Spoon Journal - How to Schedule your Days Around Energy

Spoon Journal Method | Lady and Lion Co.

In the past, I've had some issues with energy levels. Anyone feeling me on this? It's not so much a problem anymore, and one of the things I attribute this to is my Spoon Journal. Have you heard of the spoon method before? The spoon theory was invented by Christine Miserandino, who has lupus. She used spoons as visuals to describe how much energy she had while battling tougher parts of her chronic illness. So one spoon is a unit of energy. Today, some doctors use this to communicate energy levels with patience who have internal illnesses.

Now, while I don't have a chronic illness, I thought this was a genius idea. How it works is, you wake up with a set number of energy. So, let's say I wake up with twelve units of energy. Throughout the day, I use spoons until I have no spoons left, (resulting in sleep or rest). It's a respectful indicator to a spouse or child if you're "low on energy" you could just say you have, "two more spoons left!" A while back, I read a book called, "Get your Sh*t Together." by Sarah Knight. Knight had a section on time management that really struck me. She said, and I'm paraphrasing, she used to be poor at time management and realized it was because she had no idea how long things took her. Soooo she started a journal and, for a week, obsessively timed herself doing everything, from her morning toilet run to tying her shoes. She had two rules no judgement, and no rushing. After that, her "over-optimistic" time estimations subsided. I thought this was a good point. How can you plan if you have no idea what you're planning? I started a journal not shortly after that dedicated to timing myself doing things. Report? Improved my time management immensely! However, a few years later, facing energy troubles, I decided to apply the same principle to energy.

After hearing a podcast with Sara Tasker, talking about her chronic illness and the spoon theory, and furthering my research, something clicked between the spoon theory and the time journal! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, The spoon journal! I must say, I have no clue if someone thought of this before me... probably did! But in a desperate mission to make good use of the energy I had, I set off for a month to record everything I did, and how much energy it gave or subtracted from my spoons.

For example:

- Shower + 2 - Talking on the phone - 2 - Running Errands +/- 2 - Driving - 2 - Swimming + 2

- Yoga +2 - Shopping N - 30 minute nap + 4 - Cooking +2 - Crafts +2

N = Neutral

H O W D O E S T H I S H E L P ?!?!

Like the time journal, my spoon journal gave me the self-awareness necessary to schedule my days in a more productive way surrounding my energy. It's also a tool to solve energy problems. Whenever I feel low on energy, I refer to my spoon journal to remind me of things that add energy to my day. So maybe I have low energy and can't take a nap, I will do something else that gives me a few spoons of energy back. Anyway, I'd love to know your thoughts on a spoon journal, and I hope it brings you value! If you suffer from low energy for whatever reason, you're worth a week of being mindful enough to record your energy units so you can make better use of your days. I hope this helps! If you're interested in the spoon journal, we make one and you can purchase it right in our shop! Click here to get yourself a week long workbook! Or download this freebie spoon exercise here! xoxo Jess