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Jory MacKay
Jory is a writer, content strategist and award-winning editor of the Unsplash Book. He contributes to Inc., Fast Company, Quartz, and more.
September 03, 2024 · 10 min read

How to protect your energy (and remove chaos from your work)


Title illustration in blues and blacks of a woman looking seren and relaxed

When it comes to improving our productivity, most people focus on finding more time. But in reality, it’s not a lack of time that’s our problem — it’s our lack of energy.

While we all have the same 24 hours in a day, how we use those hours is up to us. Unfortunately, most people’s daily allotted energy is often drained by unexpected meetings, negativity, and poor personal relationships, leaving little left for the things that truly matter.

For an example, just look at the so-called “hungry judge effect”. Studies have shown that judges are more lenient in their sentencing in the morning and directly after a lunch break when their energy levels are more likely to be high — proving that energy levels can directly impact decision making.

That’s also one of the big reasons why Planio operates on a four-day workweek. We believe strongly that it’s not the quantity of time that matters, but the quality that matters.

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If you’re finding yourself feeling overwhelmed during the workday, you might not be able to create more time — but you can protect your energy so you can make the most of the time you do have.

The day-to-day factors that drain our energy levels

Protecting your energy is a way of deploying tactics that help you safeguard your most productive moments for the tasks, events, and experiences that really matter.

By avoiding negativity, removing distractions, and setting boundaries, you maintain a state of high energy, allowing you to be more productive throughout the day.

But before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight — difficult situations, both inside and outside of work — are an unavoidable part of life. Learning to protect your energy isn’t going to make all of life’s challenges go away. But if your energy levels are high, you’ll be better equipped to handle tough situations when they occur.

In our day-to-day lives, there are so many people, situations, and events that drain our energy without us even realizing it. Let’s look at some of the most common energy-sappers:


Illustration in blues and blacks that shows a man sitting amongst bubbles each filled with one of the list elements below

Why is it so important to protect your energy? 6 benefits

While some might seem obvious, there are several great benefits that come from protecting your energy. Master the process, and these are just some of the benefits you’ll see in your work and personal life:

13 ways to protect your energy at work and in life

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work, it’s time to focus on protecting your energy levels to give you more juice for the things that matter.

Your energy is limited - make the most of it each work day!

Try these 14 strategies to help you avoid negativity, remove energy-sapping distractions, and set boundaries that help you thrive.

1. Understand what drains your energy

The people, events, and experiences that drain your energy levels will be unique to you. Before you start trying to fix what’s broken, take the time to really understand what energizes and drains you, so that you’re better placed to plan for the future.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

Step back and think about what drains and energizes you through the following lenses:

2. Tune in to your Circadian rhythm to identify your peaks

Our energy levels are influenced by our Circadian Rhythm – the physical, mental, and behavioral changes all humans experience in a 24-hour cycle. This means we’re naturally more alert at different times of the day. So, to maximize our success, we need to align with our biology!

Here are some actionable steps to help:


Illustration in blue and white of a graph showing your energy levels on the y axis and time of day on the x axis. Your energy peaks in the morning, drops to a low trough in the middle and recovers again towards the end of the day.

3. Designate “office hours” to minimize drop-by distractions

There’s nothing more frustrating than when you get into a state of flow and someone interrupts you. Not only is this unproductive, but it takes a lot of energy to get back into that state a second time.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

4. Take control of your calendar with time blocking

To help you take complete control of your calendar, experiment with time-management techniques such as time blocking. Time blocking creates a template for your day, helping you to save energy by avoiding constant context switching.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

Get started with time blocking. Check out the Planio guide on How to use time blocking to boost your productivity. Within it, you’ll find tips for:

5. Make meetings more meaningful and effective

Unnecessary meetings are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to losing precious energy. To overcome this, focus on making the meetings you have valuable, by keeping them concise, meaningful, and effective.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

6. Stay organized to reduce confusion and chaos (Planio plug!)

If you’re disorganized, you’ll spend precious time and energy trying to keep all of your plates spinning. While some people are naturally more organized than others, using project management tools helps reduce the confusion and chaos around you.


Planio screenshot showing the agile board with the tiles colored according to priority.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

Here are just some of the features Planio provides to help busy people like you stay in control of their day:

7. Don’t aim for perfection

We all want to do a good job, but there are times when striving to do the perfect job is counterproductive. Perfectionism is actually bad for our mental health, leads to unnecessary stress, and drains our precious energy.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

8. Limit distractions in your working environment

In a survey of millennial and Gen-Z employees, 36% admitted that their smartphone distracts them from their work for around two hours a day. This is just one example of how our work environment can silently steal high-energy hours from our day.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

9. Set boundaries with your stakeholders

In a hybrid world, many of us feel the pressure to be ‘always on.’ But that’s not realistic, and trying to live up to that expectation drains our energy. So we need to work hard to set boundaries with our stakeholders to create a better work-life balance.

Here are some actionable steps to help:


Illustration in blues showing a table with work quality, creative ideas and problem solving on the left side going down. Along the top from left to right there is always on, mostly isolated and intermittent collaboration. Each cell is filled with a hand as follows. Row 1: Thumb down, OK sign, Thumb up. Row 2: OK sign, downward thumb, upward thumb. Row 3: OK sign, downward thumb, upward thumb.

10. Practice mindfulness and journaling

While we put focus on avoiding situations that drain our energy, what can we do to build our own energy up? Mindfulness and journaling are both tried and tested ways to help us step back, relax, and re-energize to give us that extra workday boost.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

11. Make time for your physical health

As with your Circadian Rhythm, your biology directly impacts when your energy levels rise and fall. To help keep energy levels high, make time to maintain and improve your physical health.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

12. Restore your energy with better breaks

Everyone knows we need to take breaks to keep our energy levels high, but what makes a good break?

Here are some actionable steps to help:

To improve the quality of your breaks, plan them through three lenses:

13. Get comfortable saying no

Once you’ve put any combination of the above tips into practice, you need to work hard to maintain your energy-protecting habits. As the people around you try hard to drain your energy, learning to say no is essential to stop you falling back to your low-energy past.

Here are some actionable steps to help:

Many of us think we need more time, but we actually need to be better at managing our energy.

Your energy is limited — make the most of it each day

While many of us think we need more time, we actually need to be better at managing our energy. After all, we only have a limited amount of energy to use each day, so if we use it for unnecessary tasks, we run the risk of stress, burnout, and frustration from the things that really matter.

Whether it’s learning to say no, removing distractions, or aligning with your Circadian Rhythm, the good news is there are many ways to protect your energy. Get better control of your energy, and you’ll see your productivity, mood, and decision-making drastically improve.

And of course, when it comes to the workplace, the best way to maximize your energy and productivity is by using project management tools such as Planio. Thanks to features for task management, time tracking, and communication, you can take the stress out of the day-to-day admin and put your energy into the tasks and relationships that make a difference!

Try Planio for yourself — free for 30 days (no credit card required)