Technique 1.99 Energy Audit

Introduction

As people get busier and busier and experience greater pressure from technology disruptions and challenges like pandemics, you need to check your current routines and habits. One way to do this is to conduct a personal energy audit to identify how effective your habits and routines are and where you need to improve to reduce 'leaking' energy.

Questions

Answer the following question (12)

1. Sleep - on average, how many hours are you sleeping per night?________

2. Physical - on average, how often are you exercising per week?________

3. Nutrition - how well are you eating, ie non-processed food?________

4. Water - how many litres of water do you drink daily?________

5. Productivity - do you schedule the most important work of the day when you are freshest, ie first 2 hours of the day?________

6. Physical - how much do you walk or move during the day?________

7. E-mail - how frequently do you check your e-mail?________

8. Recovery - do you take a break in the morning or mid-afternoon?________

9. Technology - how often do you check your cellphone in the evening?________

10. Social - how many hours of daily quality time is spent with colleagues, family and friends?________

11. Spiritual - do you have a spiritual practice that helps you?________

12. Hobbies - what are your hobbies and how frequently do you 'work' on them?________

Answers

Q1 - should be in 7+ hours; if need an alarm clock to regularly wake you up, you need more sleep

Q2 - age and health determine how strenuous; it should be around 30+ minutes daily

Q3 - maximise fibre and fresh food like fruit and vegetables; minimise processed and high energy foods; smallest meal in the evening

Q4 - depending on what you are doing will determine the amount of fluid you need; you need to drink water, if you are thirsty and/or your colour of your urine is dark and/or you are experiencing a headache

Q5 - do you most important work when you are fresh; need to determine if you are a night owl (perform best in the evening) or a lark (perform best in the morning)

Q6 - should be taking a break at least every hour

Q7. - should be checking e-mails around 3 times per day, eg once in the morning, around midday and at the end of work

Q8. - around 15 minutes should be adequate

Q9 - last time you checked your cellphone should be around 2 hours before going to bed

Q10 - maximise quality time, especially in non-working time

Q11 - can provide an inner strength

Q10 - having regular hobbies that you are passionate about and frequently get involved is important

NB need to identify where improvements would have the most impact on your energy and effectiveness. Need to keep an eye on any changes, like skipping your regular breaks, doing less exercise and eating more because you are working from home and snacking on the wrong foods, etc

(source: Nick Petrie, 2020b)