Are you a freelancer struggling with time management? In this video we're going to explore a) the difference between time management and energy management, b) why this is so important for your freelance business, and c) how you can take action on it no matter how busy or time crunched or burned out you may be.
Quick overview of what's in this video...
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:40 Time management vs energy management for freelancers — what’s the difference between them?
- 1:45 Why is the differentiation between time management and energy management so important… and why do you need both time management and energy management?
- 4:40 3 things you can do to take ACTION on this, and maximize both your time management AND energy management as a freelancer
- 8:50 “What if I don’t have any time? I can’t do this because I don’t have the time!” — Why this is a non-issue
Transcript:
Time management versus energy management: What exactly is the difference between them?
Time management is really about looking at everything by the clock or by the day or the week. It's very practical and very sort of technical. How long does a task take to accomplish? Where does it fit into my schedule? How could I batch this with other tasks? All of those types of questions come up…
Whereas energy management is much more about, “how are my creativity levels? What can I do to boost them? Do I have the brain space to do this task, not just the amount of time set aside, but the actual bandwidth and capacity to do it? How much recovery time do I need after doing a given task?” All of those types of things.
So it's really looking at your exhaustion levels: How tired are you? Your burnout, your creativity, all of those types of pieces.
So why does this differentiation matter so much between time management and energy management?
Well, the thing is, it doesn't matter how much time you free up if you are too exhausted to make use of that time. If you are too tired to enjoy that time or use it to the fullest, however you might want to use it, then what's the point of freeing it up? What is the point in saving time, if you're not going to use that time, the way that you want? What is the point?
Now some people might have a lot of time availability, but really low energy levels. They might have tons of time, but they don't have any energy and therefore they can't use that time.
Other people might have a lot of energy, but their time management is just like all over the place and they don't have any room in their schedule to use that energy for the things that they actually want to be doing. So you really need both time management and energy management if you want to make awesome progress on your business goals, while still prioritizing and creating abundant space for your personal goals and your lifestyle wants and needs.
Focusing only on one or the other time management or energy management will severely limit you and it will likely lead to burnout or disappointment or frustration or even giving up on your dreams. We don't want any of that. This is also why my signature e-course, Productivity Powerhouse, is specifically designed for freelancers just like you who want to free up 10 hours a week and have the capacity and the energy to make great use of that time however you desire.
In that program, we use both time management and energy management: practical action steps rooted in the emotional and mental bandwidth so that you can make more progress on your goals faster and more easily and more enjoyably than ever before.
Productivity Powerhouse actually includes an entire section specifically on energy management, including burnout management and prevention strategies and sample plans for navigating that, how to determine your energy boosters and detractors, an energy tracker template, all of that stuff.
And we also have a whole section on time management. The entire program has time management and energy management woven throughout it so that you can, again, save 10 hours a week, every single week, while also increasing your energy levels — so that you can use that 10 hours a week however you want it. Whether you want to use that in your business, whether you want to use that in your hobbies or your personal life or anything else!
How can you actually take action on this, now that you know the difference between time management and energy management, and now that you know that you really need both of them as a freelancer? If you want to be successful with your freelancing business, while also enjoying a really good work-life balance, you absolutely need both time and energy management.
How can you take action on that? And how can you take action on it even if you are super busy or burned out, or if you're just really crunched for time?
There are three things you can do…
FIRST: For everything that you are doing in your business, ask yourself, “What happens if I don't do this?”
That's really going to help you identify which tasks you can let go of and remove from your task list, even if it's temporary. Even if it's only for just one day or one week, or one month or one quarter. What can you remove from it? SGo through everything you have on your list, just kind of check in and ask yourself, “what would happen if I did not do this task today?”
And that will again help you to kind of determine, “is this actually important? Do I really need to do this or can I maybe remove it? Maybe I don't need to do this?” …Which will then free up that brain space and the time and be able to kind of start looking at things from a new perspective. So that's the first thing.
SECOND: Track your time and your energy.
Do you even know where your time goes right now? In all aspects of your business?
Maybe you are working with clients with your freelance business where you are charging by the hour. So you're being paid an hourly rate. In that case, you are probably tracking your time with your client projects. That's great. But what about when you are not working on client projects? Are you tracking your time? Do you know where your time goes when you're not doing client work?
Start tracking your time elsewhere as well so that you can start to see the patterns for yourself. I would also recommend, again, tracking your energy: Do you know how much energy you have on a given day? Do you know when you have more energy, what boosts your energy and detracts from it?
You want to be able to use that information to adjust your plans and your schedule and even your business structure accordingly.
THIRD: Join my Productivity Powerhouse e-course!
Inside Productivity Powerhouse, you will do a time audit and energy audit. You will use time management tactics that actually work for you rather than just copying and pasting what other people are doing — because what works for them might not necessarily work for you. 
You can also get access to a productivity magic audit as part of Productivity Powerhouse to really pinpoint those areas of improvement within your business. And you will also make very small but powerful, really powerful tweaks to your business structure and to your business model that will just instantly free up your time and energy.
Productivity Powerhouse is the best place to take action on this. If you want more time and more energy in your business and your life, that is what Productivity Powerhouse is designed to do. It will improve your time management skills, improve your energy management skills, free up your time and free up your energy; that is specifically what this e-course is designed for.
And it is built especially for freelancers! It is the only program of its kind that is designed for anti hustle productivity for the practical time management side of things as well as the deep mindset and energy management sort of side of things, specifically for freelancers just like you.
There you have it. Now you know the difference between time management and energy management, why that differentiation is so important, why you need both time management and energy management in your life and business, and what you can do to take action on it.
I will also mention that people in Productivity Powerhouse, often when they first join the program, they're hesitant to join it because they're thinking “I don't have any time; I can't do this e-course because I don't have time.” And yet, Productivity Powerhouse still makes a huge difference for them!
People come to the program and they are experiencing really severe burnout. I've had people who were in the hospital because their burnout was so bad. And then they started Productivity Powerhouse and it really helped them.
Productivity Powerhouse is designed for you even if you feel like you have no time, you have no energy, and you don't even have the capacity or the bandwidth to do anything about your time and energy to increase them. Productivity Powerhouse is designed for you, to help you.
If you don’t have the time or energy to do this program, then that is the exact sign that you DO need to join this program.
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Don't forget to attend my free on-demand training, Anti-hustle Secrets to Solopreneur Success. It teaches you a whole lot more about how to fix your solopreneur problems so that you can skyrocket your success, PLUS you'll get a little sneak peek of Productivity Powerhouse while you're at it. Enjoy!