You’ve spotted the pattern, identified the advice. Now what? Put it into action.
Take the patterns you spotted in the Exhaustion Test and the advice you’re shaping to fit your life. Now change something. We are sticking to small, tiny actions. The ones that feel so simple they can’t possibly work. But which compound over time and can make an incredible difference.
Tiny actions, done consistently, create change. Not because they’re impressive. Because they’re sustainable.
Think about it. You don’t work on your side hustle because you don’t have 2 hours available. Or you don’t have the energy to focus for 2 hours. So, you do nothing.
What if you did 10 minutes every day? That’s at least an hour a week. An hour you aren’t currently spending. What could you do with an hour broken into manageable 10-minute blocks? More than you’re doing now.
This lowers the barrier enough that you start. You sit down for 10 minutes because it feels manageable. You get drawn into the task. Thirty minutes later, it’s done. You wouldn’t have started if you’d needed an hour – you were too tired. But 10 minutes? That felt possible.
This used to be my downfall. If I didn’t have an hour, I wouldn’t start. Now? I set myself one small task. For this article, I sat down to write just the introduction. Then I came back later and wrote tiny action 1. That became 2 and 3. Now half the article is written.
The secret isn’t having more time or energy. It took me years to figure that out. It’s lowering the barrier to starting.
Here are 5 tiny actions that make your days feel like yours.
1. Remove one visual distraction
Visual distractions aren’t just annoying – they drain your energy before you’ve even started working.
Every item in your line of sight creates a micro-decision: Do I need this? Should I deal with this now? Where does this go?
Your brain is constantly processing what’s in front of you, even when you’re trying to focus on something else. Those tiny decisions add up. By the time you sit down to work, you’re already mentally tired.
You’re not lacking focus. You’re fighting unnecessary visual noise.
Why it matters: When you start your day facing yesterday’s chaos – the cluttered desk, the pile of papers, the things you meant to deal with – you’re already behind. Your brain is trying to track all of it while also trying to focus on today’s work. It’s exhausting.
Remove the visual clutter, and you remove the mental load that comes with it.
Try this: Pick one visual distraction that consistently pulls your attention. For me, it’s my desk.
I’m not naturally tidy. Papers pile up, things I need ‘later’ accumulate, my desk becomes a visual reminder of everything I haven’t finished. But my brain needs clear space to think. A messy desk makes my mind feel messy.
Now I clear my desk at the end of each day. Everything goes in a box on the floor next to my desk. I was worried it would become a dumping ground for everything I didn’t want to deal with. But I check it every morning and only take out what I need for that day. Everything else gets filed – properly put away, not just shoved back in the box. It takes two minutes.
The desk is clear when I sit down. My brain isn’t cluttered with yesterday’s unfinished business. I can start.
Your visual distraction might not be your desk. Maybe it’s your phone face-up on the table – put it in a drawer after each work session. Email tabs always open – close them at the end of the day, deal with anything urgent first. Post-it notes covering your monitor – move them to a notebook at the end of each day, check it tomorrow.
The pattern is the same: daily reset, temporary holding space, file what matters.
Notice: Do you get into work faster? Feel less scattered? Have more energy for the actual work?
2. Notice when you need space (even if you love people)
You love being around people. Collaboration energises you. Office buzz makes you feel alive. You’re genuinely a people person.
But then you get home and your brain feels like static. You need silence. Darkness. Space. And you feel guilty about it because – aren’t you supposed to love this?
Loving people and needing space aren’t opposites. You can be energised by collaboration and still need recovery time after. The drain isn’t a sign you’re doing it wrong. It’s just the cost of the interaction.
Why it matters: If you don’t plan for recovery, you’ll end up avoiding the interactions you enjoy because you’re constantly depleted. Or worse – you’ll push through without space and become irritable, scattered, and resentful.
Try this: For the next 5 days, note down an ‘E’ (energised) or ‘D’ (depleted) after any significant interaction – meetings, social plans, collaborative work sessions.
Look for patterns. Not just which interactions drain you, but when. Is it the third meeting in a row? The second social event this week? The afternoon collaboration after a morning full of calls?
Once you spot the pattern, build in recovery.
For me, after a day full of meetings or a formal work event, I need solo work time. I put my headphones in, set my Teams status to ‘do not disturb,’ and work on something that doesn’t require talking to anyone. Usually just a morning. Sometimes just until one task is done.
What drains you? What helps you recover? Build that space into your day before you’re too depleted to function.
3. Stack one tiny action
Want to build a new habit? Stack it onto something you already do automatically.
I don’t stretch after running. Now I do one stretch after every run. I put a card that says ‘stretch’ under my headphone case – I see it when I put my headphones away.
Stronger core? I do a 30-second plank after I clean my teeth, morning and evening. Card in the bathroom where I can see it.
Morning routine? I get up, go downstairs (don’t ask me why, I just do), drink a glass of water and write down 3 priorities for the day. The glass sits out on the counter. My notepad and pen sit next to it. First thing I see.
Why it matters: Creating new habits is hard when you rely on remembering to do them. You forget, get distracted, and tell yourself you’ll do it later.
Stacking removes the decision. The existing habit triggers the new action automatically.
Try this: Pick one tiny thing you want to add to your routine. Find something you already do every single day without thinking. Stack the new action immediately after it.
Two rules: Make it tiny. So small it’s done before you realise it. And stack it AFTER an existing action, not before. The existing habit is your prompt. If you try to use the new action as the prompt, it won’t happen. Trust me, I’ve tried.
4. Create a ‘not now’ list
Your to-do list keeps growing. You add things faster than you can tick them off. Every time you look at it, you feel behind.
Some of those tasks matter. But not today. Maybe not this week. They’re good ideas, important eventually, but they don’t need to happen right now. And yet there they sit, cluttering your list, making everything feel urgent when it’s not.
I stole this solution from a friend. They call it the carpark – where you park everything you want to do but don’t need to do right now.
Why it matters: When your to-do list is full of things that don’t need doing today, you can’t see what actually matters. You waste mental energy tracking tasks that aren’t even relevant yet. The carpark clears the clutter. Ideas, tasks, projects that matter but not today – park them. Then your actual to-do list only has what you’re working on now.
Try this: Keep a piece of paper face-down on your desk. When something comes up that you want to do but don’t need to do today or this week – write it on the paper. Don’t look at it again until you need a new task.
At the start of each day, take 3 things from the carpark and put them on your actual to-do list. When those are done, get the next 3.
Keep the paper face-down. If you’re constantly looking at it, you’re defeating the purpose.
I love stationery, so I bought a notebook with cars on the cover. This is where I capture everything. It only gets opened when I have something to add or things to move onto my current to-do list. I keep it in my desk box so I can’t see it all the time (see point 1 about visual distractions).
5. Notice what energises you
You track everything. Tasks completed. Hours logged. Meetings attended. Emails sent. You measure productivity constantly.
But you don’t track how any of it makes you feel. You finish the day exhausted and can’t pinpoint why. Was it the back-to-back meetings? The admin work? The project you thought you’d enjoy? You have no idea.
Why it matters: Tracking what you do tells you if you’re productive. Tracking how you feel tells you if it’s sustainable.
You might be ticking off tasks and still be completely depleted. Or you might do less and have more energy because you’re working on things that actually fuel you. If you only measure output, you miss the energy cost entirely.
Try this: For one week, note ‘E’ (energised) or ‘D’ (depleted) after tasks, meetings, and interactions with people.
Look for patterns. Not just what drains you, but when. Is it the third meeting in a row? The admin work you do first thing? The collaboration you thought would be energising?
Once you spot the pattern, you can do something about it.
I feel depleted after too many meetings. But if I take a very short walk round the block after a meeting, I get back to my desk ready to work on the next thing. I get that task done better and more efficiently than if I’d gone straight into it. Without tracking, I wouldn’t have noticed the pattern or known what helped.
Pick one. Just one.
It can be tempting to try all five at once. That’s the quickest road to overwhelm.
Pick the one that resonated most. Try it for a week. See what happens. Then come back and pick another.
Small, consistent changes compound. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. My run training – I ramp up strength sessions while increasing intensity and distance. Result? Injury. Too much, all at once.
Stop doing what drains you most. Start using your time on what matters most.
Not sure which action to start with? Download the energy drains worksheet first. It shows you what’s draining you. Then come back and pick the action that fits.
Still not sure? Book a free discovery call. We’ll talk about what’s happening in your environment and how small shifts could improve your energy levels and productivity.
