Managing Yourself

How to protect your energy, focus and time as a business owner

You cannot lead your business consistently if you never make time to manage your own energy, attention and recovery.

Many business owners spend years learning how to manage customers, finances, operations and employees. Yet one of the most important resources in the business often receives the least attention: the person leading it.

When energy is low, focus is scattered and recovery is neglected, even capable people find it harder to make good decisions, think creatively and respond calmly. Self-care is therefore not an indulgence or something to consider only when everything else is finished. It is part of sustaining performance over the long term.

This does not require a perfect routine or a completely controlled diary. It starts with recognising that energy, attention and time are finite, then building practical habits that help you use them well.

Build habits that support you

Positive change is rarely created by one burst of motivation. It is built through repetition. Rather than trying to change everything at once, choose one behaviour that would make a meaningful difference. It might be planning tomorrow before leaving work, protecting one focus block, going for a walk or establishing a better bedtime routine.

Make the action realistic enough to repeat and allow consistency to build momentum. Small actions repeated regularly often create far better results than dramatic changes that last only a few weeks.

Fuel the engine

Business owners regularly invest significant time, money and energy in their businesses while giving far less attention to their own wellbeing.

Would you feed a thoroughbred racehorse junk food and still expect it to win races? Most people would immediately answer no. A racehorse is looked after carefully because everyone understands that performance depends on suitable fuel, care and recovery. Yet many business owners regularly skip meals, rely on convenience food or caffeine, sacrifice sleep and give themselves little time to recover.

The analogy is a simple reminder that consistent performance depends on suitable fuel, care and recovery. The same principle applies to business owners. Looking after yourself is not selfish; it supports your ability to lead the business effectively and sustainably. Three factors deserve particular attention: nutrition, movement and sleep.

Nutrition: the 80%

A useful rule of thumb is to think of nutrition as approximately 80% of the result and exercise as around 20%. The exact percentages are less important than the principle itself. Many people focus heavily on exercise because it is visible and measurable, while paying far less attention to what they eat and drink each day.

It is difficult to out-train consistently poor nutrition. Food provides the fuel that supports concentration, energy, resilience and decision-making throughout the working day. The aim is not perfection. It is simply to make better choices more consistently.

Planning meals, shopping and preparation in advance can make this significantly easier, particularly during busy periods when convenience would otherwise make the decision for you.

Movement: the 20%

Movement remains an important part of looking after yourself. Regular activity supports physical wellbeing, provides a break from mental pressure and creates valuable space for clearer thinking.

It does not need to be extreme. One practical starting point is to make time for at least twenty minutes of movement on three occasions during the week, choosing an activity and intensity that work for you. Consistency matters more than intensity. A routine that can be maintained is generally more beneficial than an ambitious programme that disappears after a few weeks.

Sleep: physical recovery for the brain

Sleep is one of the most powerful recovery tools available. During sleep, fluid-based clearance processes within the brain become more active, helping to remove metabolic waste that accumulates during waking hours. In simple terms, sleep helps the brain cleanse itself. Sleep also supports memory, learning, concentration, emotional regulation and decision-making.

This is why sacrificing sleep to gain additional working hours is often a false economy. If unfinished thoughts follow you to bed, try writing them down. Recording worries, ideas and tomorrow’s priorities can help create mental space, close the working day and improve the likelihood of quality rest.

Recovery is not a luxury

Many people plan their work in detail but leave recovery to chance. As a result, recovery happens only when exhaustion forces it. Recovery is not the opposite of productivity; it supports productivity.

It can help to consider recovery at different intervals. Daily recovery might include walking, reading, time away from screens or having a coffee away from the desk. Weekly recovery might involve exercise, family time, hobbies or occasionally finishing early. Monthly recovery could include learning something new, meeting friends or taking a day away from the business. Holidays, weekend breaks and longer periods of reflection provide opportunities for annual recovery.

The principle is simple: if we do not make space for recovery, more immediate demands will usually take its place.

Remove energy drainers

Creating energy matters, but so does removing the things that consume it. Constant interruptions, unnecessary meetings, endless notifications, poor systems, clutter, unresolved problems, negative influences and work that should be delegated can all make the day more tiring than it needs to be.

Regularly ask yourself, “What gives me energy?” and “What drains my energy?” Sometimes performance improves not because we add another habit, but because we remove or reduce something that repeatedly consumes energy without creating enough value.

Manage energy as well as time

Productivity is not simply about how much time is available. It is also about the quality of that time. One useful way to understand performance is to consider the relationship between focus and energy.

Focus	Energy	Likely result
High	High	Attention: the best state for strategic thinking and creative work.
High	Low	Disengagement: you know what needs doing but struggle to bring enough energy to it.
Low	High	Distraction: activity is high but attention is scattered.
Low	Low	Procrastination: even straightforward tasks may feel difficult to begin.

The goal is not to remain in the ideal state all day. It is to recognise when your focus and energy are strongest and reserve those periods for your most important work. Routine or smaller tasks can fit more naturally into lower-energy periods.

Stop living in constant urgency

Emails arrive, phones ring and problems appear. Without deliberate prioritisation, entire days can disappear into reactive work while genuinely important activities receive very little attention.

One of the most useful time-management frameworks is the Urgent and Important Matrix.

PRIORITY MATRIX	URGENT Needs attention now	NOT URGENT Protect time before it becomes urgent
IMPORTANT Contributes to meaningful goals	IMPORTANT + URGENT Crises, pressing problems and approaching deadlines	IMPORTANT + NOT URGENT Planning, relationship-building, personal development and business improvement
NOT IMPORTANT Limited contribution to meaningful goals	NOT IMPORTANT + URGENT Interruptions, some meetings and minor requests	NOT IMPORTANT + NOT URGENT Distractions, low-value activities and time wasters

The most effective people protect time for the Important but Not Urgent quadrant. This is where strategic thinking, planning, learning, relationship-building and business improvement happen. The more consistently you spend time here, the less time you usually need to spend dealing with future crises.

Procrastination is one reason important work becomes urgent. Tasks that are repeatedly avoided eventually become last-minute problems. Starting earlier creates time to think, review and produce better work.

Eat the frog

Some tasks are avoided not because they are large, but because they are uncomfortable. They may involve a difficult conversation, an important decision, a challenging client issue or a piece of work requiring sustained concentration.

The principle of “eating the frog” is simple: do the most difficult or important task first. Rather than allowing it to occupy your thoughts throughout the day, deal with it while your energy and concentration are at their highest.

This does not mean choosing the biggest task simply for the sake of it. It means recognising the task you are most tempted to avoid and giving it deliberate priority. Once the frog has been eaten, everything else often feels easier.

Break large challenges into manageable steps

Large or unclear projects are easy to avoid. Breaking them into smaller actions reduces overwhelm, makes the next step obvious and creates momentum.

Instead of writing “complete the annual business plan”, you might begin with four clear actions: review last year’s objectives, draft the annual priorities, gather the financial information and schedule the planning meeting. A clear first action is much easier to begin than a large outcome with no obvious starting point.

Balance significant work with small wins

Important strategic projects require concentrated effort, but spending an entire day on one large challenge can make progress feel invisible. Combining one significant task with several smaller, useful actions can help maintain energy and momentum.

The smaller tasks should not become an excuse to avoid deeper work. Used well, they provide visible progress and a natural change of pace while the larger objective continues to move forward.

Work in focused bursts

Concentration is difficult to sustain indefinitely. Many people perform better when the day is divided into focused periods followed by brief breaks or a change of activity. Protect these periods, reduce interruptions and decide in advance what each session is for.

Your ideal pattern will be personal. Blocks such as 9.00am to 10.30am, 11.00am to 12.30pm and two afternoon sessions may provide a useful starting point, but the principle matters more than the exact times. Focus works best when it is intentional.

Create a practical default diary

Many people start every week from scratch. A default diary gives the week a repeatable shape by deciding in advance where planning, meetings, focused work, exercise, learning and recovery would normally sit.

A default diary also protects the activities most easily squeezed out by urgent demands, particularly planning, exercise, learning, strategic thinking and recovery. It should remain practical and flexible. It is a framework, not a prison.

Close the day before tomorrow begins

Before finishing work, write down the key priorities for the following day. This simple habit creates clarity, reduces mental clutter and makes it easier to begin tomorrow with purpose.

Do not create an endless list. Identify a small number of meaningful priorities and know the first action you will take.

The view is different higher up the mountain

Many business owners assume things will become easier as they become more successful. Often, each new stage of growth brings a different set of challenges. The higher you climb, the further you can see, but the terrain may become steeper. Responsibilities increase, decisions become more complex and more people depend on you.

That is why it is important to stop occasionally and look back. Recognise progress, celebrate growth and reward meaningful achievement. Success is not simply about reaching the next summit; it is also about appreciating the journey.

Final thoughts

The performance of a business is closely connected to the wellbeing of the person leading it. Strong leadership requires energy. Energy requires recovery. Recovery requires intention.

By paying attention to nutrition, movement, sleep, recovery, priorities, focus and practical habits, you place yourself in a stronger position to lead your team, serve your clients and grow your business. The most effective people do not simply manage their time; they learn to manage themselves.

How James Todd & Co can help

Many business owners do not struggle because they lack ability. More often, they struggle because they lack time, clarity and capacity. When every day feels reactive, it becomes difficult to focus on the activities that genuinely move the business forward.

At James Todd & Co, we help business owners create better visibility, clearer priorities and stronger business systems so they can spend less time firefighting and more time focusing on what really matters.

Whether that means improving profitability, strengthening cash flow, building a leadership team or creating a more manageable workload, our aim is to help business owners build businesses that support the life they want rather than consume it.

Because ultimately, looking after the business starts with looking after the person leading it.