Manage your energy not your time

"Looking for a new job is like a full time job in itself!"

"I just don't have time to work on my career"

"How long is all of this going to take, isn't there a quicker way?"
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I hear you; working on career development and especially a change of role can be crazy time consuming.
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But the biggest mistake people make here is assuming that the key to this is better time management. And they'd be right to some extent but they're not taking into account the biggest factor when it comes to trying to manage time.
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Time management works even better when you also plan in energy management.
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What the flying bejeesus is energy management, Sarah??
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Let me explain....
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When you're planning schedules and deciding how much time to allocate to certain activities, we're just working with hours and minutes in the day. We know that there's a limited amount of time each day, week, month etc.
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A more effective way to plan out those precious hours, minutes and days is to at the same time consider your energy levels and use your knowledge of this to best effect.
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Energy levels can be worked out by answering two questions:
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What time of day/week do I naturally have the most and least energy?
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I know for me that most days I face the mid afternoon slump at around 3pm but I'm pretty bright and breezy from around 8ish in the morning (once I've poured enough coffee down my gullet).
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Map it out visually so you can see where you typically have peaks and troughs of what I call your natural energy.
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Next you need to answer the question:
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Which activities that I have to do either energise or drain me (or something in between)?
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I fricking LOVE to coach or teach people. With these activities I'm really absorbed in the moment, I come out of the sessions feeling energised and alert and the hours pass quickly.
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On the other hand, I would rather stick pins in my eyes than work on an Excel spreadsheet. Even the thought of that now is giving me a slight stomach churn. I feel drained working with data and it's slow going for me.
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Once you've worked out how energising or de-energising the activities are, you then do something which feels counter intuitive.
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You need to match the activities which drain you with the times when you have the most natural energy.
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My daily afternoon slump soon disappears when I have three coaching calls running all afternoon. I wouldn't dream of scheduling this time to review stats or write a dry report; that's what I do earlyish morning, when I have the most natural energy.
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So when it comes to career planning and activating, you might be facing some or all of the following:
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Tidying up your CV

Writing an application

Networking on LinkedIn

Creating content to build up your online brand

Having calls with people you haven't met before to find out more about their business

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Some of these things you might notice you have more or less appetite for. Schedule them according to the formula and Bob is your uncle!
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A reminder of the formula:
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De-energising task + most natural energy time = easier life

Energising task + least natural energy time = easier life
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Net result, you have higher productivity and a feeling that the career stuff isn't taking over your whole being!
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Try it out and let me know. I swear to you this is a game changer for both me and the clients I help.