If You Don’t Have the Energy, the Work Still Won’t Happen

Last updated: 2026-09-01

I can block the time. I can know exactly what to do. And the work still will not happen if I don’t have the energy for it.

I frame productivity as three currencies: time, energy, and attention. You need all of them. If you’ve got time blocked and you know exactly what to do, but you lack the energy to do it, the work still will not happen. Energy belongs in the productivity system.

Which currency is actually blocking you this week? Most people would probably say time. I used to say time too. Now I check energy first.

Protect your peak, not someone else’s morning

Brooks has a simple rule. Match your most important work to your personal peak energy window, not someone else’s morning-routine advice.

“Do your important thing first” only works if first thing is when your brain is actually online.

Brooks is a strong morning person. Other people do their best work late at night. If first thing is not when your brain is online, you are doing the important work in the wrong window.

When is your 2-hour peak? Protect it for deep work.

Start with the thing that will energize you

Before I start my task list, I ask, “What is one thing on this list that will energize me today?”

Then I do that early. It creates momentum for the harder or less exciting work that follows.

Brooks added the flip side. Avoid energy-draining tasks right before important meetings. Does that sound familiar? You burn through a pile of admin, then you walk into the meeting already spent.

Tonight, label one item on tomorrow’s list as the energy winner. Do that one early.

After about 90 minutes, move for 60 seconds

I sit at a computer all day. When I skip movement for too long, I notice lower energy.

After about 90 minutes of work, I do 60 seconds of simple exercise. Squats. Hip openers. A physical reboot for people who sit at a computer all day.

I’ve been using this to rebuild my ability to hold a deep squat. One minute. Then I go back.

After your next deep-work block, do 60 seconds of movement before you do anything else.

Batch the draining work

Email checks, meeting prep, note review, other low-energy admin. Sprinkle those through the day and they leak fatigue across the whole schedule.

Put them in one contained block so they can’t follow you around.

Brooks mentioned some listeners tag tasks by energy level. That can be useful. It still has to flex around real-world meetings and priorities.

Create one draining-admin block on your calendar this week.

Plan the break before you start

If you wait for a natural pause, the pause may never come.

Plan your first break before you start working. A pre-planned break becomes an energy reset instead of an afterthought.

Brooks uses a consistent 10 a.m. break with a snack as his orange chime. I often reset after 60 to 90 minutes of focused work. Decide the break in advance. Then take it.

Schedule one 10-minute break tomorrow before you open email.

Lunch will take the afternoon if you let it. I noticed that lunches above roughly 800 calories regularly made me sleepy. A lighter meal with protein kept me focused for the afternoon. Brooks and I have both had pizza-heavy lunches that wiped out the rest of the day. Predictable, once you look.

Run a one-week lunch experiment. Track meal heaviness and afternoon focus.

Make water impossible to miss

I’ve kept water by my bed for more than a decade.

Put it beside your bed, near your computer, or in a marked bottle. Then use an empty or low bottle as the trigger to stand up, move, and refill.

Brooks emphasizes availability and reminders. I’ve used visual, gamified bottles because I respond to seeing the thing in front of me.

One environmental cue. Put the bottle where you can’t miss it.

Squash the mosquitoes (or eat the frog)

You’ve heard eat the frog. Do the hardest task first.

Sometimes I do. Especially when a task keeps rolling over. That rolled-over task becomes tomorrow’s frog.

Other days I squash the mosquitoes. Knock out a few tiny tasks, build momentum, then tackle the big task before the mosquitoes take over the day.

I use both depending on the day. Frog first when a task keeps rolling over. Mosquitoes first when I need activation energy.

Close the day on purpose

A work shutdown ritual preserves tomorrow’s energy.

Spend 5 to 10 minutes closing tabs, brain-dumping loose ends, moving unfinished tasks to tomorrow, and clearing your workspace. Brooks connects this to “clear to neutral.” I care about the closure, the transition from work to home life. The next workday should start at neutral, not in yesterday’s mess.

Tonight, run this:

1. Close the tabs you don’t need.
2. Brain-dump the loose ends.
3. Move unfinished tasks to tomorrow.
4. Clear your workspace.
5. Stop and transition out of work mode.

Five to ten minutes. Do that tonight. Tomorrow starts at neutral, and you get to spend the energy you just protected.