Energy

The difficulty class of the tasks you can perform declines throughout the day.

Energy is less like a battery and more like voltage. Some machines require a threshold voltage to operate. Below that voltage they don’t just operate slower — they don’t operate at all. Different categories of activity have different threshold voltages:

1. High-voltage: Things you’re averse to, that bring up painful emotions.
2. Medium-voltage: Creative, open-ended work (high to start, medium once going).
3. Low-voltage: Simple chores — cleaning, laundry, etc.

When you wake up you have the highest possible voltage, and throughout the day it declines. That’s the key difference from spoon theory: spoons are fungible across time, voltage is not. For each category of activity, there is a window of the day when you can action it.

Daily energy cascade

1. Morning routine, quick wins.
2. Tackle the dreaded thing as early as possible (highest energy + self-control).
3. Work on projects — creative, generative, intellectual things.
4. When out of energy to create → read.
5. When out of energy to read → clean, gym, low-voltage tasks.
6. Sun goes down → everything unravels. Take melatonin, get to bed before the instant gratification monkey seizes power.

Why do dreaded tasks first: if you put it off to late morning, why not put it off again? And again. Then it’s 7pm and you can’t even think about the task.