By nature, life is about prioritizing activities that bring us the most fulfillment and de-prioritizing activities that bring us least fulfillment. However, there are often more things to be done than we can possibly do within a given frame of time. But time is just one aspect of the equation:

First, having more time doesn’t guarantee you will use it well— we all know individuals who seem to have a lot of time and seem to complete very few activities. Furthermore, we have all had the experience that as we become more fatigued, both mentally and physically, the likelihood of making unforced errors increases. Therefore, there are diminishing returns on our efforts as our energies are depleted. This does not mean you have to be entirely energized the entire time you are working on your business— but it does mean you have to walk the line between ‘worked-out’ and ‘burned-out.’

Second, having less time doesn’t guarantee you won’t get a lot of things done— we all know individuals who seem to get a lot of stuff done even in a very finite block of time. In fact, narrowing the time availability can provide people with more precise focus.

Therefore, spans of time aren’t the determining factor for productivity and wellness. Just like having more money doesn’t guarantee your health or happiness either. Instead, we like to think about wellbeing in terms of energy units:

Quantity: balancing the input of energy with the output of energy. If your output is high, your input should grow to match it too. It is useful to notice what activities are restorative to your energy reserves and what activities diminish your reserves. For example, spending 3 hours meeting with potential strategic partners for your business could be much more energizing for you than spending 1 hour modeling your finances using a spreadsheet.
Quality: the energy we use to complete administrative activities, compute detailed calculations, connect with key networks, and craft strategy— all these activities require different energy. Some of them come naturally to us, some of them do not. It is helpful to be aware of which activities come naturally to you and which ones do not— we will elaborate on this later in this post.
Transforms: everyone stores stress differently. Typically, people hold it as tension in certain muscle groups in their body— your state of mind and your physical experience is intimately entwined. Everyone also manages stress differently— exercising (releasing stored tension), eating, listening to music, singing, and painting, for example.

To recharge your energies: what works for you can work for others, but typically, it will be unique to you. We find it more important to be aware of how you manage your energy— quantity, quality, and transform— so you can work with your nature, not against it.