Alternating Energies

I’ve discovered I have the best weeks when I can alternate frenetic days with deep dive days.

Several days in a row of either deep work (writing, thinking, planning) or loud work (people, podcasts, emails, tasks) and quality declines. But If I can have a single day of lots of calls and being “on” with other people, followed by a day doing mostly alone work, I get the best of both.

I can pour myself into the demanding work knowing tomorrow will be a respite. As I’ve gotten older, I definitely prefer the quiet work to the loud, but I need the loud stuff in some minimum quantity, and my work requires it more than that anyway. So I try to carve out days or half days in between the loud work to have plenty of quiet work.

Both types of work require energy, and both can give energy back if done right, but switching between energy states is optimal for me.