Energy Tracking was the third experiment of my contribution to Dr Amantha Imber‘s new book. You can find links to the others at the bottom of this post.

This week was about categorising and tracking energy.

To make time at the end of the day to reflect and record your energy across three dimensions:

1. Physical – body’s vitality and stamina
2. Mental – focus and cognitive clarity
3. Emotional – mood and emotional resilience

The Energy Tracking Process

Essentially, take a daily average of each dimension. and note the activities and events that were most draining.

And when I say traffic light;

• Green: Functioning at your best; able to tackle challenges with ease; feeling balanced and resourceful.
• Orange: Functioning adequately but not at full capacity; managing but not thriving.
• Red: depleted; struggling to function effectively; feeling overwhelmed, foggy, or exhausted.

Some of the draining activities included working on this website, trying to upload products to the store, and deciding what to eat (see below).

Confounding Factors

I think this would’ve been a really interesting experiment…

Except, I was fighting off a cold, (you might have noticed I skipped a few posts), so overall my tracking probably wasn’t very useful.

It took next to nothing to deplete my stock of physical energy.

And that thing when you don’t feel well really saps your mental energy.

And, of course, when you’re tired and feeling brain foggy, you feel bloody sookie. (I did not need the feelings wheel to tell me I was annoyed and frustrated).

So the main thing I learned, was that emotional and mental energies are linked to physical.

Which I kind of new already, given how interested I am in eating and sleeping well, and taking sufficient exercise to make sure.

Energy Tracking Outcome

So with that in mind, I think I might try to incorporate this into my evening journalling.

I can imagine a time when I might want (and have enough money) to hire an assistant, so it would be useful to have a task list ready to go.

Additionally, burn out is a constant danger in creative industries, so it might be a useful way of seeing it coming.

And if I’m tracking what depletes me as well as what refills me (energy pennies or spoons) I might be in good stead for the next bout of burn out.

And with my quarterly planing upon me, I’ve been thinking I need to downsize my ambitions.

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