Calendar Strategies to Optimize Your Energy Flow

Hello! I’m excited to be back after the week away enjoying a Spring Break staycation with my fam.

This weekend I've been reflecting on the absolute doozy of the past week “catching up” from the time off.

Does that happen to you too?

Share your tips for taking a proper break without a massive lift after that immediately negates the benefits of your time away.

I’ll be gathering them for a future issue focused on Calendaring for Time Off as we head into the summer travel season.

In the meantime, I heard back from many of you about the “life-changing” impact of the Dream Calendar system. YAY!

One reader wrote:

Holy moly, Nicole! I just spent over two hours in a deep dive with the Dream Calendar Setup Guide and I think I'm in love. 😍 I didn't realize what a mess my calendar was until I put on my "hard hat" and started building. The bad news is my next two weeks are disorganized chaos; the good news is every week after that is dreamy.

It's a bit of a lift to build out, but so worth it!

If you haven’t gotten to it yet, here’s a link to download the guide.

Or, if you prefer more hands-on help, use this link to schedule a Calendar Strategy Sesh and we’ll dive in together.

Now let's get into it!

So we know that what we do matters.

Aligning our time and attention with our values and priorities is the gateway to intentional living.

It’s the way to make sure that our one precious life

isn’t wasted on things that don’t fulfill us.

WHEN we do what we do also matters.

It’s how we honor our bodies and

align our time with our potential.

Enter the Energy Grid.

Every Dream Home needs one,

and so does every Dream Calendar.

Mapping Your Energy Grid to Your Floor Plan

While you’re awake, your energy levels move through

a flow of Peak, Trough and Recovery Phases.

The timing of these Energy Phases depends on your “chronotype”,

which is based on the natural time you go to sleep and wake up

(uninfluenced by alarm clocks or infant sleep regressions).

Daniel H. Pink details three common chronotypes in his book

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing:

Larks (early birds who are up before 7a)

Third-Birds (who naturally wake between 8-10a)

Owls (who wake after 10a, if not required to be up sooner)

(Super helpful model, setting aside the creative cop-out of “third-birds”. 😄)

Pause for a moment to consider your chronotype.

65% of us are Third-Birds

21% of us are Owls

14% are Larks (✋)

Here’s why it matters in terms of your calendar:

Each Energy Phase is optimal for a different activity type.

When your activities are aligned with your energy flow,

you encounter less friction and you’re able to

get the most out of your time and energy.

Think of it like the lighting in your dream house.

Some rooms get more natural light, just like some times of day get more natural energy.

The goal is to match what you do in each room — or Energy Phase — accordingly.

Timing of Energy Phases based on Chronotype

Peak Phase: characterized by high vigilance, high focus, best mood.

Ideal work type: Analytic tasks and high-focus tasks

Trough Phase: characterized by a sharp decline in energy, focus, vigilance and mood.

Ideal work type: Administrative tasks and routine work

Recovery Phase: a “second wind” characterized by increased energy and mood, but not focus and vigilance.

Ideal work type: Insight and creative tasks

Pink explains that creative work benefits from both the positive energy and mood associated with the Recovery Phase, as well as the reduced focus. Distraction opens the mind to ideation and connections that may not be possible when we are more focused and dialed in.

Combining chronotype & work type, the recommended way to schedule work tasks is:

Recommended Work Type by Energy Phase for each Chronotype

This framework helps align work activities with energy flow,

but it doesn’t capture your whole day, or the whole story.

You’re not just a chronotype, you’re an individual.

There are personal factors — social, emotional, psychological —

that also inform the ideal timing of your activities.

Laying out your Energy Grid

It’s not just your workspace that needs power —

your whole house needs to be connected to the energy grid.

So what about the rest of your day and the rest of your activities?

Categorizing activities based on Energy Input & Energy Output

informs the ideal timing and sequence of activities beyond just your chronotype.

Energy Input is the level of physical, mental or emotional energy acquired through an activity.

It’s the extent to which an activity feeds you energetically.

Energy Output is the level of physical, mental or emotional energy expended on the activity.

Its the extent to which an activity depletes you energetically.

Using these two variables, you can assign activities to four Energy Profiles:

Four Energy Profiles for Activities based on their Energy Input and Energy Output

Matching these Energy Profiles to your Energy Phases can inform

the ideal timing for personal, physical and social activities.

For higher output activities like Energy Bursts and Drains,

it’s helpful to start with a higher baseline energy level,

so you’re not drawing down to a deficit.

Energy Burst activities (high input, high output) are well-suited for Peak or Recovery Phases. The energetic inflow from these activities offsets the energy outlay, so these activities can be done back-to-back or alternated with high focus work to sustain productivity during a Peak Phase. They’re also ideal for Recovery Phase, since the overall energy impact of these activities is neutral.

Energy Drain activities (low input, high output) are high burden, high effort activities that do not provide a positive energy boost (for me, it’s anything involving a spreadsheet). If the activity requires focus, schedule it for a Peak Phase. Otherwise, schedule it for late in your Recovery phase, when energy is back up and you have some to spare.

For lower output activities like Energy Builders and Levelers,

you don’t have to worry about how much energy you have,

so you can schedule them for your Trough Phase.

Energy Leveler activities (low input, low output) are ideal for a Trough Phase, enabling you to knock things out without a huge lift. Any mindless or routine task can be scheduled for a Trough, so at least that time is not a total write-off.

Energy Builder activities (high input, low output) increase your energy reserves. When scheduled later in a Trough Phase, they can fuel your Recovery and offset the impact of the Trough overall.