How I Develop My Baseline Energy Calendar

Using body-mind awareness to sustain my higher self.

Mirror Experiments. Photo by Janine Laag. June 2024.

In late 2024, as part of my yearly resolution, I asked four eighty-year-olds what advice they would give to a younger self. The answers I got made me reflect on how I manage time. I felt this way because I’ve been channeling my energy to align it with my vision of a meaningful life.

I was constantly overwhelmed, juggling back-to-back meetings, errands, social commitments, and a never-ending to-do list. I felt uncertain about how productive I was. I felt drained of energy.

The challenge wasn’t only time management. It was deeper than that—it was energy mismanagement.

The Energy Audit That Changed Everything

Productivity has been all about output and on how much we can accomplish in a day. Yet, I've come to realize that productivity begins first with understanding how my energy flows throughout the week. If I don't have the vital energy, it doesn't matter how flawless my plan is; it simply won't be effective.

To focus my efforts, I first needed to understand where my energy was going and where it should be directed. This guided me to identify two core challenges. The first was setting a baseline of how I currently spend my time. The second was figuring out what I should prioritize, delegate, or remove from my schedule.

To map this out, I created my energy calendar, inspired by insights from the book The Energy Clock. I remember the week I decided to clear my busy schedule to do this. I began by reviewing my activities from the past month and how I felt about them. 

Next, I marked the activities that energized me in green, those that felt neutral in yellow, and those that drained my energy in red. I didn’t overthink the color coding; I simply trusted my feelings after each activity. 

My Energy-Driven Makeover

I went into my calendar and started to color-code each event. I focused on body-mind awareness to better understand and enhance my energy levels. By paying attention to how different activities and choices were affecting me, I could make informed decisions that helped me maintain higher energy throughout the day.

The book aligns well with the Eisenhower Matrix. This time management tool helps prioritise tasks by urgency and importance. This matrix divides activities into four categories: 

1. Urgent and important (to be done immediately).

2. Important but not urgent (to be scheduled)

3. Urgent but not important (to be delegated)

4. Neither urgent nor important (to be eliminated).

Cutting the Dead Weight and Honouring My Higher Self

Once I knew what drained me and gave me energy, I narrowed my list. What kind of energy do I want to bring into the world? How do I want others to remember me? I asked myself. That reflection became my inner compass. I began focusing on activities aligned with my long-term vision and higher self. It gave me a clear lens of simplicity on how to better manage my energy.

I started focusing on tasks where I could make a difference. I also worked on developing the skills that excite me the most. I have started noticing something powerful. The more I honoured this alignment, the more energy I got back. It showed up in my health, emotional resilience, and how I carried myself. I started to feel more alive. 

Something interesting started happening once my calendar had more green (energizing) blocks than red (draining) ones. I was enjoying the process and began accessing flow states more often. I felt more like myself. 

How are you managing your energy right now?

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Or click the restack button if this resonates. Someone in your circle might enjoy and benefit from using the tool.