The Energy Plan – Your ideal 24 hours
As a performer being physically ready to thrive at work is essential. If you’re fit for purpose physically then it makes it a lot easier to get other areas of performance in shape too.
This tool will help you build the foundation for staying in control of your energy levels, one day at a time.
What will it do?
The tool will help you focus on simple energy choices so you’re thinking about being brilliant at the basics of:
- Fuelling for what’s coming up
- Keeping hydrated to help your brain and mood
- Resting and Recovering
Use this tool for the next 2 weeks to test out the impact of the simple energy rules on you. It won’t give you unlimited energy for work, but it will make sure you understand the choices that you can make which will always help you be fit for purpose.
Three steps to take
Get focused on the things that will make the most impact for you
1. Eat for energy
Keeping your fuel levels topped up throughout the day will really help you perform consistently. Breaking your waking hours down into a few chunks, what do you know is your ideal approach to keeping topped up with energy through the day? See what energy rules you can fill in for each section.
| 0630-0930 | 0930-1230 | 1230-1530 | 1530-1830 | 1830-2130 | |
| What time/s will you eat?
What kind of things give you the right energy? |
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| What alternatives do you have that you like? |
2. Be kind to your brain.
Staying hydrated, particularly in air-conditioned offices, is an energy basic to get spot on, and is something that you’re always pretty much in control of (we haven’t found anyone who’s been stopped drinking by a colleague!).
The cost of not staying hydrated is the main thing to worry about, so lets make sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for if you choose to lose the hydration!
If you’re thirsty, it already means you’re too late… the dehydration has set in!
| 1. Impact on the brain(tick if you get any of these) | 2. If you ticked, what time of day do you notice these things beginning? | 3. What kinds of things are you usually doing at work at these times of day? What performance issues could you be opening yourself up to? |
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3. Sleep (and rest) your way to the top
If your energy levels are fuelled and you’re well hydrated, your last building block for your energy is your sleep. So, thinking again about your ideal day, let’s have a look at sleep and recovery time.
| SLEEP | |
| What’s your ideal amount of sleeping time that means you wake up feeling refreshed? | |
| What time do you need to wake up so that you can get to work in time, having had breakfast? | |
| Working backwards from your wake-up time, what time do you need to be in bed so that you get the hours of sleep you said you need above? | |
| What things help with your quality of sleep? (think temperature, light, bedding, pillows, noise levels, etc) | |
| What steps do you need to take so that more often than not you’ll get the sleep quality you want? | |
| ACTIVE RECOVERY | |
| In an ideal day, how often would you break from work to have time-out and get ready to go again? | |
| How long would these breaks be and what would you do, where would you go? | |
| Are there differences in the recovery that you need earlier in the day compared with later in the day? If so, be aware of the different needs you have throughout the day. | |
| Are you willing to build in your recovery time in your diary? If not, why not and if yes, when will you alter your diary? |
For your next 2 working weeks commit to delivering Steps 1 to 3 as well as you can for each working day, one day at a time.