When we think of getting everything done we usually think of TIME management. But it takes more than just enough time to get through your to-do list. It also takes ENERGY.

Have you ever had something that you know you need to do, you have the time, but you do something else instead? That’s because the task required more energy than you had available. All the time in the world won’t complete a task if you don’t have the energy to think clearly, can’t take action, aren’t motivated or are feeling overwhelmed or anxious. Here are some simple and effective tips to getting it all done during this busy time of year.

1. Physical Health and Energy

Make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and drinking plenty of water. Survival trainers teach that even minor dehydration impairs judgment significantly. Lack of sleep leads to poor concentration and mistakes, so putting in those few extra hours at the pc late at night might seem like a way to get ahead but if it leaves you wasted for the following day, you’ll just get behind again. Go to bed, get some quality sleep, and start fresh in the morning. You’ll get more done and you’ll do a better job too.

Also watch out for foods that cause you to go into “energy overdraft”. That coffee or sugary snack may give you a quick boost, but will leave you flagging again later when your body decides it’s time to repay the debt.

2. Breathe Deeply

Not only to do we get energy from deeper breathing, but deep abdominal breathing reduces anxiety, leaves you feeling calm, and balanced whilst also giving you a boost so you feel refreshed and alert.

3. Increase Your Emotional Resilience

Emotional Resilience

We all have setbacks, big and small almost daily, and the quicker and easier you can bounce back the more you can achieve. If you get one rejection on a sales call, or have a minor disagreement with a colleague and you then need to spend the rest of the day licking your wounds to recover, that’s a sign you lack emotional resilience.

Low emotional resilience also leads to procrastination as you put off doing those things (like sales calls) where you are anxious or worried about getting rejected or making a mistake.

Feeling emotionally stressed causes mistakes, you become inefficient. If you have issues, anxiety or blocks of any kind then get them sorted. Otherwise they will only drain your energy reduce your efficiency.

4. Have Faith

Highly successful people always have a strong sense of faith, not necessarily religious, but it does have a spiritual quality to it. Some refer to it as being guided, or having “a thousand hidden helpers”.

Cultivating a sense of your role in a divine plan not only gives you a feeling of tremendous confidence and security, but it’s also considered to be the source of all inspiration. Many scientists have attributed their great discoveries to “divine inspiration”. Next time you are stuck or have a problem ask for help from any kind or spiritual source that feels right for you and sits comfortably with your personal beliefs. When you do this you’ll be amazed how quickly you find a truly inspired solution. Even simply sleeping on the problem can lead you to wake up with the solution right there in front of you.

5. Group Types of Work Together

Many people who run their own business get overwhelmed because they are trying to do everything all at once. Instead, group work tasks together by type. And the best categories are not based on project or topic but on the kind of thinking they require.

Broadly speaking tasks use one or the other of your brain hemispheres. The left is best suited for logical analytical tasks, whereas the right prefers creative and holistic ones.

Mixing up the kind of thinking will lead to frustration and confusion. So instead group tasks together into the hemisphere or thinking type, not project or topic. Then work in time blocks using only one hemisphere.

Right Brain Tasks

• Writing articles or marketing materials
• Creative problem solving
• Writing blogs or forum posts
• Online networking
• Inspiration or anything creative

Left brain tasks

• Financial planning
• Admin, form filling in
• Bookkeeping, taxes
• Organisation or logistics
• Uploading web copy or blogs

Notice that writing blogs uses the opposite hemisphere to posting them. So set aside time to write several blogs, and then post them at a separate time, when you are doing left brain tasks.

6.  Time Blocking

Work in blocks on time on ONE thing and one thing only. The best time period is 90 minutes as this is corresponds to one of the natural rhythms of concentration linked to cycles of brain waves (we move in and out of alpha and beta waves every 90 minutes).

Set an oven timer for 45 minutes and get stuck into one piece of work, after 45 minutes take a 5 minute ONLY loo break, stretch your legs, get a drink, then set the timer again for another 45 minutes. When the timer goes off, STOP working, even if you haven’t finished the task you’re working on. After 90 minutes your productivity will be starting to drop off, even if you haven’t noticed it yet.

Take a 30 minute break. Yes you read that right, a whole 30 minutes, go and do some yoga, read a book, meditate or go for a walk.

Then come back and work for another 90 minutes. During your 90 minutes make sure you redirect your phone, turn off twitter and your e-mail. You will be amazed that you can achieve more, by working less because you’re working with your body and not against it.

7. Schedule tasks

Put time blocks into your diary for completing particular tasks. For example if you have a large project that you know will take 2 weeks to complete, you know that you will NEVER get 2 weeks free. Instead block out “appointments” in your diary where you work on that task. This does require some self discipline as other things can seem more urgent, but it will pay off, and as you get more organised using the tips above you will find that those unexpected last minute panics happen less frequently.