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October 18, 2011 12:48 PM   Subscribe

Looking for advice to better manage my mental energy so I can accomplish more.

I want to accomplish more. I’m doing pretty well, and I am accomplishing more than I did several years ago, but now I’m right around my maximum sustainable capacity and things are starting to slip so I’m looking for ways to achieve all my goals.

Right now I’m working full time at a challenging job. I’m also working on a Masters - 1 night class at a time. And I’m in a relationship, which naturally takes time and some energy (especially since I’m a bit of an introvert). And I try to exercise regularly and eat reasonably to avoid weight gain. Those are the big things I’m working on, so I’m fairly busy. And I’ve made improvements - I spend a lot less time taking breaks by browsing Metafilter during the work day, and I’m not too bad about setting aside time at night to do schoolwork.

Yet I want to accomplish more. For instance, while I’m more or less balancing these needs, I’m gaining weight because I’m running out of the mental energy to eat well and exercise regularly. I used to exercise 4-5 times per week pretty consistently, now I’m down to 2-3 times and eating whatever comes my way. If I ramp up the workouts, I find myself rolling into work late or skipping homework. It seems that I'm at or just above capacity and any addition will result in me slipping in other areas, so I'd like to add a little capacity and I'd like your tips (or stories explaining why my question is misguided).

It’s not a time issue. I have the time, but I don’t have the mental energy to make myself do all the work I have lined up including living healthily. After work I have a few hours before I need to go to bed. If I were a machine, I would immediately work out in the morning or immediately after work, and spend an hour on homework in the evening before personal time and bed. But I work 10 hour days, and that’s not going to change (the whole point of this post is to work 10 hour days and accomplish my other stuff too) so once I’ve done work + either my workout or my homework, I’m drained and left with just an hour in which to talk with my girlfriend and do anything I want to (read, Facebook, etc). Sure, I could force myself to do that schedule (wake up at 5:30 AM to work out, go to work, do homework, no rest until 8 PM when homework is done), but I have found that I can’t keep that schedule up - after 12-13 hours of forcing myself to do stuff instead of relaxing (e.g., Internet fun) my self-control is drained and trying to force myself to work even more results in frustration and little accomplishment. And with such a schedule I rapidly fall into bad habits like killing time in the morning (to make up for lost relaxation time) and showing up late for work.

Since I'm running out of mental energy and self-control to do all of these things, I've had to de-prioritize something, and it's been living healthily. Sometime I have to skip workouts to get to work on time, or to make time for homework. And instead of spending time and mental energy getting good food, I eat whatever is available. In a sense, this is working - I'm on top of all of my other responsibilities. So I'm just barely unable to keep handle everything - if I can get just a little more done, I can do everything I have on my plate.

So: what are your methods of increasing the amount of stuff you can do in a day?

Please no "if you work out every day, you'll get more done" as if it were a magic panacea that'll fix everything. Yes, I've heard this before. And I've tried using workouts to fuel productivity. While I feel better after a workout, I am no more productive after - and it's takes up an hour and some energy that I can't spend on other things. Working out to feel better is a good idea and I want to do more of it, but I've already tried working out daily without changing anything else and it didn't fix the capacity issue.
posted by Tehhund to Health & Fitness (11 answers total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have the same problem and I actually get frequent colds etc when I try to fit more in. I anxiously await other answers!! I think the only answer is prioritize and it's terrible but something does have to slip unless you are a 4hr sleeping genius. Hope someone else has a better solution.
posted by bquarters at 1:03 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'm an introvert and the mental energy of daily living drains me. I cannot be super productive 2 days in a row (although maybe this has nothing to do with being introverted). I try but I fail miserably. So, I'm happy with being productive every other day. Yesterday I did a ton. I was up early and went to bed exhausted and hardly sat down in between. I exercised, ate healthy, crossed everything off of my to-do list and even got some stuff crossed off today's to-do list last night! Today, I'm pretty useless. I've not eaten very well (thank you rice krispy treats!). I've only gotten the minimum done so far and I expect it to only get worse as the day goes on. But, I feel like today is my day to gear up for another productive day tomorrow.

So, my advice is not to be so hard on yourself. I have a little motto in my life and it goes something like this "do what you can when you can." When you have some extra time and extra energy, try to grab onto it and accomplish something. When you are feeling drained and can't take on more, that's okay too.

Maybe instead of focusing on doing everything every day, focus on doing it every other day.
posted by Sassyfras at 1:14 PM on October 18, 2011 [11 favorites]


I'm juggling a lot right now too, and while I'm not the queen of healthy living, I've found a few things that have helped me fit more stuff in.

-having some frozen meals that are easy to grab and heat. These can def be healthy, especially stuff like chili or stew that you can make in one big batch and portion out! Plus it can be set and forget if you have a slow cooker. Takes some of the pressure off cooking healthily

-asking for help. Does your girlfriend maybe have time to help with groceries/cooking? My bf is a lifesaver for me when I can do homework while he cooks.

-setting aside specific time to unwind. I come home and say "for 30 minutes I'm going to goof off/relax, then I'll do homework, etc" This specific built-in down time has made it soooo much easier for me to be productive in the evenings.

-breaking things into smaller tasks. This one might not be as helpful for you but my classes are all online, and I take a couple of minutes here and there at work to set up documents for papers I need to write, or pull reports that I'll read later for essays, etc. The little things can expedite your work when you have more time to devote to it.

(dunno if this one is an option) - it got a LOT easier for me to fit my reading in when I starting taking public transportation more. I'm going to where I need to be and getting stuff done too

Hope this helps! I'm going to keep an eye on this thread to see if I can pick up more tricks :)
posted by brilliantine at 1:41 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I have similar issues. What I do is tell myself that I can't control how I feel, but I can control how I act.

It's also helpful to remember that it's far from a settled question, philosophically, whether mental activities produce physical activities or physical activities produce mental activities. The commonsense view is that mental states precede and cause physical actions; however it's very possible that willpower isn't the thing that enables you to exercise but is the feeling that results when you are engaging in exercise.

Another approach that works when all else fails is to gorge yourself on the trivial empty stuff you think you shouldn't be wasting time on. Force yourself to do nothing but engage in leisure activities for a week or two and you'll be itching to get back to more productive labor. Kind of like eating nothing but candy will leave you hungering for nutrition.
posted by Nahum Tate at 1:44 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: it got a LOT easier for me to fit my reading in when I starting taking public transportation more

Couldn't agree more - back when I took the train this was a huge help. Now I'm consulting and have 2 4-hour drives each week to and from the site, so I convert my course materials into ebooks and let my Android phone read them to me (via Moon+ reader). It's an amazing time-saver, and it's one of the reasons I'm catching up on homework. Otherwise I'd be drowning and this question would be different :).
posted by Tehhund at 1:52 PM on October 18, 2011


Best answer: I take self-control out of the equation as much as possible and replace it with habit. Or I don't give myself a choice at all. Examples:

- My commute became my workout. I either bike or walk to work, every single day. It does take slightly more time, but as it becomes ingrained as a habit, I don't even think about the extra time, it just automatically becomes that's how long my commute is.

- I only keep healthy foods around. I don't even buy it. I don't shop when hungry, and I don't let myself get too hungry (thus tempting myself to grab fast foods). I give myself permission to spend more on groceries and buy healthy, convenient frozen and packaged foods rather than making myself cook from scratch. (Which I just don't have time to do.)

- I have set study times. I study a little bit each day and start early so I don't have to cram at later points or spend lots of time on a subject.

- I let stuff go. E-mails go unanswered for awhile, my place is a mess. You can't do it all. If you have money you can outsource cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.
posted by unannihilated at 2:04 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I agree with Sassyfras that acceptance is the key, and learning not to beat yourself up for not doing everything you'd really like to. (Please note - I say this as someone who aspires to all the below, not as someone who achieves it!).

I think "doing nothing" on a regular basis is massively underrated as an important part of what keeps us on the road, mentally and physically. It's easy to discount it as not being productive, but it's necessary. Life's not just about being productive. It sounds like you're doing a huge amount already by most people's standards, and your brain and body need a little time (on top of just sleep time) to unwind, consolidate, rest.

Maybe, rather than achieving more, you could recalibrate your expectations and be more content with what you do achieve? Exercising two or three times a week sounds impressive to me; working AND studying also sounds pretty high on the achievement scale; eating healthily every day rather than just quite often would also be a big achievement, and one I'm sure few people manage.

tl;dr If you've reached your limit, you've reached your limit, and it's important to recognise it when you reach it. You're not a factory, you don't have to measure your success in terms of productivity.
posted by penguin pie at 2:33 PM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]


Pack a very routine lunch which includes your 5 different fruits/veg for the day. Raw fruits and vegetables are surprisingly not-boring, as a lunch.

Also include really good bread, and really good cheese. Finish with a couple squares of good dark chocolate and a container of Ambrosia custard.

Drink only water during the day. Get a large jug with a sealable lid, take it to work with you on Monday, fill it at the start of the day, and take it home on Friday.

In the mornings, try and eat a bowl of oat-based cereal for breakfast.
posted by tel3path at 3:00 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Seconding the frozen food suggestions. I also keep almonds, lara bars, etc. at my desk at work.

I'm similar in that I only get an hour maybe two a day with my boyfriend after I'm done for the day because our schedules don't sync up at all. As soon as I get home or maybe after dinner we've been going on walks, 30-45 minutes that way we can spend time together and still kind of work out. It's not that vigorous but you could always run together, power walk, etc. Also after the walk I feel way more energized after getting fresh air and am more likely to be more productive.

Also, you don't have to work out every single day. It doesn't seem possible on your schedule. Maybe try to find a class that's 2-3 times a week that you really like (for me it's a 8:30 yoga class) that you'll wake up (or stay late) to go to. You'll look forward to them and since it's not every day you won't burn out so quickly.

Sometimes when I find I'm losing mental power and have a paper or something due the next day, I do the 10/2 thing. Set a little timer on your computer that goes off every 10 minutes and every time it goes off take a break, even if you don't want to. You end up getting annoyed by the breaks and actually wanting to work but it frames work so it doesn't seem so arduous because you're constantly thinking "hey it's only 10 minutes then I get a break."
posted by ad4pt at 3:28 PM on October 18, 2011


I have exactly the same problem, and I've kind of solved it by letting things slide, but letting DIFFERENT things slide each week. So this week, for example, I'm focussing on going to the gym and eating well, and if I don't get as much written as last week, that's no big deal, because NEXT week is the one where I will write tons and keep the house clean and maybe I won't get to the gym every day.

Just make sure that every thing that you want to keep up with gets into rotation three weeks out of four in a month, and you won't get too behind.
posted by lollusc at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


Check out Your Brain At Work.
posted by gentian at 8:42 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


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