graph that you can DIY yourself at home, I'll share with you guys a quick blog on how I track my energy levels throughout the day

03:58In the beginning, it might feel weird asking yourself, "How do I feel right now? Do I feel energetic or tired?" But I think with time, the more you practice, as with anything, it will get easier and easier

04:10 Morning, friends

04:12Ah, my energy level currently is above average

04:14It's actually pretty high

04:18Feeling pretty good, feeling quite energized

04:21Okay, since I woke up a little later, I didn't have time to read today, but as you guys just saw, brushing my teeth and washing my face—such small tasks, such small things—make me feel so awake, so alive

04:43 This is what I'm having for breakfast

04:48I don't always have time to make breakfast like this, along with a very beautiful green juice, but I do try to eat at least a little something because I know if I don't eat, my blood sugar drops, and my blood sugar drops, I become a little angry girl, and the workday starts

05:06Here is calling into a team meeting, quick lunch, and my energy graph audit for that specific day

05:14As you guys saw, my day started off relatively high

05:18After washing my face, I got a little peek, and because I usually do Qigong for 30 minutes to an hour every afternoon, I think it maintains my energy until it naturally dies down

05:32As my one act of self-care tonight, I journaled

05:34And just for reference, this is what my day looked like previously, so every day could look pretty..

05:42Different from day to day, so that was how to graph out your energy levels throughout the day

05:46If that's a bit too abstract for you guys, there's one more prompt that you can try

05:51This is James Clear's Habit Scorecard

05:52What you do is, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, write down every single thing that you do, no matter how small it is

06:00And at the end of the day, go through your list and give every single activity either a plus, a minus, or a neutral

06:07This whole process is very personal

06:10For some people, waking up and turning off the alarm can be a very neutral thing, but for me, that would be like a giant plus, because I snooze for hours

06:18I can snooze for hours, so again, everything is very personal, and I'm going to..

06:21I read something from James Clear's newsletter when he talked about the habit scorecard because I think this is really important

06:30As you create your habit scorecard, there is no need to change anything at first

06:32The goal is to simply notice what is actually going on, observe your thoughts and actions without judgment or internal criticism

06:39Don't blame yourself for your faults, don't praise yourself for your successes

06:43The process of behavior change always starts with awareness

06:45Strategies like pointing and calling and the habit scorecard are focused on getting you to recognize your habits and acknowledge the cues that trigger them, which makes it easier to discover which habits you should change and respond in a way

06:51That benefits you

06:58The second part is understanding that energy levels fluctuate and there are seasonality patterns in our lives

07:04Seasonality in our lives means that our habits may shift and change depending on the ebbs and flows, and the peaks and valleys of your life

07:14As a baseline, I feel like we all believe our energy levels are fixed, and that this is how I should feel every single day, every single moment of the day

07:21So whenever we dip below, we're like, oh my god, why do I feel this way? Why am I not happy? Why am I not motivated? Why am I not productive? In reality, our energy levels actually fluctuate throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the month, and throughout the year

07:38Maybe you moved, maybe you started a project or a new job

07:42That is either less or more demanding than it was

07:44Maybe it's the time of the month, or maybe you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed

07:50Different seasons demand different outputs as well as inputs, so it's just something to keep front of mind when we're talking about managing our energy

07:56The third thing is a locus of control—having the choice to do things when you want to do them or knowing when is the right time to do certain things at a specific time

08:06The choices that are most powerful in generating motivation are decisions that do two things: they convince us we're in control, and they endow our actions with greater meaning

08:15When we realize we have choices, a part of our brain called the striatum lights up, and it's responsible for..

08:22Motivation or lack of motivation when we're faced with a task—studies have also shown that when individuals believe they are in control, they tend to work harder, push themselves more, are more confident, and overcome setbacks faster

08:33Believing you have control over the events of your life, as opposed to external factors that are beyond your control—also known as locus of control—is very, very important

08:42Within the element of choice as it pertains to energy management, there's also prioritizing and knowing what's most important to you because it's something that you have to choose as well

08:55But you need to first know what those things are before you can choose to do them

08:59Remember the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your output..

09:01It is produced by 20% of your input

09:01Here's a quick refresher: there are 24 hours in a day

09:06If you sleep or have me-time for about eight hours, you're left with 16 hours

09:11Twenty percent of 16 is about three hours

09:12So, what will you prioritize during these three hours? Now that we've identified what gives us energy and what drains our energy, and we understand that there are seasonalities in our life, and that it's totally fine for us to feel like this sometimes, and that the element of choice is very important, we've reached the fourth thing, which is to replenish

09:34 We're going to be talking about the self-care toolkit

09:38With your graph, you've identified your peaks as well as your valleys

09:42Now's the time to pinpoint when you have a dip, why you have a dip, and how

09:48To maintain the peaks for a little longer and to minimize your valleys, say you're someone who easily gets a food coma after lunch or even dinner

09:55You know that these moments when you feel heavier and tired are when you're more susceptible to scrolling endlessly on your phone or Instagram, or watching shows on Netflix

10:02This could be a good time to opt to go outside for a walk or to do some sort of self-care activity that could help prevent the dip from lasting as long as it usually does

10:13I generally experience another dip after dinner, around maybe eight or nine, and it happens mostly because it's been a long day, I've been up for many hours, and I think it's time to go to bed

10:26So, when I meditate during this time or journal, Or when I read again, it brings my energy level back up

10:31Energy, in this sense, I should have clarified earlier in the video, is not like caffeine energy where you're like, "Yes, I come away." It's more about being able to be present

10:39And when you're present and grounded, you're able to focus better on the things you're supposed to be doing, and your attention is less divided because you're just present and focused

10:48All that to say, it's helpful to have a repertoire or a toolkit of self-care habits you can fall back on, like exercising, journaling, and/or meditating

10:56These give you energy, and you can choose to do at least one of these every morning to give yourself that first initial boost, or throughout the day whenever you need it

11:06Experiencing a dip? Maybe you can swap in one of these things or just choose one of these things to do

11:11It's better to choose and commit to doing one thing and doing that one thing well, as opposed to doing a bunch of things half-heartedly

11:16I think that's the trap I fell into personally, where I felt like I had to do all of these things—meditate, journal, qigong, exercise—doing all of these every single day

11:26But my heart wasn't really in it, so I wasn't really retaining the information I was reading, I wasn't fully getting the benefits of meditation because my mind was half in and half out

11:36One thing, do it well

11:38And if you can do more, amazing

11:41If not, at least you did one thing

11:42 In summary, first, pinpoint the dips, second..

11:45Reflect on why it's there and look for patterns for where and how your energy is drained

11:51Third, see if there's a way you can take better care of yourself during those dips, because this is our body's way of telling us to either slow down to feed it, to take a break, or to reconsider if it's important and imperative to do this very, very draining task

12:03All right, so here’s James Clear's cycle of improvement

12:07In this video, we dive deep into the awareness stage and dabble in deliberate practice

12:13Take the next week to monitor your energy levels and how they fluctuate throughout the day, just by observing it

12:18Next week's video, hopefully coming out on Friday

12:22I want to try to be a little bit more consistent with videos

12:23I’m sorry I haven't been as consistent lately

12:25Consistent

12:27We'll talk about how we can turn these findings into actionable items

12:28We'll also be discussing the four dimensions or buckets of energy, as well as how to establish specific rituals and habits to renew and replenish our mind, body, and soul

12:38One very important thing to remember is that things take time, and that's okay

12:44For as much as we want ourselves to change overnight, it's probably not going to happen

12:50It might take a week or even weeks for you to understand your habits and their patterns, and that's totally fine

12:54The real payoff is that you'll understand yourself better, and I feel like awareness, self-awareness—knowing who we are, knowing what gives us energy and what drains us—just knowing ourselves is so important

13:05Underrated, and it's so important, and it will do so much for us and help us work smarter, not harder, so that we can be our best selves, be kinder to ourselves, and cherish ourselves more because self-love is important

13:11We're all about that

13:17I want to give a huge shout-out to Audible for sponsoring today's video

13:23If you guys have been following my journey for a while, you know I’ve been inhaling books via Audible, so this should be no surprise

13:31I want to give you guys three audiobook recommendations as it pertains to today's video

13:35The first is *Smarter, Better, Faster*

13:36I actually have a physical copy of this book

13:38It's from one of my favorite authors, Charles Duhigg

13:42He also wrote *The Power of Habit*

13:45I love the way he writes and how much research he incorporates

13:49and study are in his books, but how easily digestible he makes the data, the scientific parts, and the stats, because sometimes some authors can be very dense, dry, and dull

13:56But not Charles Duhigg; I am a fan

14:00Another book, of course, is *Atomic Habits*

14:02I have it back here, as you guys know, all about habits

14:07This is where I create my system versus goals video

14:09This is the book that I reference the most

14:11I feel like these days, whenever I talk about productivity and building habits, it really teaches you how tiny changes can lead to remarkable results over time

14:19So I highly, highly recommend that book

14:21The last book I want to recommend is *Essentialism*

14:24Also, one book that has drastically changed and shifted the way I view the world

14:32This book..

14:40It is also read by the author, so I just feel like when a book is read by a narrator, even though the narrator may have a better voice or it may sound better, or it's a little bit more professional, I feel like when authors read their own books, it gives it more soul because they’re the ones who wrote it

14:47They know the story in it, they know how to say certain parts in the way they want to say it

14:52So I think it's fantastic

14:54With all of that, if you guys are interested in checking out any of these books, you can visit audible.com/rowena or text ROWENA to 500-500

14:59If you guys aren't familiar with Audible, they are the leading provider of spoken word entertainment and audiobooks, ranging from bestsellers to celebrity memoirs

15:09Self-development beyond books; they also have podcasts, wellness guided programs, sleep programs with Nick Jonas and Diddy—it's pretty cool and theatrical performances, A-list comedy, as well as exclusive Audible Originals

15:20I mostly use it for listening to books, but there are a lot of things you can explore with your membership

15:29So, if again this is something you guys want to check out, visit audible.com/Rowena or text REWIND to 500-500

15:35And with that, thank you so much for joining me, thank you for being part of the Sweet Potato Fam, thank you for watching all the way to the end

15:45If you watch all the way to the end, give me some sweet potatoes and hearts in the comment section—maybe there will be none, maybe there will

15:52There might be a lot

15:53We shall see

15:54Hug, hug

15:55As always, I hope you guys are having a beautiful day

15:56I just started thunderstorming outside in New York right now, but you know what? Hey, it's okay

16:04It'd be like that sometimes, and it is so hot

16:06Alright, I feel like a new woman, just by the way, with my hair cut this short

16:11Okay, bye.