The Fatigue Diary

The Goldilocks Zone

Perpetual tiredness need not be your lot!

The trick is to find the Goldilocks Zone – that special zone when you use just the right amount of energy. You’re not doing little and being generally bored of life; neither are you too tired you’ve collapsed in a heap. 

A fatigue diary might help to analyse your behaviour and from there make positive decisions about how best to spend your time.

And actually, when using just the right amount of energy, people find they begin to make small improvements every day and their energy levels improve.

Diaries are The Answer?

The simplest way of doing this is to record every task or activity throughout the day, from brushing your teeth to work, or social activities with the family.

Where is your energy going? Are you making the best use of it?

Macmillan offer a good fatigue diary but I wanted a comprehensive approach that would evaluate every aspect of an activity.

It may look a little complicated. You don’t need to analyse each task to quite the level of detail I have, but the advantage to doing so is being able to evaluate each activity in carefully. Tasks like eating are (naturally!) important, and also exercise, though it might not seem immediately relevant. Work is important financially and for feelings of self-worth.

When I followed a diary for a few weeks, I found I was spending my energy on things that really had no benefit. Social media particularly!

The other advantage to the formula is the daily sums. On the days you’re feeling too tired, you can pick out the activities that might have contributed to this. You also know that in the future, you need to make sure you lower your total fatigue points.