Stop managing your time. Instead, manage your energy

The useful part

After a day of work meetings, calls to extinguish spontaneous fires, and inbox navigation, it's finally time to sit down and think creatively for a big project. All the while, you know in order to do successful creative work, you need breathing room and mental clarity to reach that great idea. In the complex and interconnected environment of today's professional world, workdays are more prone to distraction than not.

How it works

• This sort of personal time is essential to creative work that thrives off a lack of constraints.
• In a recent Gallup survey on worker engagement, respondents reported waning enthusiasm and involvement because of confusing expectations and blurred team authority.
• With companies frequently downsizing and subsequently leaving posts unfilled, workers easily see their plates brimming with tasks—frequently including duties outside their original job.
• When workers are expected to be creative, the need for boundaries is even more pronounced.
• An employee only has 85 minutes each day of undisturbed focus time, according to the time-management tool RescueTime.

What to take from it

obstacles—whether external disruptions or personal biology—that sap your energy for precious brainstorming time.