How to Protect Your Energy

Author: Madalina Roman

The average person touches their phone 2,617 times per day, switches tasks every 3 minutes, and processes the equivalent of 174 newspapers worth of information daily, according to a report.

We’re operating in an always-on world that our neural circuitry wasn’t designed to handle, all while your brain desperately tries to context-switch without crashing.

So, the question is not whether or not you should protect your energy, the question is how to protect your energy.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this article:

  • How to practice “interrupt coalescing” just like a computer and deal with interruptions if you have resources;
  • How to design intentional tech boundaries and create conscious limits on device usage;
  • How to set clear social boundaries without over-apologizing and saying no effectively.
How to Protect Your Energy

Why is it important to protect your energy?

First of all, it’s ok if you’re overwhelmed and depleted. Frankly, it’s inevitable to feel drained in such highly digitized and cognitively disrupting times. We’re going through a global phenomenon that’s reshaping how we think about physical and mental health.

The speed at which we’ve been evolving as a species in the last decades has been incredible, and many times, our brains simply haven’t caught up. In our post-pandemic reality, the boundaries between work and personal life have become dangerously blurred.

One moment, you’re deep in a work project; the next, you’re on a virtual call while slacking your colleague, checking your child’s school updates, and scheduling that evening workshop – all while your brain desperately tries to stay afloat without crashing.

The cost of this constant energy drain is staggering. According to the American Psychological Association‘s ‘Work and Well-being Survey,’ 79% of employees experienced work-related stress the month before the survey in 2021.

Even more alarming, the World Health Organization reports that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. We’re not just talking about feeling tired; we’re facing a collective energy crisis that affects our health, relationships, and ability to function.

So, with all this energy expenditure and stimuli, our energy levels need to be protected and replenished, as protecting your energy is not just a self-care luxury – it’s a survival skill for the modern age.

Smart ways to protect your energy

Protect your energy in the tech environment

You’re probably aware of the mental energy consumed by checking devices and getting constantly distracted by notifications, getting caught up in the loops of algorithms, and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that technology is the devil, and I don’t think attempting to completely disconnect is the solution. It’s rather unrealistic and unsustainable. Why? I’ll take myself as an example.

There’s a notification on my phone. I initially open it to get hold of some dopamine or release the anxiety that the notification itself created for me. Now, I need to see what’s going on so I can feel better and distract myself from what I am doing. I’m easily distracted if I’m not deeply immersed in an activity, such as writing an article.

What happens next? You probably guessed it – I’m caught in an endless loop, and I’ll find myself scrolling for minutes in a row, investigating a topic, or chatting with a friend. Minutes later, it’s hard for me to refocus on what I was working on, and I’ve already consumed some of my energy reserves. I know you resonate.

However, through research and seeing how my own energy fluctuates based on how I interact with technology, the conclusion I reached is that we all need to create intentional tech boundaries.

Let’s explore some of the methods I applied so far.

Limit distractions (notifications)

  1. Constant email checking: Instead of reactively checking emails, create a structured approach that protects your focus and the negative energy generated by emails. In this case, you can delay your first email check-in until 10 AM to protect your peak creative hours and preserve your energy. As well, you can batch email checking 3-4 times a day (e.g., 10 AM, 1 PM, 4 PM).
  2. Mischievous phone notifications: If there’s something hard to avoid, that’s a phone notification. My solution to this was implementing a tiered notification system. That is, I set my phone to “work mode,” and in this mode, only some contacts can reach out to me: my family and core work members during work hours. During the work day, I intentionally deactivate the “work mode” and catch up with my notifications. Another system that you could apply for the entire day is a time-based setting, such as:
    • Morning (7-10 AM): No notifications except calendar reminders
    • Work Hours (10 AM-5 PM): Tiered notifications based on priority
    • Evening (After 5 PM): Personal contacts only
  3. Other work distractions or notifications: For other work-related notifications, you can batch or group all distractions in some buckets. In computer science terms, it is called “interrupt coalescing.” That is, you are grouping all interruptions based on priorities, and if you have resources to handle them, you tackle them at the moment; if not, add them to a queue. Our CTO is the perfect example of grouping distractions at work:

“As a CTO and head of product, managing a broad spectrum of tasks is crucial. To maintain productivity, I structure my day with a consistent routine: I dedicate mornings to deep, focused work on high-priority projects and reserve afternoons for communication and addressing urgent matters as they arise.” Manuel Zoderer, CTO, Timeular

Use technology to your benefit

How about using the good kind without negative influences? There are plenty of tools to use to strategically automate your routine tasks, and here are some practical ways to use technology for energy preservation:

  1. Automate repetitive tasks: Use tools that reduce cognitive load rather than increase it. Time tracking, expense management, and calendar scheduling can all be automated to free up mental space.
  2. Use data for better decisions: Let technology show you where your energy actually goes. When you can visualize your time and energy patterns, you can make intentional adjustments that protect your peak performance hours. For instance, in Timeular, you can see which apps are unproductive or what times of the day you’re productive or not.

Protect your social energy

Protecting your energy in social setups is equally important as with technology for your emotional well-being. Relationships of any kind greatly impact how we’re feeling, and how we’re managing them either gives us more energy or drains us.

Dr. Vanessa Bohns (Ph.D. and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University) points out that our fundamental need for social connection makes us reluctant to decline invitations or set boundaries, which leads us to social exhaustion. But here’s the truth: setting clear social boundaries isn’t just healthy – it’s essential for keeping authentic relationships and charging our batteries from social interactions instead of holding grudges and having negative feelings toward people.

So, let’s explore how to protect your energy in social interactions:

  1. Practice saying no: Saying no to someone is hard in any circumstance, let alone at work, and it’s particularly harder if you’re a people pleaser. Your ultimate aim is to reach the point of saying no without over-apologizing or making elaborate excuses. For instance, instead of fabricating complex reasons why you can’t attend an event, try saying: “Thank you for thinking of me! I need some downtime this weekend to recharge, but I’d love to catch up next week.” In a work context, you could say the following:
why I say no to work
  1. Distinguish between energizing and draining interactions: Pay attention to how different social interactions and people affect your energy. Are they giving you negative or positive energy? Toxic relationships or one-sided friendships give you bad energy, and instead of recharging your batteries, these may leave you feeling exhausted or emotionally depleted.
  2. Set boundaries: Don’t be afraid to communicate your limits clearly, such as how much time and energy you’re able to spend in certain social setups, and define your non-negotiables. Phrases like the following can help you protect your personal time:
  • “I need to protect my evening downtime to recharge, so I’ll go home now.”
  • “I value our friendship, but I also need to honor my personal time.”

Protect your energy through your physical space

Every item in your space demands a micro-decision. Should you move it? Keep it? Use it? Studies show we make about 35,000 decisions daily, and cluttered environments dramatically increase this number.

Let’s explore ways to declutter the space and filter out visual noise by clearing your surrounding physical space:

  1. Create activity zones: Working in the same space that’s designed for relaxation is not helping your brain switch modes between the two. So you need to designate specific areas for different activities.
  2. Declutter strategically: Your desk should only host items essential for your current projects, such as your day-to-day notebook and pen. Anything else, like your personal mementos, should be out of direct sight. Think of this as functional minimalism – keep only things that serve a purpose and serve your productivity.
  3. Master your lighting: Natural light directly impacts your energy and circadian rhythm; it is not only about aesthetics. It’s best to position your desk near a window if possible or invest in full-spectrum lighting.

Protect your emotional energy

In the book “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Amelia and Emily Nagoski, the two authors explain how our emotional energy is a biological response tied to our autonomic nervous system. Contrary to popular belief, emotional energy is not just about feelings.

Therefore, a dysregulated autonomic nervous system triggers stress responses and energy depletion. Let’s explore some conscious steps to nurture and recharge your emotional energy to feel more balanced:

  1. Stay present and energy-aware: Check in with yourself regularly to see what your emotional state is. Are you calm and centered or restless and overwhelmed? Stay aware so you can address any imbalance before it escalates.
  2. Take breaks: Give yourself permission to pause throughout the day to allow your mind to decompress and avoid burnout. Step away from tasks, stretch, or simply rest for a few minutes when you feel your energy dipping.
  3. Work with your natural rhythm: Align your tasks based on your natural energy cycles, and this will make a world of difference. Notice when you feel most emotionally resilient and energic, and schedule work during these peak hours. If you’re an early bird, tackle demanding tasks in the morning when you’re more alert, and vice-versa.
  4. Practice mindfulness: A 10-minute meditation that is backed by science like Yoga Nidra does wonders and restores your energy. Moreover, there are many types of guided meditations or deep breath techniques that help replenish your energy levels and calm your nervous system.
  5. Practice gratitude: Though it might be a cliche for some, having a positive lens on what’s going on in our lives and work shifts drastically our own emotions. When you take some time to acknowledge the positives, no matter how small, you’re training your mind to focus on what uplifts you.

Start protecting your energy

There’s a plethora of things that affect your mental and physical health and energy, from negative emotions to toxic relationships to stressful jobs and deadlines. You already know them, but ow it’s high time you applied some healthy boundaries and took a few deep breaths to protect your energy.