Six hacks to conserve your most valuable business asset – your mental energy

Being a business owner can be a little like being a member of the RFS over the last summer. Constantly putting out fires with no relief in sight.

You wear so many hats: chief customer officer, supplier relationships manager, IT help desk, Operations manager, staff manager and counsellor, finance, admin clerk….

All the time juggling your various roles. And doing your own job.

No wonder you can end up feeling tired, stressed, cranky pants. Quite simply you are on high alert and making decisions all the time. Your brain gets tired and you revert to default unconscious behaviours.

Your brain is an energy hungry beast

Your brain consumes 25% of all the energy that your body uses. And the executive part of your brain, the part that makes decisions is particularly hungry.

After 20-25 minutes it just winds down. Over a day you will have between 2-3 hrs of energy reserves for high level problem solving, decision making and communication. After that your brain goes into wind down, and all you are doing is reacting. Without thinking.

The 6 personal leadership hacks CEOs of multi-billion-dollar companies use

The following personal leadership tips apply to all business leaders. We are all human and we all need to conserve our vital mental energy. It’s just that CEOs of ASX 100 companies will pay their leadership coaches tens of thousands of dollars a year for this stuff.

1.       Take control of your day

It’s yours; don’t let other people fill it up with their stuff. Prioritise the important – the things that are going to really change the business, and not the urgent. Often, they are problems that can be solved by others. Empower and delegate.

2.       Have a brain dump list.

Create a list of everything that’s on your mind – all the tasks that you need to do, the mental notes you need to remember – and put it on paper or in digital form. That frees up your brain to focus on more important things. 

3.       Do things that require the most mental energy in the morning.

We have a limited amount of brain energy for the day. If you have big decisions to make or brain-draining tasks, do them first thing before your brain has become overwhelmed with the little things. (Like everything – your mileage may vary. Another time of day may work better for you).

4.       Set up routines and processes.

The more familiar a task is, the less you must think about it, the fewer decisions you need to make, and the less working memory you take up.

That’s why successful people like Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein wore the same clothes every day. They saved their brainpower for more important decisions.

And when you’re learning a new task, document it so that you can follow a process and don’t have to rely on your memory.

5.       Have set times and time limits for email etc.

Limit the amount of information pouring into your brain by having set times and time limits for when you check your email, social media and other information sources. If possible, close the applications down when you’re not using them. And turn off notifications – having your phone ding or a notification pop up on your screen when you’re in the middle of a task destroys your focus.

6.       Take regular breaks.

The science is clear. Our brains need time to relax and refresh. It leads to better business outcomes. Take frequent breaks throughout your day to reset and relax your brain. Don’t just move on to a different mind-consuming task during your break – do something different to what you were doing, like take a walk around your building, or listen to music.