You don’t have the energy for that, sweetie
How much energy do you actually have in a day?
I’m not talking about hours. I’m talking about energy.
Because those are not the same thing.
Energy is your capacity to do things well, not just to do them.
So, does your energy last the full stretch from circa 7am to 10pm?
Is it a couple of golden hours in the morning? A mysterious 3pm surge?
Or do you have absolutely no idea?
If it’s the latter, don't worry about it hun. Most of us have no clue.
And that’s not really that surprising, because we don’t really talk about energy that much.
What we actually tend to talk about is time.
Time is treated like the constraint. Energy is treated like it’s infinite.
I hate to break it to you babes but your energy is not a bottomless brunch.
Your energy can be wiped out in less than 30 minutes by another god-awful meeting where Greg from Finance delivers a soliloquy, aided only by his beloved spreadsheet.
Or it can be completely restored by a great conversation, a walk in the fresh air, or 20 minutes doing something you actually give a shit about.
The bottom line is this:
Energy is finite. It fluctuates. And it needs your care.
There’s a moment where this really clicked for me.
I was in Barcelona last year with my friend Lauren, who realised one of her favourite authors, Amie McNee (who wrote We Need Your Art, highly recommend), was doing a reading nearby.
So obviously, we went.
During the talk, Amie said something that has stuck with me ever since.
She caps her energy.
She knows that if she writes 1,500 words in a day, she can come back the next day and do it again. And the next. And the next.
Even if she’s in the flow. Even if it’s the best writing day of her life. Even if she could double her word count.
She stops at 1,500 words.
Because she’s building something she can actually sustain for the long term, not just for one heroic day.
She’s playing the long game of her art.
Most of us are doing the opposite.
We fill every available hour.
“Oh I’ve got a free slot - chuck a meeting in it”
“Sure, I can take that on, no bother”
“Yes, I’ll squeeze that in for you, Greg”
And suddenly your calendar looks like a game of Tetris gone wrong.
I’ve made my own little time/energy miscalculation recently.
When I launched my first coaching offer, I set a cap for how many clients I wanted to take on…
…and then took on a few extra because I got excited (understandably, I really love coaching people).
What I’ve learned, very quickly, is this:
Two clients in a day is my sweet spot.
Four across the week means I’m still a functioning human by Friday.
This setup means I’m focused, present, and at my best for all of my clients.
Knowing this is important because the energy required to hold these conversations properly is significant, and I care deeply about the quality of that energy.
So this hasn’t been an “oh no I’ve messed up” moment.
It’s been a calibration.
I now know what’s sustainable long term. And I also know I can stretch beyond that, if I choose to, for a defined period.
Right now, this learning simply means being more intentional with everything else.
Saying no more often. Letting some things move slower. Not trying to do everything at once.
That feels like a fair trade.
Whether you’re self-employed or employed, this applies.
If you’re self-employed, it’s obvious. You control your diary (even if your clients or customers try their best to control it for you). Don't look at me like that, you do!
If you’re employed, it’s less obvious… but it’s still there.
You still have influence over:
how many meetings you accept
how you structure your day
what you say yes to (and how quickly)
whether you leave space to actually think
And - this is the one people often avoid - the conversations you’re willing to have about your capacity.
That might sound like: “Here’s what’s on my plate right now - what should be the priority?”
Or “If I take this on, something else will need to move. What would you like me to deprioritise?”
You might not control everything, but you’re not as powerless as your calendar would have you believe.
This matters because energy is the thing that determines everything.
How present you are.
How well you think.
How creative you are.
How you show up in conversations.
Whether you end the week feeling good or completely wiped.
The truth is you can plan your day to perfection and still have no energy to actually do it.
Lately, I’ve been trying something different.
Instead of asking: “How much time do I have today?”
I’m asking: “What energy have I actually got to work with?”
The reality is it’s not the same every day.
Some mornings I’ve got full let’s-fucking-go-and-take-over-the-world energy. Other days the tank is as dry as Margot’s kibble.
Forcing a “deep strategy task” onto a low-energy day is frankly a diabolical idea.
So I’ve started doing something very simple.
I’ve tagged all my tasks in Notion by the energy they require:
🔋 High energy → strategy, complex problem-solving, anything that needs my full brain (like building new offers)
🫳 Medium energy → focused, creative work that doesn’t fry me and might even boost my energy (content, design, writing)
🪫 Low energy → easy admin and simple tasks that I can tick off without thinking too hard
And then I match my day accordingly.
High energy day? Great, I’ll tackle the big stuff.
Low energy day? Fine, I’ll clear the decks and keep things moving.
Most of us actually aren’t bad at getting things done. We’re just doing the wrong things with the energy we actually have.
So now I’m curious:
👉 What kind of energy do you actually have today?
👉 And have you planned your day in a way that matches?
Until next time,
Nat x
