I heard the Minimal Mom on YouTube talk about this idea of “bandwidth.” She said something like at the end of the day, she had no bandwidth left. I never heard that term before (describing the energy we have), but I got what she meant. I’ve always said, “I’m losing my steam,” which means the same thing.

How many of us feel depleted by the end of the day? I’m raising my hand here. I often feel wiped out, as if I expended all my energy and need to rest. But there’s more to this bandwidth idea than how our bodies feel come nightfall.

We can push our bandwidth to the limit trying to complete something, and our brain needs some rest to recharge. Or how about when you’re arguing with someone and don’t have the bandwidth to keep fighting? It’s this idea of mental capacity that equals our bandwidth. Sometimes, we don’t have the bandwidth to deal with our kids or partners and need a break. In those moments, we have to give ourselves grace and allow ourselves permission to veg out and regroup. It’s healthy for our minds and bodies to not always be at full speed but to slow down and decompress like a train that goes into a station. It hits the brakes and slows down. Once stopped, the train rests and gets fuel to start another journey.

When you work with your bandwidth, you know how much you can process and get a sense of the best times you’re most alert to get important things done.

In his book Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy writes, “Every morning when you begin, take action on the most important task you can accomplish to achieve your most important goal at the moment.” This works for me because I’m a morning person, but others might kick into high drive at night. It all depends on your bandwidth and what you’ve done throughout the day.

Working with your bandwidth is much easier when you work on one single task at a time. Whenever I try to multi-task, I can get overwhelmed, which leads to bandwidth burnout. I’ve dealt with that, and it’s not fun. I felt like a vegetable after, having no bandwidth left to accomplish anything productive.

Brian Tracy states, “One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is for you to get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you take. One of the best ways to eat a large frog is to take it one bite at a time.” That prevents feeling overwhelmed and helps you work with your bandwidth to keep it running continuously and productively.

When I write to-do lists, I see everything that needs to be done and feel overwhelmed. I burn out my bandwidth quickly on low-importance things instead of working on bite-size pieces of the big “frog,” as Brian Tracy suggests. I mistakenly think everything is important. I give the same importance to emptying the dishwasher or folding laundry as I do to writing a chapter in my book. That’s not the same at all! I utilize precious bandwidth worrying about tasks that could wait until I finish something much more important.

I could pick apart why I do these low-importance tasks, but the bigger issue is finding the bandwidth to get the important things done. Putting deadlines on things and creating a plan helps to give us a sense of urgency and allows our bandwidth to stay steady so we do not lose steam and putter out.

Working with your bandwidth will help you control your energy and focusing capability. All you have to do is pay attention to how you feel doing certain things. Eat the frog when you’re on your highest bandwidth, and it won’t seem like a big deal.

Thank you for reading this, and I hope I’ve given some food for thought about achieving your goals. Comment below if you feel this helped you in some way. I’d appreciate it!

To our beautiful bandwidth,

Francesca