The 3 things that are Killing Your Energy, Why Small Actions Beat Willpower

Energy doesn't flow smoothly. Not in nature, and not in you.

In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins breaks down why the smallest unit of action can hold the most power, starting with Max Planck's discovery that energy moves in discrete packets, not a continuous stream- a discovery that eventually became the foundation of quantum physics and the Manhattan Project. Julie applies that same principle to habits: instead of relying on willpower, you reduce the force required to start by breaking the action down into the smallest possible package.

Julie also unpacks the research on caffeine and sleep, including why caffeine consumed up to six hours before bed can quietly disrupt your sleep architecture even when you feel like you slept fine, and how cutting caffeine after 2 pm can break the cycle of waking up foggy and reaching for more coffee.

Finally, Julie explains ultradian cycles, the natural 90-minute waves of focus and dip your brain runs on, why the 3 pm crash isn't a flaw, and why switching tasks instead of actually resting keeps you stuck in depletion instead of recovery.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why energy moves in small units, not a continuous flow, and what that means for building habits
• How to quantize a habit by reducing the force required to start
• The research on caffeine timing and hidden sleep disruption
• What ultradian cycles are and why your 3 pm crash is by design, not a failure
• The difference between a real recovery break and disguised depletion

Mentioned in this episode: Max Planck's discovery of quantum energy and its connection to the Manhattan Project; research on caffeine's effect on sleep architecture up to six hours before bedtime; ultradian rhythm research on 90-minute focus cycles.

Episode Description 

Energy doesn't flow smoothly, and neither should your habits. In this episode, Julie breaks down how to quantize your actions for easier consistency, why caffeine after 2pm might be wrecking your sleep without you knowing it, and why your 3pm crash is your brain working exactly as designed.

Key Takeaways

• Energy moves in discrete packets, not a smooth stream. The same is true for sustainable action.
• Reduce the force required to start. Quantize the habit into the smallest possible unit.
• Caffeine consumed up to six hours before bed can disrupt sleep architecture even when you feel rested.
• Cutting caffeine after 2 pm can break the foggy-wake-up, more-coffee cycle.
• Ultradian cycles mean your brain works in roughly 90-minute waves, not one continuous block.
• Switching tasks during a dip isn't rest. It's a different form of depletion.

Brave Move for Today

Pick one real recovery block this week, a specific time you stop instead of switching tasks. No phone, no "quick" email, just an actual pause. Bonus move: cut caffeine after 2 pm for one week and notice what changes.

Transcript

0:01

What if the secret to consistency isn't being more disciplined? It's maybe more about the smaller packages. Now, energy does not flow smoothly, not in nature, and certainly not inside of us. But by the end of this episode, you're going to understand why the smallest unit of action can hold the most power, and why your 3:00 PM crash isn't a character flaw, and one habit shift around caffeine that may fix your sleep without you changing anything else about your day. So let's get into it Energy doesn't flow smoothly, my friend, despite what you may think. So here's something, again, that most people don't know. For most of history, scientists assume that energy moved continuously, like a smooth, unbroken stream or a ray of sunshine that just kept shining. But Max Planck discovered that it doesn't. Energy moves in small, discrete packets, quantas, tiny individual units, and that single discovery made the foundation of quantum physics. And I know I'm not getting into it, because it's a lot for my brain right now. But eventually, that quantum physics became part of the science behind the Manhattan Project, And the smallest unit of nature can hold most power, friend. And I think about that constantly when it comes to habits. We treat consistency like it should feel like a smooth, unbroken action and stream of motivation and discipline. But when it doesn't, we feel that something is wrong within us, but energy was never built to flow like that, not in physics and not in us. Your habits don't need a bigger push. They need smaller packages. So here's the practical piece. Instead of asking, "How do I find the willpower to do this?" ask a different question. What is the smallest unit of action I can actually do? This is what I love about being a Tiny Habits coach, and this is what it's all about. We don't have to do the whole workout. Just put on your gym shoes. Not the whole chapter. Don't read the whole chapter. Just read one page. And maybe you don't want to have the whole hard conversation. Just come up with the first sentence and reduce the force it requires to start. Because most of us don't fail at the big goal. We fail at the activation energy, the friction right before we have to begin. That's when we, hustle and hesitate and be like, "Oh, I gotta start. I gotta start," and there's so much in our brain. When you break a habit into small enough packages or tiny actions, you remove the resistance that was never about motivation in the first place. I'm gonna tell you, if you've heard this podcast, you know that we have been renovating our downstairs bathroom. Yes, I know, it's July now, and here we are, but what am I gonna do? I have a handy husband that also has a full-time job in aerospace and is running a business with me. So I have to be patient. One of the things that has happened is that we moved the washer and dryer upstairs, and for a time, the washer and dryer were unavailable because we were having issues. This is a whole different story, but the point is, our laundry was piling up. And yes, I sent some of it out, but I still have tons and tons of laundry, especially because I have an elderly mom and dogs and you name it, right? So now, looking at the piles of laundry started to give me ajna. Honestly, I'm like, "Oh my God. How is this gonna happen?" And I started to think, "Oh, I don't know. I'll never get through it." And, of course, we start to catastrophize in our brain. But what I decided to do, especially because the bathroom where the new where the washer and dryer are right in front of my office. So what I decided is that every time I walk by the bathroom, even though it's not finished, I would have one basket of clothes, and all I would do is at least just put one load in. I didn't have to If I didn't dry it or if I didn't fold it, but every time I stepped out of the office, if there were clothes in the washer, I would put them in the dryer. If there were clothes in the dryer, I would put them where I can fold them as we were watching TV in the evening. So all of these things, I wasn't starting and doing all these laundry piles. I was just taking one step at a time. The same thing with when I wake up in the morning and the dishes in the dishwasher are clean. I usually think, "Oh, maybe I'll wait till later. I don't feel motivated to do that right now." No, you know what I do is I tell myself, "I'm just gonna get my cup out, and this is the cup I'm gonna use for coffee," one of the cups in the dishwasher. Yes, I have other cups in the cupboard, but this is what I started to do, is just I'm gonna take one cup out and I'm gonna use it. And when I open the dishwasher, the next thing you know while I'm doing the coffee and it's brewing, I end up unloading the entire dishwasher, and this is so helpful. I'm not looking to accomplish anything, but I tell myself, "I'm just gonna do the first thing," and that's so helpful to me. Now, let's talk about something that quietly drains your energy. Speaking of coffee, and this is something that is draining you even before you start your day. There's research showing that caffeine consumed even after six hours before bedtime can disrupt your sleep. I used to tell myself that I could sleep, not have a problem even if I s- had a coffee or an espresso right before bed, and that's not true. Here's the part that I got wrong and that maybe other people listening to this get wrong. You may feel like you sleep fine even though you've just had caffeine, but you didn't. Your sleep architecture was disrupted. Even if you don't remember waking up, you lose deep restorative sleep without even knowing it happened, so you're waking up foggy. You reach for coffee to fix the fog, and the next morning, and that coffee hours later disrupts tonight's sleep, and tomorrow you wake up foggy again, and that's not a caffeine problem. It's a vicious circle. So cutting caffeine for me at 2:00 PM has been one of the simplest shifts I've made, not because caffeine is bad, but timing matters more than we think. You can't out-discipline a broken sleep cycle. You can only interrupt it. And hey, my friend, quickly, I'm gonna break in here for today's sponsor, and today's sponsor, it's me, myself, and I. And outside of this podcast, I help women entrepreneurs build confidence and visibility and businesses that actually align with their life that they want to create, and they also can create freedom and flexibility and money that pays their bills. So I do that through the CEO Co-Op and all my other programs. So if you wanna check it out and you wanna stop overthinking how to get aligned with the goals that you wanna reach, go and head over to my website, goconfidentlycoaching.com, and that's where you can find more information. So now let's get back to the episode. Now, here is the last piece that I wanna talk about, and I think this one is going to help you reframe your whole workday Our work culture reflects an era of bygone days. It reflects the factory era. You clock in, you push through, you clock out. One long continuous output. But your brain doesn't work in a straight line. It works in waves, and they are called ultradian cycles, roughly about 90-minute waves of focus followed by a natural dip. Think about it. The 3:00 PM crash you blame on the heavy lunch that you had, or maybe you're feeling that you're too lazy 'cause at 3:00 you're conking out, hmm, or maybe not having enough coffee, hmm, it's not a flaw. That's your brain doing exactly what it's designed to do. The problem isn't the dip. The problem is what we do with it. We resist the dip, and we don't rest. We just switch to a different task, maybe email instead of writing the report, scrolling instead of writing, and just pushing through somewhere else, and that's not recovery. That's just a different form of depletion. So here's what really you need to work at, and here's what ties this all together Energy was never meant to be smooth, unlimited, and constant, not in physics, not in your sleep, not in your workday. And the goal isn't to push harder against your natural rhythms. So to work with it, you have to just notice them and start with smaller actions, tiny habits, tiny movements. Protect your hours of sleep. Take real breaks instead of disguised depletion like scrolling, even though you should just maybe take five minutes, even if it's just five minutes, to breathe deeply. That's not a weakness, my friend. This is design. So here's your brave move for today. Pick one real recovery block, maybe a specific time of day where you stop instead of switching a task. No phone, no quick email, just an actual pause. And if you want a second move, try this. Cut caffeine after two o'clock, and you will notice what changes, especially for us midlife women, in one week. You'll notice it, trust me. Now, I know I still love caffeine, and I love my coffee, but limit it and take the experiment and be curious. My friend, you don't need more willpower. I've told you this time and time again. You need smaller actions and real recovery. Work with your energy, not against it, because the smallest unit of action taken consistently holds more power than the big push we keep waiting to feel ready for, honestly. Okay, that's all I have for today. I know it's a lot, but I'm so grateful that you're here. Don't forget, share this episode with someone who may need just a little oomph in their step and is giving themselves a hard time because they're naturally going through these waves where energy dips. Okay? Until tomorrow, don't forget, I love you so much.