How to Get Stuff Done When You Have Low Energy
Whether you’re not feeling well, you just started your period, or you’re pregnant and tired AF, sometimes our energy levels are just lower than normal and all we want to do is lay down and take a lil nap.
Unfortunately, we can’t always do that because life and responsibilities call so I want to share with you what you can do when you’ve got things to do but not a whole lot of energy to do them.
Normally, I come at you with lists – I give you a few tips or action steps to follow but for this post, I’m just gonna share one golden nugget that has really come through and helped me with getting stuff done when I’m low on energy.
Now I’m not here to tell you how to try and up your energy levels in this post – sometimes that’s just really hard and we don’t even care to, we just want to get done what needs to be done and be done with it.
So this tip is for those times. I’m sure you know what to do if you’re trying to increase your energy levels: get more sleep, drink more water, move your body every day, eat nutrient-dense foods, etc., etc. I love these tips – really, I do. I implement all of them in my life because wellness is a major priority to me.
But like I just said, this post isn’t for that. Because let me tell you something – during my first trimester of this pregnancy, my energy levels were a heck of a lot lower than they normally are and I truly had no interest in trying to work against my body and skyrocket them. So before I tell you what I did to help me get stuff done when my energy was low, I’m gonna tell you that the first step is getting your mindset right…shout out to Key 01 to Hustling Sanely.
Okay so you’re exhausted but you’ve got stuff to do. It’s super easy to get into this mindset of thinking things like: “Omg I’m so lazy I need to just suck it up and do X, Y, Z.”
I’m gonna tell you something right now – how you talk about yourself and to yourself matters. And it matters a lot. I don’t think anyone who reads this blog post, or consumes this type of content is lazy. So let’s reframe that to:
“My energy is low today. I know certain things need to get done. My focus today is on getting the important stuff done and doing what I can to support my energy level in the process.”
When I’m feeling low energy, whether it’s for a season (like the first trimester of pregnancy) or for a day, I like to remind myself of a few things that you’ve probably heard me say before:
- Our schedules and routines are tools, not chains.
- My worth is not defined by how many tasks I do or don’t check off my to-do list today.
- I don’t have to earn rest.
So that’s like the pre-work to what I’m about to share with you – be freaking nicer to yourself by extending grace and understand that productivity is less about doing, doing, doing all the time and more about accomplishing the stuff that actually matters.
That leads us beautifully into the exercise I want to share with you today to help you with getting stuff done when you have low energy:
Creating “enough lists” for each area of your life.
Now I’m sure I’m not the person who coined this – I’ve seen similar things floating around on Pinterest but y’all know that I like to make things as simple as possible for my brain and so I’ve put a Hustle Sanely spin on how we’re gonna go about this.
What exactly are “Enough Lists?”
Enough lists highlight what your priorities are for your current season of life. They help us to weed out anything “extra” that we may not have the capacity for right now. They help us preserve and use our energy on what matters most right now. So see, I told you I wasn’t trying to trick you into telling you I had some wild hack to make your energy levels skyrocket, but the Enough Lists tip really does help us use our energy wisely. Think of your Enough Lists as your life baseline. What is the bare minimum you can do and still feel good about how you’re showing up? Those are the things that make up your Enough Lists.
There is a time and a place to go above and beyond. We can all agree on that I’m sure. Some seasons of life require more energy than others. But sometimes I think we need to lean into doing “enough” and not feel the need to go above and beyond.
Here’s the Hustle Sanely catch to making Enough Lists though – the thought of staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank Google doc and just whipping up a list from scratch overwhelms me so maybe it overwhelms you too.
So what I suggest is creating an Enough List for each area of your life.
Here are the categories I use:
- Physical Health
- Mental Health
- Family
- Home
- Friendships
- Work
For each one of those categories, I list 1-5 priorities that are non-negotiable in my current season. If you’re a Hustle Sanely BFF, I hope this sounds familiar because you have this exact exercise in your Q3 workbook! Let me go ahead and walk you through the Enough Lists that I created to support me during my first trimester of pregnancy:
- In this season, enough for my Physical Health looks like:
01. Getting in 5 workouts a week
02. Moving my body 30 minutes every day (walking, stretching, etc.)
03. Sleeping 8+ hours every night
- In this season, enough for my Mental Health looks like:
01. Going to therapy once a month
02. Journaling 5 days a week
03. Praying and speaking affirmations over my belly every morning
- In this season, enough for my Family looks like:
01. Going on date night once a week
02. Visiting my family every other week (I like to do every week but when I’m in a full season every other week is enough)
- In this season, enough for my Home looks like:
01. Doing my HS5 tidy for 15 every day (tidy for 15 helps keep the house clean — not DEEP cleaned but tidy enough and move for 30 keeps my exercise routine healthy)
02. Ordering groceries once a week
- In this season, enough for my Friendships looks like:
01. Hosting Taco Tuesday
02. Going on a friend date once a month
- In this season, enough for my Work looks like:
01. Operating in maintenance mode (not launching new products/services and just taking care of current projects)
02. Posting on Instagram 3 times a week
03. Releasing 1 podcast episode a week
So remember, your Enough Lists are what things absolutely need to be done every single week to keep your life going.
Think about your non-negotiables to help you come up with your enough list and give yourself permission during these more energy-taxing seasons to be okay with doing just enough and not feeling bad or guilty for not doing more. Then during other seasons when you have more energy to devote to working toward new goals or whatever, you can.
In our society, I feel like we are primed to always be striving for more. I’m not here for it, lol. Sometimes life is really full and tough and we need to not push ourselves to the brink of burnout to try and keep up but instead allow ourselves to ebb and flow with our seasons of life.
So one question that I think might pop up – how often should you revisit and reevaluate your Enough Lists?
I recommend whenever you are going through a new season (moving, new job, going back to school, starting a family, planning a wedding, etc.) to peek at your Enough List and see if anything needs to shift around.
I don’t know about you, but I would much rather give my all to fewer more important things than give a half or quarter effort to a bunch of tedious/random stuff.
To wrap this up, I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes (it’s actually one of the monthly quote doodles in the 2023 planner):
“It’s okay for your best to look different every day.”
You are a human being, not a robot, so your capacity is going to ebb and flow. Be mindful of that and lean into it.
When you think of what is enough, think about what is non-negotiable right now. And I say right now because as your season changes, so will what is essential in your life.
I hope that this was helpful, and also refreshing! I know sometimes we can feel this pressure to “do all the things” and sometimes we need to remember our best, no matter what it looks like that day, is truly enough 🥰
Have you heard?! Pre-order season for the 2023 paper products (including planners) is almost here! If you are wanting to snag any 2023 products, make sure you jump on the waitlist so you are the first to know when you can grab yours!
If you enjoyed this blog post, tune into Episode 138 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to dive deeper into this topic:
