The Energy Calendar
Color-code your week and redesign work toward energy-creating activities
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 98%
The Energy Calendar is a one-week audit that adds an energy dimension to time tracking. At the end of each day, color every calendar item green if it felt good during and after, yellow if neutral, and red if draining. After a week, look for recurring activity types rather than isolated bad moments. Red does not automatically mean delete: first test whether changing the format, location, timing or participants alters the experience. Bloom found seated calls draining but walking calls energizing, allowing him to redesign rather than abandon them. Gradually moving the calendar toward more green supports presence, consistency and stronger output because people can sustain activities that naturally draw them far longer than work they must continually white-knuckle.
Origin
Bloom developed the audit while working more than 80 hours a week in finance and used it to find practical changes inside a schedule he could not simply discard.
Core principles
- 01Time quality depends on energy
- 02Small format changes can transform an activity
- 03Sustainable energy supports better long-term output
How to run it
- 1
Color the day
After work, label each scheduled activity green, yellow or red according to how you felt during and after it. Judge the activity, not the prestige attached to it.
Pro tip Do the review while the bodily signal is fresh.
- 2
Find the pattern
After one week, group repeated greens and reds by activity, format, people and setting. Look for controllable variables.
Watch out One difficult event is not enough to condemn an activity category.
- 3
Convert before cutting
Change the format of a recurring red item, then reassess it. Remove or delegate what remains draining when practical.
Pro tip Try walking calls, shorter meetings or different time blocks.
Watch out A green calendar is a direction, not permission to avoid every necessary task.
In the wild
Bloom's calendar showed blocks of seated phone and Zoom calls as red. He discovered that taking some calls while walking made them energy-creating and improved his presence without eliminating the work.
→ A small format change converted recurring depletion into useful energy.
Common mistakes
Assuming every red item must disappear
Many necessary tasks can be redesigned through format, duration, timing or environment.
Coloring by expectation
Prestigious or supposedly productive work may still be consistently draining; record the experienced signal.
Is it for you?
Best for
Knowledge workers who have some control over meeting format, timing, delegation or the composition of their week.
Not ideal for
People whose schedules are temporarily fixed by emergency, caregiving or tightly prescribed shift work.
From the transcript
“at the end of a workday look at your calendar and color code activities from the day according to whether they created energy”
“if you can slowly work toward a world where that calendar looks more green than red you are going to feel significantly better”
From the episode
The Harsh Truth About Money & Happiness - Sahil Bloom - #899
Sahil Bloom