Summary of the book "At Your Best" - By Carey Nieuwhof

Key Concepts in this book:

1. When your time, energy, and priorities are all in line, you're thriving.
2. Discover your energy zones to help you focus your time.
3. Make the most of your energy by performing your best work while you're at your most productive.
4. Focus on the proper things and avoid distractions to realize your priorities.
5. Make the appropriate relationships a priority and learn to say no.
6. Life is unpredictable. Concentrate on what you can control and adjust as needed.

Who can benefit the most from this book:

• Busy people struggling with burnout.
• Leaders looking for a reboot.
• Anyone trying to reach their potential.

What am I getting out of it? A step-by-step method to overcoming burnout and prospering.

Do you ever feel like there isn't enough time in the day? You put in long hours yet achieve little of what you set out to do. Meanwhile, your life ambitions continue to elude you.

Life comes with a built-in feature of being busy. There are numerous sources of distraction. Most likely, you're overworked and overcommitted. However, too much stress has a negative impact on your health. You are deserving of more. It's past time to put an end to stress and live at an unsustainable pace.

You may not believe it, but you actually do have time. You have the same number as the world's most productive people. The only question is how you intend to use it.

You'll learn why simply managing your time isn't enough in this summary. You'll learn how to balance your three key assets - time, energy, and priorities – to avoid burnout and start living at your best, based on the author's experience recovering from burnout.

• You'll learn how your focus and priorities get hijacked.
• Why your energy zones are the key to success.
• And how to say no gracefully in this summary.

1. When your time, energy, and priorities are all in line, you're thriving.

Things seemed to be going extremely well for novelist Carey Nieuwhof in 2006. His company had grown larger than anyone had anticipated when he was just in his late forties. He has two healthy sons with his high-school love.

But it was a different story on the inside. The professional responsibilities were almost unbearable for Nieuwhof, and it was affecting his health and family life. He'd become engulfed in a stress spiral and began fantasizing about ditching everything for a hammock in Fiji.

There has to be an alternative. Nieuwhof recognized three critical assets to constructing a life he didn't want to leave as he began to recover from burnout.

The main takeaway is that thriving occurs when your time, energy, and priorities are all aligned.

In order to live at a pace he could maintain, he studied what other high-achievers did so effectively. He discovered that they didn't only manage their time. They also devised a plan for combining their energies and priorities so that they all worked together rather than against each other.

He not only recovered from professional burnout, but also found himself prospering physically, spiritually, and with his family after bringing these three critical assets into alignment.

The first and most important resource is concentrated time. Failure to focus your time is one of the reasons you never have enough of it. You probably don't regard all hours the same, but you should. Distractions and minor jobs take away your time. The day slips away from you, and you fail to complete the tasks that are most important to you.

While most individuals are aware that they are racing against time, few consider their energy, which is the second most important asset. You waste your most productive and valuable time when you fail to utilize your personal energy levels, leaving you with little energy for vital activities.

Priorities are the third and last crucial asset. When you let others decide what you do each day, your priorities are easily hijacked since you are forced to focus on their priorities rather than your own. The key is to learn to say no and be comfortable with it.

In this series of concepts, we'll look at how to break free from the stress cycle and instead live in the thrive cycle by harmonizing your time, energy, and priorities.

2. Discover your energy zones to help you focus your time.

It's 2:00 p.m., and you're trying to concentrate on your colleague's presentation, but keeping your eyelids open requires toothpicks. Does this ring a bell?

You've probably noticed that your energy fluctuates throughout the day. This is quite natural. Even doctors are guilty of this. The rate of adverse events among anesthesiologists, for example, climbs as the day progresses, according to the researchers.

The most important thing is to understand your energy cycle and how to use it to your advantage.

The main point is this: Discover your energy zones to help you focus your time.

While everyone's energy cycle is different, most people have three to five hours each day when they are at their most productive. This is what the author refers to as your "green zone," and it is defined by being focused, productive, and upbeat.

Despite having a finite number of high-energy hours, many people use their valuable green zone in haphazard and unplanned ways, such as for mundane meetings or email responses. Instead, use this time to do your most critical and time-consuming duties.

What about for the rest of the day? When you're in the yellow zone, you're neither at your best nor at your worst. It isn't a wasteland: In the yellow zone, you can accomplish a lot of things, but not your greatest ones.

When you're in the red zone, you're at your lowest energy level. You're tired and find it difficult to concentrate. It's at this point that you'll have to force yourself to do anything.

Take some time over the following several days or weeks to figure out your individual energy cycle. Keep track of when you're at your most energized and ready to take on anything. When all you want to do is nap, for example. Draw your own energy clock and the hours you spend in each zone using the green, yellow, and red zones.

A few pointers to get you started: Your green zone hours do not have to be in order. The author's best hours, for example, are between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Around 1:00 p.m., he experiences another burst of energy.

There's no need to be perfect here, either. Things can change from day to day, so be as truthful and exact as you can. Finally, don't push your green zone too far, as this will only work against you. Three to five hours is considered typical and sufficient for survival in the thrive cycle.

We'll go over the types of things you should complete in each zone in the next concept.

3. Make the most of your energy by performing your best work while you're at your most productive.

You know when you're in your green zone and feeling energized since you've discovered your energy cycle. You'll also notice when your energy levels begin to drop towards your yellow zones. Finally, you're aware of the times of day when you're having trouble completing the majority of chores in your red zones. So, what exactly should you do in each zone?

The main point is this: Make the most of your energy by performing your best work while you're at your most productive.

Thriving is all about optimizing your green zone by performing the tasks that are most important to you: your gifts, passion, and influence.

Your talents are something that comes naturally to you but is tough for others. For example, the author may talk in front of big groups of people without much preparation or notes, which many people fear.

But don't be satisfied with innate ability. Your green zone is also a place where you can hone your talents. Make the most of your time by honing your talents, learning something new, and practising.

What you love to do is your passion. You're probably passionate about what you do well, but your enthusiasm can stretch beyond your abilities. Look for hobbies that energize you rather than deplete you, activities that you enjoy or can't live without. Hobbies or spending time with loved ones are examples.

Finally, concentrate your green zone on tasks that have the greatest impact. These are frequently the primary responsibilities that add the most value to your company. Or significant life ambitions like publishing a book. Consider this: What am I attempting to achieve with my life? Make the most of your green zone time by getting there.

You're free to conduct less hard work after you've completed the vital chores during your green zone. Use your yellow zones for things that are somewhat important or need a modest amount of energy. You could, for example, have meetings or send emails to the entire organization.

Your red zones are for the tasks that are the least important to you. During these periods, you may want to respond to emails, do normal administration, and exercise. Remember that your red zone isn't for making life-or-death decisions or delicate jobs like resolving interpersonal disputes.

Take some time now to categorize your duties and goals by zone. In the green zone, you can do anything that is important, energizing, and something you're good at. What tasks are you able to delegate to the yellow zones? And how can you make the most of the red zone's low-energy hours?

4. Focus on the proper things and avoid distractions to realize your priorities.

You take a seat at your desk and pull up your calendar. It's absolutely vacant, much to your astonishment. There was not a single appointment from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You think this is ideal. You can finally get started on that large project you've been planning for a long time. Perhaps you should publish a new blog post. However, there is a knock at the door.

A colleague only needs five minutes, which quickly goes into twenty. Meanwhile, your inbox is overflowing, and you've been summoned to an urgent afternoon meeting. The day is almost done when you finally return to your desk. What went wrong? You worked all day but achieved none of your objectives.

The main idea here is to focus on the proper tasks and fight distractions in order to realize your priorities.

What happened was that distractions and unprioritized chores stole your priorities. You spent the entire day responding to everything that happened. If you let them, these seemingly urgent yet inconsequential jobs will take up your time.

Distractions must be kept to a minimum. Everything in our tech-driven culture vies for your attention. According to one survey, the average user touches their smartphone 2,617 times every day! It's no surprise you can't concentrate. So make sure those notifications are turned off.

It also helps to conduct your best job in a comfortable setting. In that way, you're similar to a plant in that you require the correct ecosystem to thrive. Create a comfortable and distraction-free workspace to set yourself up for success.

In fact, pressing and critical chores, such as accepting a call from the boss or preparing for that presentation, will always consume your time. However, knowing which chores to prioritize is crucial to optimizing your green zone. As anyone who has ever lost a whole day knows, it's easier said than done.

Concentrating on high-yield activities is a good strategy. According to Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, 20% of work generally delivers 80% of results. The author understood that his organization's value is driven by a few basic priorities, such as creating exceptional content and fostering a healthy work culture.

Those critical but non-urgent activities are what help you achieve your objectives, create an impact, and enter the thrive cycle. Despite this, it's all too easy to relegate them to the bottom of your to-do list. This is due to the fact that the repercussions of skipping them are frequently insignificant.

However, the advantages you gain from making time each day for your priorities compound tremendously.

5. Make the appropriate relationships a priority and learn to say no.

The author spent a lot of time as a child at his grandmother's house. Nancy, her buddy, called every day at ten o'clock. Grandma would always take up the phone, if unwillingly because Nancy could chat for hours on end. Grandma never found out how to end the conversation in a respectful manner, instead of relying on her grandson to save her.

You've discovered that all the wrong things are constantly vying for your attention, causing your focus and priorities to be hijacked. What about people, though? Relationships are vital, and you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

The main takeaway is to prioritize the correct connections and to learn to say no when necessary.

Unfortunately, the individuals who demand your attention are rarely the ones who deserve it. It's underachievers who don't appear to want to improve or exhausting folks who drag you into their drama at work. Those who are most deserving of your time, on the other hand, rarely ask for it.

Do you recall Pareto's principle from the previous concept? It's also significant in this case. Invest in yourself by doing your best: Spend 80% of your time with your best performers, those who energize you, and those that matter most to you. The truth is that if you don't prioritize who you spend your time with, others will.

According to British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, there is a limit to how many meaningful interactions humans can have. How many are there?

Think of three concentric circles. In the centre, you'll find your three to five closest friendships. These are folks with whom you communicate once a week. The second circle consists of 12 to 15 members from your sympathy group with whom you communicate once a month, say.

Your extended network is located in the outermost circle. Most people can fit about 150 people in their homes, which is about the size of early human towns. Dunbar's framework demonstrates that you don't have to treat everyone in your life the same way because you only have so much capacity for different kinds of interactions.

Nonetheless, juggling competing demands on your time is an inevitable aspect of life. If you don't have a clear strategy for saying no, you'll end yourself saying yes. To avoid burning bridges and hurting sentiments, try to say no in a polite manner.

For example, tell individuals you'd love to meet with them, which is probably true; offer empathy but be firm when you can't; refer them to another person or resource for assistance; and, finally, express thanks for thinking of you and reaching out.

6. Life is unpredictable. Concentrate on what you can control and adjust as needed.

The author purchased a new SUV a few years ago and drove it for over 300,000 miles in no time. It was still in excellent condition, and others were enquiring as to how he had gotten so much mileage out of it. But there was no huge mystery: he just took it in for the recommended service every time.

It is frequently easier and less expensive to fix something before it breaks than it is to fix it after it has broken. We are all aware that stress is an inevitable aspect of life. Change is as well. Both stress and change have the potential to pull you back into a stress cycle. So let's look at some tactics for prospering and avoiding a breakdown.

The main point is that life happens. Concentrate on what you can control and adjust as needed.

The first technique is to make a calendar for all of your priorities, including family time. That's because a calendar with a blank area can be a trap. Because his calendar was clean, the author found himself saying yes to a Saturday BBQ while at a board meeting.

Remember that the week will never go exactly as planned - and that's just fine. Don't try to be flawless. However, scheduling all of your priorities will help you stay on track.

Many people, however, believe they have little influence over their calendars. You would believe that if you're the boss, these methods are simple to adopt, but the reality is that some occupations have very little flexibility.

If you've looked at your calendar honestly and can't find any wiggle room, consider talking to your employer to see if anything can be worked out. You may, for example, change your start time to better fit your green zone.

Even if you don't have much influence over the 40 hours you work per week, you still have 128 hours to yourself. Of course, home life may be hectic, particularly during specific phases of life, such as when raising young children, caring for a sick parent, or coping with health concerns.

Your strategy may need to be tweaked to fit your current stage of life. If you're expecting a kid, for example, it might not be the best time to start a big project or try to lose 20 pounds.

Track how you're actually spending your time if you ever get thrown off your thrive cycle. Have your time zones shifted? What are you doing with your time? What has changed in terms of priorities? It's best to embrace change because it will inevitably occur.

The main takeaway from this summary is that getting drawn into the stress and craziness of modern life is far from inevitable. Rather, identify your energy zones and put them to work for you. Prioritize that time for intense attention to the activities and people that matter most to you to do your best job while you're at your best. You may begin to prosper in all areas of life by working with your energy cycle, focusing your time, and not allowing your priorities to be hijacked.

Here's some additional advice that you can put into practice:

Make a categorical choice.

Spending less time on decisions is an easy approach to reclaim time. Categorical decisions enable you to make a single option that eliminates a slew of alternatives. For example, at work, you could agree to only meet as a team at certain stages of a project to cut down on meeting time, or only work with clients from a specific industry. In your own life, you may make a categorical commitment to support three charities each year, relieving you of the temptation to donate when someone asks. Stick to your categories once you've decided on them, and only create exceptions when absolutely necessary.