“Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance…Gallup found that after six months on the job, only 38 percent of employees remain engaged. After three years, the figure drops to 22 percent.”

—The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

The energy and power to fully engage at anytime during the day but especially during stressful times of the year when accounting deadlines loom is key. Here are some simple yet effective solutions from The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz that can effectively increase your ability to get things done.

Each one of these ideas is very simple. What makes them powerful is their impact on everyday life and the energy to engage fully. The post is only a primer, the book is a very rewarding and worthwhile read.

The principles of the book are based upon expanding capacity in a systematic way gleaned from working with top athletes. The writers have found that top athletes perform statistically much better when they go all out in bursts and then rest. The cycle of going and resting is a natural energy pattern that can be leveraged within every day tasks.

Engaging fully takes away the need to spend more time on getting things done. The energy you bring to each task is much more robust and fulfilling thereby making it easier to get things done in less time. If you need to think about it in terms of profit, if you spend less time doing a task you make more money overall.

Take breaks. This can be one of the hardest to do especially when you are busy but it is also the most rewarding. Steven Covey talks about stopping to sharpen the saw and this is exactly what a break does.

Your mind and energy are the saw and you can cut more effectively into things to do each day when it is sharp. The key to a break is to step completely away from what you are doing, block out the time and do something that inspires you.

Especially when you are drop dead busy your mind and body need not just to stop doing but do something deeply inspiring. This can be anything from going to the local bookstore around the corner to taking a brisk walk a couple of times around the block.

What you do during the break is up to each person to figure out. Experiment until you find just the right activity and stick to it even when the flood is at the gate.

Exercise. Another key component that can be combined with the break you take is exercise. The benefits of exercise are around us each day so much that the word has become too large for the average person.

This is due in no small part from people telling you what exercise is and isn’t to be healthy. Keep it simple and let it be about getting your body moving.

Forget about how much time and how fast your heart should be going. Walk around the block, up the stairs, with friends, bike, jump up and down, anything to get your body out of your chair and moving.

Eat regular healthy meals. Think good food for your body rather than diet. There are books written on the subject, read one or two, figure out what works for you and stick to it. The key is to eat so you have sustained energy levels rather than spikes of up and down.

Develop a routine. By developing a routine that incorporates each of these points you take away the need to think and rationalize away doing them at all. Incorporate them into your calendar as if they were a meeting with an important client, the only difference is the client is you.

The last key to all of this is to listen to what your body and mind need rather than just pushing aside these messages so that you can get one more task completed. When you spend at least one month with a routine with each of these in place there are energy benefits that are more sustainable and rewarding than your daily cup of coffee.

Have your own experience with some great routine guidelines? Write a comment to share with other readers.

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