“I just don’t have enough time.”
I used to say this at least three times a day. I would look at people who built side businesses, stayed in shape, and read 50 books a year, and I would think: They must not have a real job. They must have a secret schedule.
So, I tried to fix my schedule. I bought planners. I tried “Time Blocking.” I downloaded productivity apps that cost $9.99 a month.
And yet, I still found myself collapsing on the couch at 6 PM, scrolling through my phone, too exhausted to do anything meaningful.
I didn’t have a time problem. I had an empty calendar from 7 PM to 10 PM.
I didn’t need more time. I needed energy.
The Dead Battery Theory
Imagine you have the newest, fastest iPhone. It has the best apps and the fastest processor. But the battery is at 3%.
What happens? The screen dims. The apps lag. It crashes if you try to do anything complex.
This is how most of us live our lives. We are running high-level software (our goals, our jobs, our relationships) on broken hardware (our bodies).
You can free up 5 hours of your day, but if your biological battery is at 3%, you won’t write that book. You won’t go to the gym. You will watch Netflix because that is the only activity your low-power mode can handle.
Time management is useless without energy management.
The 3 Vampires Draining Your Battery
I realized I was doing three specific things every day that were sabotaging my energy before I even started working.
Here is how I fixed them.
1. The Caffeine Trap
The Mistake: For years, the first thing I did upon waking was drink a massive cup of black coffee. I thought it woke me up.
The Science: When you wake up, your brain still has leftover “sleep chemicals” (Adenosine) floating around. Caffeine blocks them temporarily. But when the caffeine wears off at 1 PM… CRASH. The sleepiness hits you like a truck.
The Fix: Wait 90 minutes before your first coffee.
This gives your body time to clear out the sleep chemicals naturally. Since I started waiting 90 minutes, my afternoon “brain fog” has completely vanished.
2. The Lunch Coma
The Mistake: I used to eat a “standard” lunch. A sandwich, a burrito, or pasta.
The Science: A heavy carb load spikes your insulin. What goes up must come down. When your blood sugar crashes an hour later, your brain goes into hibernation mode. This is why you feel like napping at 2:30 PM.
The Fix: Eat for fuel, not fun.
I switched to high-protein lunches (Chicken salad, eggs, steak). No bread, no pasta, no sugar until dinner. The result? Steady, laser-focused energy until 6 PM.
3. The Sedentary Rot
The Mistake: When I felt tired, I would sit down to “rest.”
The Science: Taking a break by sitting on your phone actually makes you more tired. Stagnation breeds stagnation. Your body thinks, “Oh, we aren’t moving? Time to shut down the systems.”
The Fix: Energy creates energy.
When I feel the slump hitting, I don’t sit. I walk. A brisk 10-minute walk outside forces oxygen into the brain and tells your body, “Wake up, we are moving.” You come back with more battery life than you left with.
Stop Managing Minutes
If you are struggling to be productive, stop looking at your calendar. Look at your plate. Look at your sleep. Look at your movement.
You can’t hack your way out of bad biology.
The version of you that achieves your goals isn’t the version that manages every second perfectly. It’s the version of you that is awake, alert, and ready to attack the day.
Fix the hardware, and the software runs itself.
The Challenge: Tomorrow morning, try the 90-Minute Rule. Do not touch caffeine for the first hour and a half of your day. Drink water instead. See how you feel at 2 PM.