I prefer to have a schedule of things in my calendar so that I have an idea of what to focus on during a particular day. During weekends, I try to plan my upcoming week in advance using Google Calendar. I’ve tried multiple calendar apps in the past, but have reverted back to Google Calendar because it is simple, free, and syncs flawlessly across all my devices. I was looking for a way to track how I feel during the day and came across this method of color-coding calendar events by Sahil Bloom. He recently named it the ‘Energy Calendar’ , a method where you color-code a particular event in your calendar based on how you feel. By looking at the color patterns in your calendar, you can get a holistic view of your day and prioritize tasks that are less daunting.

The Method

energy calendar
A screenshot of last Friday’s calendar. See the different energy levels!

The framework or method is simple. Just color-code the events in your calendar at the end of the activity or day using the following categories, or something similar:

  • 🌲Energizer: Energized me and made me think about it for hours.
  • 🔵Energy Gainer: Created some energy.
  • ⭐️Neutral: Not too great or too bad.
  • 🔺Energy Drainer: Sucked the energy out of me.

How to Take Control of Your Time

  • At the end of the week, review the past week’s events and reflect on which events drained your energy.
  • If two consecutive events are draining your energy, try to reorganize them. Revisit these events again next week.
  • Reevaluate events that are constantly draining your energy.
  • If any particular item in your calendar was not as energizing as expected, analyze what happened. Maybe the timing was not right.
  • Be grateful for the energizing activities.
  • Strive to make your calendar fully green!

Disclaimer: Even though this hack sounds fancy, I’ve discontinued this method as it adds too much friction to my process.