3 Ways You Deplete Your Energy For a Task Before You Even Start

Have you ever found yourself depleted of energy for a task before you even started it?

This has happened to me in almost every context, from workouts to major work projects to simple phone calls and conversations.

The more energy we believe we will need for a task, the more likely we are to procrastinate on getting started.

Your Energy as “Bandwidth”

Over 20 years of living with ADHD, I have learned that it helps to think about my brain’s capacity in terms of bandwidth. Just like the cables that bring internet service to your house, we have a certain capacity of bandwidth to devote to tasks. This bandwidth can be both cognitive and emotional.

We often don’t realize how much bandwidth can be taken up by lower-level issues and tasks.

These may seem insignificant, but can play an outsized role in depleting bandwidth available for important tasks.

Low energy bandwidth is one of the major culprits of procrastination or task avoidance.

Read below for the top three culprits occupying your bandwidth and some solutions for freeing it up.

An important point to keep in mind here:

The thing that is draining your energy may not be related to the task that you’re procrastinating or avoiding.

3 Things Consuming Your Bandwidth

Once we identify what is occupying bandwidth, we can choose whether we want to remove it from our brain channel and re-allocate that bandwidth to more important tasks.

Here are 3 things that occupy a lot of cognitive and emotional bandwidth, and some suggestions for how to free that bandwidth in each case.

Remember: Whatever is draining your energy may not be related to the task that you’re procrastinating or avoiding. Bandwidth is bandwidth.

(1) Decisions

Decisions drain energy. Full stop. Every decision requires evaluating options, weighing factors, and considering potential consequences.

You might be aware of how much bandwidth is consumed by major life decisions such as where to live, what to do for work, or buying a new car. Those decisions rightfully occupy a lot of space and require considerable energy to parse through. We need to create space for these types of decisions.

The real bandwidth killer is the decisions that seem trivial and simple, like what time to wake up in the morning, what to wear, what to eat for lunch, whether to run that quick errand on your way home, where to do your work, whether to call a client, whether to send an email, and so on.

Just thinking about the fact that all these decisions play a role in your day is enough to make you tired.

How to Clear Decision Bandwidth

(a) Make decisions in advance. When possible, make decisions on recurring issues once, and stick to them.

For example, instead of deciding each day what time I’m going to wake-up the next morning, I have my alarm set for the same time each weekday, and the same time on the weekends. No matter what time I go to sleep, the alarm goes off at that time.

Some people wear the same basic outfit every day, or eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch every day. This removes the decision points on those issues.

(b) Delegate the decision to someone else.
One reason I like CrossFit and work with a weigtlifting coach is that it removes the decision of what to do for my workout. When I have to decide on and plan my warm-up or workout, it drains my energy before I even get started.

(2) Negotiations

Negotiations can be between you and someone else, or simply with yourself.

Sometimes my coach gives me a workout that feels too much for my body that day. The more we negotiate back and forth about it, the more energy is drained before I even start a workout. A better solution is to have a scaled version of the workout or information on how to scale it back to meet my body where it is that day.

Years ago, when I used to hit snooze every morning or procrastinate getting to the gym, I would often have to negotiate with myself when I would make up the missed workout.

I would mentally try to adjust my calendar to fit in that time during another part of my day — an activity I called “mental chess.” All that “figuring out” was a huge drain of my energy. Once I decided to put my workout first every day, it freed up a lot of cognitive bandwidth.

In the same way, my commitment to publishing every day saves me from negotiating when I’ll publish my essays.

How to Clear Negotiation Bandwidth

(a) Create rules for yourself and follow them.

I have rules about what time I’ll get up. I have a rule that I put my workout first. I have a rule that I’ll sit for meditation after my workout. I have a rule that I’ll publish every day.

I do my best to follow these rules unless there’s a compelling reason to abandon them. This takes the negotiation out of it.

(b) Create contingency plans in advance.

Sometimes you can’t follow a rule on a given day. Maybe you’re sick or your body is beat up, or you need to care for a sick child. Sometimes other life things get in the way.

Having a contingency plan set in advance saves you the bandwidth of having to re-negotiate the decision.

For example, you might have an alternate time already scheduled for your workout. Or you can have an alternate workout option for days when you can’t do your pre-planned workout.

If you always eat the same thing for breakfast, what’s your back-up in case you don’t have that food available?

Think of all the ways you can set up contingency plans. Put them in place beforehand to free up the negotiation bandwidth.

(3) Worry and “Figuring Things Out”

Have you ever stopped and noticed how much of your background thoughts are spent worrying about things you can’t control, or trying to “figure things out”?

Or maybe you are future-planning, or reflecting on the past or ruminating. This is especially common for people with ADHD. We struggle to stay in the present.

This bandwidth metaphor is particularly apt here: every topic you’re thinking about is like an open browser tab in your browser. The more tabs you have open, the slower your active tab will load.

How to Clear Worry Bandwidth

(a) Dedicate a specific time to thinking about the future or reflecting on the past.
Regularly schedule a time to think about the issues weighing you down.

Actually block that time in your calendar as a sacred appointment.

Even better, schedule an appointment with someone who can listen to you speak them aloud and offer neutral, objective reflection.

Sometimes we need someone to listen to us or hear ourselves to get clarity.

This is one of the prime benefits of working with a coach.

(b) Mind-map, list, or journal to get the issues out of your head and on paper.
As long as the issues are in your head, they’ll continue to loop in your mind, clogging up bandwidth.

Getting the the issues out of your head will help clear the bandwidth.

In addition, seeing the topics written out can help you get better clarity on what the issues are, how they might relate to each other, and possible solutions.