One of the most common challenges I hear about from graduate students is establishing effective time management. There is a certain finesse required to move from a months-long plan to a daily one. And in a discipline like research, where things don’t always go as planned, daily or weekly schedules can be upset from any number of setbacks. So what is one to do? How should we plan our days to make effective use our time?

What I have learned to do is manage my energy, not my time. I have the same amount of time in each day, 24 hours. I do not always have the same amount of energy. Each minute lasts as long as the one before, but my energy changes throughout the day. While tasks may take time, it is our energy that we expend to accomplish tasks. Managing your energy, allows you to better plan your day and accomplish your goals. Here is my approach to managing my energy.

Learn to understand what your natural daily rhythm is. When are you most productive? When do you need to shut off? I find the first five hours of my day are the most productive. I know I have the most energy to tackle a task in that window. I also know that I need some help to get through my 1 – 2 pm slump, a nice cup of tea usually helps.

Plan your tasks according to their energy needs. Do you need to accomplish something very important today? Plan to do it when you have the most energy. Do you have some small, but essential computer work? Plan it into your low-energy times so you can enjoy some coffee while plugging away at the keyboard. By aligning the energy needs of a task with your natural energy rhythm you are ensuring that you can devote the appropriate resources to them.

Know what restores your energy. Tea and short walks. Those are the things I use to get some energy back, and to take a quick break, before I tackle something I need to accomplish. By identifying what activity helps you keep or restore your energy, you can use it as an effective break to maintain achieving your daily goals.

What does your long-term energy rhythm look like? Can you sustain six eight-hour days of work? Do you need an extra long-weekend every so often? Knowing this helps us to avoid burnout, one of the biggest challenges of working on projects that take months or years to complete. By taking care of our long-term energy needs, we can maintain our natural daily rhythm to continue steady progress.

Hopefully this can give everyone some insight into being more effective throughout our days and making the most of the energy (and time) that we have. Try planning your day around your energy and see if you get more accomplished. These are certainly not the only ways to manage energy and I would love to know if you have any strategies that you use!