Entrepreneurs and freelancers often find that there is never enough time to get everything done. We’re stuck wearing all the hats, making all the decisions, putting out all the fires, and frankly if you’re like me, spreading ourselves way too thin across too many projects or clients.

I used to think the solution lay in time management. What I discovered, however, is that time is useless if we aren’t productive. What leads to productivity?

Energy Management.

We as human beings possess four quadrants of energy:

• Physical
• Mental
• Emotional
• Spiritual

If we can nourish our entire being in all four energy quadrants, we will be fulfilled, energized, and at our fullest potential.

This is the first of a 4-article series that will touch on each energy quadrant and how we can best nourish this quadrant of our being to encourage optimum performance, focus, and sense of well-being. Let’s begin with the first quadrant:

Quadrant 1: Physical Nourishment

Though this seems like the most obvious quadrant of our energy, we still rarely nourish our physical body appropriately. For example, I have often been in the habit of working 12 hours straight without taking any true breaks or even decent meals. I’ll even work 20 hours stints non-stop. Sure, part of me is pleased with my tenacity and stamina. But the toll it takes on my body, and the price I pay later on, is never worth it.

To nourish the physical body and ensure optimal physical performance, we must look at three key areas:

• Nutrition
• Stress
• Rest

For nutrition, you know the basics. We just rarely keep to them. 2 liters or more of water per day. Small, balanced meals throughout the day. The specifics depend on your body and your needs. I recommend that you take some time this month to explore the nutritional needs of your body. When do you feel sluggish? When do you feel energized? Pay attention to how you feel after eating certain meals and foods.

Choose to put into your body that which empowers and nourishes you.

Stress, surprisingly, is also good for the body - when it is the right kind of stress and the proper doses. This is akin to the stress you place on your muscles when tearing and building them. They cannot grow unless first stressed. I also look at stress in terms of challenges. Massimini & Carli, in 1988, described a state of being conducive to optimum productivity. They called it FLOW. Flow is achieved when we have the proper amount of, and balance between, both skills and challenges. Challenges provide the healthy sort of stress (again if they’re appropriately balanced) that physically nourishes us and charges our energy field.

Click here for more on the concept of FLOW.

Rest is something that surprisingly most entrepreneurs and freelancers raise our noses at. It’s for lazy people, we tell ourselves. We pat ourselves on the back for long hours and 7-day work weeks. Hopefully you’ve overcome this tendency as it is extremely unhealthy. Imagine if you were to keep lifting 50 lbs. weights, without any rest periods, for an entire hour. Your body would give out and you would severely harm your muscles. The moment when your muscles grow isn’t when they are being stressed - the act of lifting weights actually tears the muscle. The growth happens during your rest period when the muscle repairs and strengthens.

Resting the entire body allows every part of our body to repair, not to mention the emotional, spiritual, and mental nourishment we get from rest and relaxation.

Take 15 Minute Breaks Every 90 Minutes

In his book, The Power of Full Engagement, Tony Schwartz discusses the four quadrants of energy and the natural physical rhythms our body adheres to during a 24-hour period. Two of these rhythms are circadian and ultradian, and Tony noticed that our body naturally progresses from a high-energy state to a depleted-energy state over a 90-minute period, after which, it will then move through another high-energy cycle and back down again.

The only way to allow the body to return to a high-energy level is to rest at the end of that 90-minute period when our energy is lowest. Most of us do not do this and will work as many as 8 or even 16 hours without a single true break.

Not allowing our body complete rest during our low-energy periods is a leading cause of unhealthy stress on our bodies. It can also throw off our sleep patterns, adding yet more stress.

To nourish your physical body to the greatest degree, I recommend you do the following:

1. Work in 90-minute intervals and then take a 15-minute break and leave your work area. Take a walk, read a book, meditate, talk to a friend – but be sure to fully disconnect from what you were doing before. This will also help you focus better when you are working.

2. Take your meals away from your desk or place of work, and again, fully disengage from what you were doing previously. Allow yourself to truly enjoy your meal and connect with the food you eat.

Concentrate on incorporating these two habits into your daily routine and observe the increase in energy that you experience. Also notice the focus you experience and the amount of work you get done.

In a couple days we’ll move on to the next energy quadrant: Mental Energy.