Four different kinds of energy

Gretchen Rubin writes about four different kinds of energy in descending order of mental demand.

1. Contemplative energy—planning, deciding, creating, inhibiting (holding myself back from saying, doing, or thinking something), setting priorities, making transitions.

2. Engagement energy—talking to other people, reading or observing with my critical faculties

3. Audience energy—watching or listening passively

4. Habit energy—mindlessly executing a habitual behavior

One conclusion: when I feel too tired to do anything except Level 3, I should probably be in bed.

That’s the value of Level 4. If I make bedtime into a habit–”At 10:30, I start getting ready for bed, in the same way, every night”–then I don’t have to use any precious Level 1 mental energy to get myself to turn out the light.

I think she got it about right. What do you think? One of her commentors added a fifth: crisis energy, when you have to come up with unexpected energy fast. Another commenter added performance and physical energy. Those made sense to me, because I got stuck in the snow today, and had to come up with sustained physical energy.

Read more here: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2013/02/do-you-agree-with-these-four-levels-of-mental-energy/