Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China.In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program.?Today is the 116th day.

Today's topic is: The Basis of Time Management is Energy Management.

In the last lesson, we talked about excellence is a habit.Habits are behaviors controlled by our subconsciousness, and these include both good and bad habits.?It is very difficult to change these good and bad habits once they are developed.

In today's lesson, we will discuss how to form habits. But first, I want to discuss how habits impact our efficiency each day.

First, it's important to understand thatthe basis of time management is energy management.

So, what is energy??Energy includes our physical agility, emotion, spirit and feelings.

Take physical agility for example: How many of you been to Tibet??If you've been to Tibet, then you have seen amazing things, but you've also experienced great fatigue!

What do I mean here? You Tibet is very beautiful! You can see the beautiful blue sky, beautiful lush grass meadows, and majestic mountains, the iconic temples, and friendly people, and all of the flocks and herds – It's a beautiful scene that will dazzle your eyes.

However, most people will experience altitude sickness the higher they go up into the mountains of Tibet. Because the air becomes denser and denser as elevation increases and the shortage of oxygen causes your headache.

It feels like getting a bad cold, or having an intense argument with another person, or perhaps drinking too much wine last night and being unable to sleep.

When we are in this situation, we will feel faint and weak, and we will not able to work productively at all. When you feel this way, even if you planned to complete an important task, would you have the energy to complete it???Can you guarantee you'd do the job well??You can't. Can you?

Energy is like a battery – if you continually use and use the battery without recharging, it will eventually run out of energy and die.

This is exactly what happens to those that continuously work hard, up to 14 hours a day without rest.??It's so serious that many die from overwork. Even if you are rich and can afford a good doctor and medical services, it is not enough to save these folks.?They have exhausted their physical and mental energy over long periods of continuous work without sufficient rest.

Therefore, we must respect the wisdom of our ancestors who taught us that we must first rest and then move, and it must be in this order. We have to follow the natural rule. That is to work while the sun is out and rest while the sun has set.?It is critical that we sleep and rest enough.??All of us must pay attention to it!

We often say that we should get up early, but when exactly is that? The proper time to wake up is when the first ray of sunlight enters the room, and when your sympathetic nerves receive the message from the sun, no matter which season it is, no matter which city you are in.

The human body is more intelligent than any machine that has ever existed. Because it will react to changes in the environment, and its body temperature will rise as the temperature around us increases. When the temperature drops, our energy drops along with it. And when the temperature rises, we are invigorated with energy.

Therefore, we should comply with the laws of nature, to achieve a balance between sleep and waking time, between work and rest.

At the same time, this confirms the concept of Pomodoro working method: That is to rest for 5 minutes after working 25 minutes.?Or to take a break 30 minutes break as I say after working for 4 consecutive Pomodoro hours.

If you use this method, you will not feel so tired after working a full day, because you will be in balance with your waking and resting energies. Therefore, energy management is really the management of your body's natural energy cycles.

Consider in any given day, we generally need eight hours of sleep, and it takes two hours to eat three meals, plus additional time to exercise. These are the three basic habits people have: eating, sleeping and exercise.?Overall, this takes about 12 hours or about half of the 24 hours available to you each day.

The key is to arrange these habits in a way that complement your energy cycles.??

For instance, if you sleep early and wake up early; and if you eat well in the morning, and eat a full launch but less for dinner; and if you exercise for 40 minutes every day, then you will begin to see, your energy levels will grow and grow.??

Most people today live from 7AM to 11PM. That is, they get up at 7:00 in the morning, socialize after they get off work, and go home late by 11:00 PM. They eat poorly.?They do not sleep well at night.?They are awakened by an alarm clock and feel irritable with headaches the next day.?They do not have time to eat breakfast, and they rush to work. Thus, they may be late, and even be yelled at by their boss.?At 10:00 in the morning, you feel hungry and have no energy to work, because you did not eat breakfast. As a result, you show fatigue much like the “altitude stress” that appeared in Tibet example ......

This vicious cycle is repeated each and every day. When it does, it will consume our precious life day after day, trapping us in mediocrity and sucking the fun out of our life.?

So, each of us should try to develop our own good habits.?By doing this, we can have a healthy body, have the energy to increase productivity in our work, and fight for the life we want, and ultimately, in the end, achieve our dreams.

So remember, to control our time we must control our energy, and our energy is dictated by the habits we cultivate in our life whether good habit or bad habit.

That's all for the class.?Thank you being with me together today. Have a wonderful day!