Improve Your Mental Health By Tracking Your Energy Levels
Picture this - you are working hard all week and by the time you reach the weekend you are totally exhausted. Where did all your energy go?
A couple of days later… Its Monday again and you’ve barely recovered. You know things have to change, but where do you start?
You need a way to track when and how you spend your energy. What drains you? What replenishes you?
Get the Energy Tracker template and then make it your own:
Step 1 - Build Awareness
Start by logging notable events in your week. Ideally log them just after they have finished so that your experience is still fresh.
When did they happen, what kind of event was it and how much energy did you use or gain? You can score them in a range from -2 to +2.
Add notes to remind you who and what contributed to the score. Keep it simple - you’ll be able to reflect in detail later on.
Step 2 - Review Balance
After logging your energy for a week or two, make time for reviewing what’s happened so far: What type of events did energise you? When do you get drained?
You can also see whether you’ve ended the week in positive or negative figures. How does this reflect how you are actually feeling? Have you missed logging something?
Step 3 - Reflect
This is where you will reap the benefits: schedule time to reflect on what’s happened each week.
If you’ve added notes for each event, you’ll be able to see them summarised together with the energy total for each day.
Now complete the reflection columns:
The story I’m making up for this week
Look at your notes - what’s going on? Write a story that reflects your experience of the week. Ignore whether this is objectively real or not. Focus on your subjective interpretation.
What can I celebrate? What needs were not met? What pain points were uncovered? What desires need to be surfaced?
Based on your story, can you extract elements that you can celebrate? Do you notice patterns where your needs and someone else’s needs aren’t being met? Have you identified new pain points that hold you or a colleague back? Are there any desires that are kept under cover and want to be addressed?
What might I have to do?
Based on your reflection, what might be the next steps for you? Are there actions that you could take to improve your energy levels? Are there areas that require further discussion or reflection to create more clarity?
Making It Happen
As with any new habit, starting to track your energy and reflecting on what’s happening might feel difficult. You are motivated, but there are a million other things that you need to do.
How are you going to remember to fill in the log? Can you make time for honest reflection? Who might be able to help you with taking positive next steps?
Habit research can help us here - you can read more about this in a separate article I wrote:
In essence, you will need four ingredients to create your new energy tracking habit:
Situational Trigger
Ideally an existing event that you can link your new habit with. For logging events, this could be at the end of each meeting or when you finish at the end of the day. For reflection, this could be an event you create in your calendar and you ensure that nothing else is more important.
Conscious Action
When the trigger occurs, you are going to do this action. You’ve got a copy of the energy tracker and everything is ready for you to be filled in.
Instant Reward
Your brain needs to associate this new action with something positive. A small treat will make all the difference - a piece of chocolate or something else that makes you feel good.
Repetition
It can take several months until your new energy tracking habit becomes second nature. It will feel hard initially, but the more you ‘force yourself’ to repeat your new actions, the easier it will get.
If you follow these steps, you brain will eventually automatically ‘do it’ and you’ll enjoy the benefits you get from being aware of your energy levels and taking appropriate actions.