Reboost myself...

A

apinaud

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I been unable to answer this little question for myself, therefore you guys are my next NA after R&D ended.

Since I start in GTD, I have been able to acomplish more things, be more productive, and acomplish more. The problem I have is that I hit an exausted stage at the end of the afternoon.

Before GTD that was the stage after 15-16 working hours, now is just after 8 or 9 hours. Yes I acomplish now more in 9 hours that what I use to do in 15-16 but around that time I am preatty much useless, I do not have the energy to do anything else, sometimes I can close everything go home and work at home for a little bit more (an hour or so) but sometimes since I get to work early (yes that is my delicious time, from 7 to 8 before people show up) I cannot leave that early, especially since I do not feel right leaving before my subordinates, no matter that I get here early.

I have been trying to find a way to boost my energy; I take a short lunch, since because of the time difference I can rarely be able to contact custumers after 4.

Is there any trick, (maybe this is not tottally GTD related, but I feel that many of us have been getting the same effect) you people do to boost your energy in the afternoon... to crawl in that last mile... to give the last push?

Or is a personal thing, and I need to understand that after energy is gone is gone...
 
Sounds like you're getting a lot of good work done... Perhaps, as others have suggested, is to have a list of "low energy" tasks you could tackle at that time (easy tasks, fill stapler, water plants, etc.), rather than finding a way to artificially boost your energy to keep up the apearance of high output at the end of the day.
 
An old-fashioned but tried and true cup of coffee might perk you up. If you're not into caffeine, you might want to try taking a walk (even if it is just around the office). Getting up and moving around for a change can give you a burst of energy. Sometimes I like to do a mini-meditation to settle my mind and refocus. There are some good, guided imagery meditations available online (I put my earbuds in for this). Finally, this is the ideal time for lower energy tasks. If you keep a list of low energy next actions, you will always have something productive to choose.
 
Online meditations????

Please post the links to those meditations. I've looked and found only a couple that I didn't really like that much.

Thanks for bringing that up! I suspect that if you read this forum long enough you'll find references to whatever you ever wanted to learn about!
 
As I've moved through middle age (mid-40's now) I've found that exercise and good vitamins (through proper diet or in pill form) are critical to keeping my energy up throughout the day. As long as the diet's good, focus on a bit of exercise to break the routine and sped up the ol' metabolism. Your productivity is impressive, but perhaps a few breaks during the routine would help you re-energize more quickly.

- MB
 
I used to work right next door to a gymnasium. At lunch time I would go in for a structured aerobics work out. In the afternoon, I went through my work like a tornado. I never experienced anything like it before or since.

The only other thing that has worked for me (but not to the same effect) is drinking loads of water through the day (I mean 6 pints/3 litres).

After that, maybe dried fruit (raisins) or, strictly in emergencies, chocolate.

Dave
 
Busydave said:
The only other thing that has worked for me (but not to the same effect) is drinking loads of water through the day (I mean 6 pints/3 litres).
Click to expand...

Definetely. When we had that heat wave last summer in Europe, I had to work in an office without Airconditioning, and the temperature inside would rise up to 35-36 degrees (Celsius! that is close to 100 F, I think - even the computers didn't like it ;-) ). Only by drinking massive amounts I could make it through the day. But it worked fine, even if I was feeling hot, I was still awake and productive.
I have lapsed since, and only drink about 1 liter now...
 
Busydave said:
... or, strictly in emergencies, chocolate. Dave
Click to expand...

I've never been able to reserve chocolate strictly for emergencies.

The following are links to some guided meditations online, some of which can be downloaded for playing offline. Guided meditations are great for the workplace (as opposed to silent meditation) because they help drown out the background noise of ringing telephones, people talking in the hallways, etc. As a regular meditator, I can achieve a fairly deep state of relaxation in a short window of time. However, I think people can realize some benefit even if they have never meditated. At first, it can be really hard to sit still (trust me on this) and not think of all the things you need to do, but the more you stay with it the easier and more relaxing it gets. Give it a try! :D

These are all free, so keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

http://www.selfhealingexpressions.com/meditate.shtml I like these; they are all about ten minutes.

http://my.webmd.com/content/pages/5/3077_1157 I like these, too.

http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/RelaxationTape/ These are different from the others because they do not have video or music, but I like them anyway. You may have to create a playlist to play the tracks together. They are mp3 files, so you can download them into an mp3 player.

http://www.learningmeditation.com/room.htm These include a good selection to fill small windows of time.

http://www.relax-online.com/imageryonline.htm I like the quick 5-minute vacation.

http://www.magical-living.com/guided_meditation.html#meditations I haven't tried these yet.
 
Re: Boosting myself

Well, exercise and chocolate are fine, but I say:

take a nap.

A 15-20 minute power nap can be more refreshing than anything else. Just close your door and do it!
 
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