Energy points: plan your day with a budget.
An energy budget works like a money budget: you see in advance what a day will cost – and decide for yourself how much you want to spend.
The idea
Every plan gets points according to its effort, for example 1 for light, 3 for moderate and 5 for demanding. The total shows how full a day is – before it starts.
This makes visible what a calendar keeps quiet: three short appointments can cost more than one long one, and a free afternoon is not automatically restful if it is filled with errands.
The daily budget
How many points a day can hold is up to you. It is a value from experience, not a reference value – and it can change, for instance being different on workdays than at weekends.
The day plan shows how much is planned and how much is still free. mypacing just does the maths and shows it; it does not judge your plan and does not suggest a budget.
Assigning points
What something costs is individual. A few examples of what a day could look like:
- Quick shopping trip: 1 point
- Long video call: 2 points
- Children’s birthday party in the afternoon: 3 points
- Office day including the commute: 4 points
Mental load counts too: a difficult decision or a demanding conversation may get as many points as a physical task.
Learning from the review
Over weeks, the review shows planned points, wellbeing and recovery signals side by side. This can lead to observations such as: “On days above your budget, you logged slightly lower wellbeing on the following day on average” – always with the number of days they are based on.
Whether you then adjust your budget is your decision. The plan belongs to you.
Building in breaks
Besides the budget, two tools help with pacing: the break rhythm, an interval timer with reminders whose lengths you set yourself, and the rest moment, where a sphere grows and shrinks with your breathing.
More background is in the guide Pacing in everyday life.
Read more
Pacing in everyday life
What pacing means, which questions help when planning, and why patterns say more than single days.
Energy management instead of time management
Why two meetings of the same length can cost very different amounts of energy, and how to spread a week by effort.
Planning recovery
Shift work, exam season, recreational sport and getting back into everyday life – with examples from the day plan.