Control your Energy
We often say we don’t have time, but usually we mean we don’t have energy. That’s great news because time is finite, and monotonically decreasing. Energy, by contrast, is dynamic. Activities and experiences can create and destroy energy. What’s amazing to me is how going to the gym can be energy positive.
Theory
Energy is very non-linear
You can get a blast of energy when someone smiles at you. Joy is like that. Doing nothing, like watching TikTok can be very draining. I even have a set of Kryptonite activities which drain me
Doing work, can result in more energy
It’s amazing to me that a good workout does this. So does a productive day at work.
Energy drains, regardless of if it’s being applied to do work
In fact, sometimes it deven drains worse, so care deeply about
Energy vs Will Power
Interesting - what is the difference between these concepts in my model?
Wasting energy, can accelerate the drain
- Or maybe it makes you energy weaker
Activation Energy, often far exceeds steady state energy
We can go into energy debt, but you need to always pay the piper
Think Coffee
You can reduce the energy required
- See productivity
- By having habits
- By shaping the path
- By being stronger “peak energy” capacity (think strength training)
- By building more “energy endurance” capacity (think cardio vascular)
- Q is there an analog to hypertrophy? (Influencer Videos - haha)
Energy (Arousal) vs Valence
Mood can also look like arousal and valence
quadrantChart
x-axis "Low Pleasure" --> "High Pleasure"
y-axis Low Arousal --> "High Arousal"
quadrant-1 "Euphoria"
quadrant-2 "Agitation"
quadrant-3 Melancholy
quadrant-4 Serenity
"Joy": [0.8, 0.8]
"Thrill": [0.9, 0.9]
"Delight": [0.7, 0.7]
"Excitement": [0.85, 0.85]
"Anger": [0.2, 0.8]
"Anxiety": [0.1, 0.9]
"Stress": [0.15, 0.75]
"Frustration": [0.25, 0.85]
"Sadness": [0.1, 0.1]
"Depression": [0.05, 0.2]
"Boredom": [0.2, 0.2]
"Despair": [0.15, 0.15]
"Contentment": [0.7, 0.2]
"Relaxation": [0.8, 0.1]
"Peace": [0.75, 0.15]
"Satisfaction": [0.65, 0.25]
Do we want to always be high energy?
- It’s not appropriate for the situation - A funeral is not the time to be high energy.
- It’s not sustainable - we can take in caffiene, or stimulants, but then we have to pay it back.
Cocaine? Mania? Not good.
Maximize Energy
Very similar to maximize productivity
Sleep
Match task to energy
No point spending “my high energy/will power time” on a low energy activety. It’s funny, my strongest energy is when I wake up, which seems like a waste to spend on the gym, except when I don’t spend that on the gym it makes a mess.