How to manage your energy as a chef
Do you have days where you just can’t seem to focus, or get yourself pumped to do the things you need to do?
Are you frantically racing through many tasks but accomplishing little?
While these struggles are common, certainly in today’s culture, it’s clearly detrimental to our state of mind, our bodies and our sense of fulfilment to be in constant hurry, confusion and distraction.
But we’ve been led to believe that as long as we have the right tactics, scheduling tools and time restrictions, we will be able to free ourselves from the hustle.
Notice that when I talk about struggling with workload or schedule, I don’t refer to the amount of time you have available. If we just focus on getting the right time management system down, we miss what’s to a much larger extent within our control: our energy levels.
What do I mean by managing your energy?
Stephen Warley at www.Lifeskillsthatmatter.com says it like this:
“Time management is about cranking through a “to-do list” as fast as you can. Energy management is about developing a core set of habits around your most important work.”
Think about these factors and how they influence your work:
How much sleep you had last night
What you ate yesterday, this morning and before your shift
Do you intentionally take breaks?
What’s on your mind while at work?
Are you keeping efficiency top of mind when moving to and fro?
What motivates you to even show up to work?
Jim Loehr, a performance psychologist and journalist Tony Schwartz co-wrote the book The Power of Full Engagement. In it they say that each thought, emotion and behaviour has an energetic cost. While people can watch and commend our external behaviours, we are responsible for controlling our thoughts and emotions so our internal environment is not draining us. We also have incredible capacity to use habitual behaviours to our advantage.
For an insightful exercise, try this:
Write down 5 things that you feel take away your energy, and 5 things that make you feel energized. Is there a way for you combine energy-giving activities with energy-drainers?
I don’t mean to say that we have the luxury of matching everything to exactly how we want it, so we can achieve 100% of what aligns 100% with our personal goals. But by bringing awareness to where your energy is being poured throughout the day, it only makes sense that you’ll be more careful with it.
It may be the case that a higher level change is needed. Perhaps you can advocate for more intentional conflict management so that tensions are resolved and people are not spending their energy wondering if the person next to them is mad at them for something that happened last night during service. Work relationships are important as they are such a big part of our week, so let’s be realistic and understand that they need to be cherished.
Prioritize your needs so you don’t end up like this!
Lifestyle and decision making
Whether you are conscious of it or not, lifestyle factors will be crucial when it comes to your energy levels. Consider these things:
when was the last time you had a proper night’s sleep?
could your bedtime routine be tweaked so you can get better rest?
are you staying hydrated throughout the day?
do you have a hectic schedule of commitments outside of work? Are there things you could eliminate to have a less cluttered lifestyle?
would a caffeine help during prep time, or would eating a balanced meal be better?
can you escape the rush to get some sunshine and fresh air for 5 minutes?
is there an area where you can get in some energizing movement, deep breathing or meditation?
All these factors come together and impact how we feel and ultimately, how we manage to get through the day.
A couple of my tips here as well…
Make sure you are comfortable in your uniform. Get yourself proper shoes, a well-fitting jacket and pants that you can move in. You don’t want to spend your whole day thinking “I can’t wait to get out of these”.
If you are into aromatherapy, you could keep a roll on calming essential oil to apply during intense periods.
It’s helpful to understand your energy fluctuations throughout the day. We are not built to work consistently for 8 hours, let alone the longer shifts chefs tend to pull! I wish I could snap my fingers and abolish the 40-hour work week, but here we are…make the best of your day by planning your more energy-intensive tasks for when you are equipped for it. Maybe instead of one 30-minute break, you thrive better with three 10-minute breaks.
Minimize decisions – It makes sense that the more decisions we make, the more our energy is depleted. You can lean on team members to help you with this. Learn what tasks you can delegate, improve systems, streamline your setup for service and cultivate habits with the little things, so you can free up headspace for the more important decisions.
Chefs have a unique understanding of multitasking. It’s true that performing one task at a time is better in terms of the results we get, and conserving the brain’s resources. But chefs obviously can’t get away with thinking of one task in isolation from others. So I do think that while we are setting up the various prep jobs that need to be happening at the same time, we can fully engage at each moment so that we are not being pulled away from what we’re doing by what we’ll be doing next.
Distractions, distractions, distractions!
Chefs have a great privilege in that, if you’re in a more relaxed work environment, chatting amongst coworkers is absolutely fine. We have the opportunity to have fruitful conversations, but it is our responsibility to also ensure it’s not taking us away from our tasks. You may be in a position to gently refocus your colleagues if conversation is getting distracting. If not, like I always say…set the example. If keeping your head down and not engaging for a while is going to help you get the job done, then do it! Besides, it is a nice way to retreat and realign your thoughts.
And let’s not forget about our dear phones! Of course, in an ideal world, there should be no phones in the kitchen, they are gross and distracting and it is only rarely that I need mine immediately to find an answer to a work-related question. Try to set an example and only access yours if absolutely necessary.
““Every one of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors has an energy consequence. The ultimate measure of our lives is not how much time we spend on the planet, but rather how much energy we invest in the time that we have.””
Time is going to pass whether we like it or not. What is much more in our realm of control is the energy we can bring to our activities. Tim Ferriss is right in distinguishing the important difference between effectiveness and efficiency. While being efficient is very helpful to others, what we really need to start with is the right tasks to focus on. If we are getting much done but none of it matters…well, none of it matters.
As the creators of The Energy Project state:
“To access the energy of the human spirit, people need to clarify priorities and establish accompanying rituals in three categories: doing what they do best and enjoy most at work; consciously allocating time and energy to the areas of their lives—work, family, health, service to others—they deem most important; and living their core values in their daily behaviors.”
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