the encouragement lounge: "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time"*

Monday, September 27, 2010

"Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time"*

This week's posts will be taken from a wonderful article "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" by Tony Schwartz (no relation) and Catherine McCarthy (Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2007).

Schwartz and McCarthy have studied efforts to help workers re-energize at work and have developed several strategies that I believe also apply to students who need to get a lot of work done in limited time (between work, family obligations and so on). So this week, I'll pull a few of the strategies they suggest and by the end of the week, I'll see if I can find a link to the full article.

Today's suggestion: "Learn to notice signs of imminent energy flagging, including restlessness, yawning, hunger, and difficulty concentrating."

I would add to that, once you see that your energy is dropping, interrupt the moment -- take a five minute walk, fold laundry, make a quick call to a friend. The trick is to be sure that your break is brief and that you get back to work.

I have definitely been able to lengthen my work sessions with this strategy. Try it, and let me know how it goes!

Cheering you on,

Harriet

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Working adult students, on my mind...

I hope this blog will be helpful to friends and others involved in a variety of endeavors. However, I created the blog with students in mind and continue to develop it with that specific group as my focus.

I believe that with the increase in evening, weekend, and low-residency programs, students are working more and more in isolation. If we were all full-time students on campus, we would have the informal support that comes with being able to go down the hall and talk with a colleague, etc. But instead, we are working late nights and weekends at home in front of the laptop.

With that in mind, I hope the encouragement lounge provides brief moments of respite and energizing connection. This does not at all replace valuable face-to-face contact. Many aspects of the academic journey can only be addressed via in-depth conversations with colleagues and teachers. And I would always rather sit down and talk with someone than to communicate online. Nonetheless, my aim is to give you one more channel for quick hits of support.