For years, I chased productivity.

I tried every hack, every system, every method that promised to make me more efficient. I optimized my calendar, batched my tasks, minimized distractions, and stacked my habits. And for a while, it worked – until it didn’t. Because no matter how many systems I put in place, I kept running into the same wall. Some days, I’d get more done in two hours than I could in ten. Other days, even the simplest task felt impossible.

It took me far too long to realize the problem wasn’t my productivity. It was my energy.

We treat productivity like a machine – as if success is just a matter of tweaking the right settings. But we’re not machines. We have rhythms. We have highs and lows, moments of clarity and moments of fog. Some of us do our best thinking early in the morning, while others come alive in the evening. But instead of working with those natural cycles, we try to force ourselves into rigid structures that don’t fit.

I used to think discipline was the answer. That if I could just push through, I’d be fine. But discipline can only take you so far when your tank is empty. The days I struggled weren’t because I lacked willpower. It was because I was drained. And no amount of forcing myself to “power through” could change that.

I started paying attention to when I felt sharp and when I felt sluggish. I noticed what kinds of work fueled me and what drained me. I stopped treating my to-do list as something to bulldoze through and started aligning it with how I actually function. And everything changed.

When I had energy, I leaned into deep, creative work. When I felt slow, I shifted to lighter tasks. When I hit a mental wall, I stepped away instead of fighting through it. And for the first time, my productivity wasn’t a battle. It flowed.

We make productivity so much harder than it needs to be. We try to optimize every minute when the real unlock is much simpler: Pay attention to your energy.

Work when you work best. Rest before you’re exhausted. Align your tasks with your natural rhythm.

Because it’s not about how much you do. It’s about how well you do it. And that only happens when you have the energy to show up fully – not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and creatively.

So stop chasing productivity hacks. Start mastering your energy. Everything else will follow.