“Time is the scarcity, and it’s the commodity we can’t create any more of.”

– Jim Mitchell

Our life is essentially made up of a combination of a certain amount of time and energy. Time is limited for all of us and it fades away at the same pace. Whether you choose to do something with your time or don’t do something with it, time fades away. Whether you choose to be happy or sad, kind or angry, time rolls away for us. In fact, as we are sitting here, we are already 5 mins closer to our graves. What I am saying is that we can not control or manage time, but we can manage our life energy with the same amount of given time.

Isn’t it then more important to focus on how we can conserve our energy and direct our energy to create a greater positive impact to our lives, and ultimately to the world?

Here are the top 5 hacks and tips I found extremely helpful in some of the most common cases in our daily life to get started now:-

1. Say NO and prioritize time for more important things
   • It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the massive amount of requests from others, whether it is in your workplace or in your personal relationships, making you believe that everything is urgent and important, which seldom is the case. Instead, realize that not all tasks and requests are created equal. 
   • Saying no is an act of simplifying, prioritizing and focusing our attention on what matters most.
2. Social media detox
   • You know that time when you have been scrolling your Instagram or Facebook feed and suddenly noticed that two hours have passed? Or maybe you have fallen down the rabbit hole of Tik Tok videos and lost a few hours?
   • Spending too much time mindlessly scrolling on social media not only robs us of our limited time with real connection but can also leave us with heightened anxiety and stress too.
   • Social media detox every now and then helps us keep reality in check and helps us prioritise our energies better. One of the best things you can do for a start is turn-off notifications to keep away from distractions when you are focusing on very important tasks.
3. Use commute time to read or listen to podcast or audiobook
   • Knowledge is power, learn something new each day and get smarter than you were yesterday. If you have a long commute to work by public transportation, this can be the best time to read and if you are stuck in traffic, listen to a podcast or audiobook.
4. Nutritious whole foods to feel peak energy
   • We want to avoid foods that drain our energy, make us feel tired and sleepy such as processed foods and refined sugar. Instead, feed your body with nutritious whole foods that can help you feel your best and feel at peak energy when going about your day. Whole foods like fruits, leafy green vegetables, beans, nuts, lentils and seeds are your best friends.
5. Morning stretch or workout do magic
   •  Regular exercise and simply moving our body 15-30 minutes a day can help activate our muscle and heart, keeping our energy at its best. More so when you do this in the morning, you will instantly give your body a boost of energy and keep it energized throughout the day.

Consider this, we have only 24 hours a day, on average 50% is already used up for maintaining our basic life functioning i.e. sleep, eat, shower etc. and leaving us only 12 hours a day left to put it to good use. From the graph below, we can see that our time is finite and our energies decline as we age.

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While the only thing we have power to manage is our energies, it becomes more important to constantly think how we can conserve our life energy and how we can best use them. Or maybe also think a step further – what typically takes somebody 10 years to do that we can do in 1 year?

xoxo