A few months ago I wrote a piece about riding the waves of life. It discussed how our energy levels (and our productivity, happiness and motivation levels) fluctuate on a regular basis. Whether it is monthly, weekly or even daily, these fluctuations can have a very considerable influence on the way we live our lives. At the end of that post I declared I was going to experiment with ways of trying to influence energy levels so that I would have less dips, more peaks and greater balance. It took several months but here, finally, are my suggestions:

* Don’t multi-task

Despite it being the done thing in business circles to focus on multi-tasking as a way of boosting productivity, humans aren’t actually very good at it. What’s more it takes the average person twenty minutes before the brain starts to focus in on a task. If you start juggling with other work at the same time, that figure will only increase. This is all before you even consider the amount of extra mental energy
required to multi-task.

* Get plenty of sleep

Some people are early birds, some are night owls and then there are others (like myself) who are somewhere in between. It’s just like some of us are tall, thin or blonde. One common productivity tip is to get up early, so you have more time to do stuff with less distractions. That’s great if you are comfortable getting up at 5AM, but for the rest of us it will cause an instant drain on our energy. If you are the sort of person who prefers to stay up late, use that time when everybody else is in bed to your advantage. Fit your lifestyle around your sleeping habits.

* Include leisure time

Having free time to relax and do your own thing without worrying about the time or feeling pressure to get things done is essential. However, it’s an often forgotten about part of productivity. People who swear by GTD and live it 24/7 may be very productive, but they are also the ones who constantly look drained and worn out. Be productive when you need to be and take it easy the rest of the time.

* Get regular exercise

What? Isn’t exercise a surefire way of draining your energy? In the short term maybe; after a hard workout you will definitely feel tired. However you will certainly feel a lot better for it. Now do it a few times a week and think of all the feel good vibes you will be getting. Healthy body, healthy mind after all. Compare it to maintaining a car; give it the attention it needs and it will run more smoothly and efficiently for longer.

* De-clutter and simplify

When your life is complex with many things going on, it can be an unnecessary drain physically (the amount of activity you do) and mentally (the amount of things you have to focus on). As a result you need to strip as much out of your life as possible, especially in three key areas

o Long term focus
Mission statements and long term planning is a mainstay of personal development teaching. However the same rule about multi tasking applies here. Keep it simple, focus on just the handful of long term goals that really matter to you.

o Lifestyle
Whether it be achieving a de-cluttered home, keeping track of your money or cutting out toxic relationships, streamline your lifestyle so you don’t have too many unnecessary things fighting for your time, attention and energy.

o Daily focus and to-do lists
Trim and simplify the work you have do on a daily basis. If you have to work through your inbox regularly, develop systems to streamline it. If your house is always a mess hire a cleaner. Trim your to-do lists and cut out irrelevant tasks and low priority work.

* Create balance
What underpins all of the above advice is the idea of creating balance in your life. For instance, if you are all about being productive and never give yourself a break or have leisure time you will burn out (essentially going to one extreme). Likewise if you focus on relaxation and fun you will become jaded and uninspired (going all the way to the other extreme). The trick is to find the balance between the two.

幾個月前我寫了一篇關于生活如潮涌的文章。主要討論人體能量值（生產能力，幸福和情感）在通常情況下是如何定期波動的。不管是每月，每周甚至是每天，這些波動對我們的生活都會產生很大的影響。在每個極端即將到達的時候我宣布我將用影響能量水平的方式來做個實驗，以使我的能量跌幅變小，有更多的高峰期以及獲得更大的平衡。這個實驗花去了我幾個月的時間，但是現在我將給出我的一些建議，具體如下：

* 不要同時做多項任務

盡管在商業界用關注多個任務的方式是增長生產力的定論，但是人類并不擅長于此。進一步說，就是在大腦開始關注一個任務之前，平均每個人要花去20分鐘來調整。若你將其他的工作與你原先的任務混合起來，那么這個數值將只會增加。這就是甚至在你考慮做多項任務所需要的額外精力前所需要的數值。

* 獲得充足的睡眠

有些人是早起的“小鳥”，有些人是“夜貓子”，還有些就是像我一樣徘徊在兩者之間的。就像我們有些人高大，有些人瘦小或者單薄。一個通常的提高生產力的辦法是早起，早起使你有更多的時間處理事情，不會分心。在凌晨5點起床感覺很舒適的人是非常偉大的，但是對我們來說，浙江導致能源的即時消耗。若你是喜歡熬夜的類型，那么利用你熬夜的優點使用別人在睡覺時的時間。養成適合你生活方式的睡眠習慣。

* 保證休息時間

保證充足的時間來放松或者做不需要擔心時間或承擔壓力的私事是必需的。然而，這確實一部分常常被遺忘的生產力。那些被專題困擾的，一周之內每天干24小時的人可能很有精力，但是他們也是看起來憔悴沒有精力的人。當需要的時候要充滿精力，其他的時間要學會放松。

* 有規律地鍛煉

* 什么？鍛煉就一定能消耗你的能量嗎? 也許短期內會，但經過一段艱苦的鍛煉后，你絕對會感到很疲憊。然而由于鍛煉，您一定會感覺好多了。 現在你一周內多做幾次鍛煉，想到你能得到的所有良好感覺。最終將得到健康的身體和思想。與汽車保養相比，給予它所需要的關注，汽車將會長期順利并高效的運轉。

* 整理并簡化自己的生活

* 當你的生活被許多復雜的事情纏繞的時候，不必要消耗精神上（相當于你所做活動的數量）和身體上（你需要關注的事情的數量）的精力。 相反你需要盡可能從你的生活中脫離出來，特別是三個關鍵的區域。

* 關注長期的生活

任務描述和長期計劃是個人發展教學中的中流砥柱。然而關于多項任務的同一個規則，應用在此：保持簡單，僅關注那些對你很重要的長期目標。

* 生活方式

* 一個家庭要想保持整齊，就要記錄你的消費過程，斷掉一切不好的往來關系，簡化你的生活方式，那樣你就沒有太多消耗你的時間、注意力和精力的多余事情。

* 關注每天要做的事并列出清單

* 整理并且簡化您每天需要做的工作。 如果您必須經常通過收件箱工作，開發系統來簡化它。 如果您的房子總是很雜亂那就雇用一個清潔工。 整理你需要做的名單并且刪去不相關的任務和最不優先考慮的工作。

* 在以上建議的基礎上再鞏固一點，那就是：在你的生活中創造平衡。例如，如果你一直想要高效地工作并從不讓自己停歇或休息下，那么你就會能量耗盡（在本質上走上一個極端）。同樣，如果你一直集中于放松和娛樂，你將會變得厭倦并毫無靈感（走向另一個極端）。技巧就是在兩者之間找到平衡。