In the weeks coming up to diagnosis, my energy levels were really bad. That’s one of the reasons I went to see my doctor. After diagnosis, once I had started on metformin (and had stopped eating so many carbs) my energy levels improved, but slowly. In particular, I found I felt fine, but quickly and suddenly ran out of energy. I developed a version of the Pomodoro Technique to help me manage this.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management system that breaks the day into 25-minute chunks of focussed work, separated by five-minute breaks. I find it is a very effective way of doing things, especially as a remote worker. I can’t do it justice here, but if you are interested in the full, detailed technique, I recommend you read the Pomodoro Technique book.
When you are not well and your energy levels are poor for any reason, the full Pomodoro Technique can be overwhelming. To help manage my energy levels I use a lightweight version.
- Start your day by making a list of all the things that you need to do. It is OK if the list has too many things to do in one day.
- Prioritise the things in the list.
- Start a timer for 25 minutes and start working on the first thing on the list. Work until either you run out of energy or the timer stops, whichever comes first.
- Start another timer for five minutes. Rest until the timer stops, or you feel ready to start another cycle, whichever comes later.
- Repeat steps three and four until you feel you need a longer break, like a coffee break or lunch.
- After that break is over, repeat the cycle again until the end of the working day.
- Whatever is left on the list can be worked on tomorrow.
This worked for me because when I started work in the morning, feeling rotten, a whole working day seemed insurmountable. Sometimes even working for 25 minutes seemed insurmountable. Working for a short period was, however, something I could do. With this method, I was able to get through a full working day, one small chunk at a time.
I was also able to monitor my improvement quite easily too. Initially, I was working for 15 minutes and then taking a break, and sometimes it felt like the breaks were as long as the work periods. By managing my energy levels and not exhausting myself, I was able to build myself up quite quickly. Monday may have been a long series of 15-minute blocks of work, but by Friday, it may have been 25-minutes blocks. That sort of improvement feels good, and it felt good to have that sort of objective measure of improvement.
This technique also helped me realise what sort of tasks I found particularly exhausting. For me, video calls, especially video calls where none of the participants had their webcams on, were exhausting. Armed with this knowledge, I was able to structure my working week to reduce the density of video calls so I could get through the week. Had I not known this, I might have exhausted myself to the point where I couldn’t work.
When you are not well, for physical or mental reasons, work can be daunting. My adapted Pomodoro Technique allowed me to work without being overwhelmed and allowed me to build up my energy levels. I don’t think I’d have recovered so quickly without it.