When I wake my son in the morning, his everyday reply is, “mummy, 5 more minutes”, which is equivalent to “snooze option of an alarm. And hey I am a parent, I don’t think twice before exercising my right to “lecture” him that this habit of his will not help him at all.
Every time I say this to my son, I am reminded of that during initial years of marriage, my husband used to call me the “snooze queen” because I was an expert in setting unrealistic alarm time and then pressing snooze button. It was one of my biggest energy depleting behaviors and by reading the side effects of pressing a simple snooze button made me think that despite being a psychologist, an HR expert, a gold medallist, I was being so inefficient. But the reality was worse than I realized. The Way I was working wasn’t working, I was running on empty and was on a constant game of catchup!
Does this sound familiar. Does your life seem full enough—maybe even too full—yet you’re running on empty. You feel stretched thin, stressed-out, drained.
Drained… drain which means – a gradual depletion of energy or resources.
But.. How great would it be if you were to figure out how to optimize your day? The blog will help you in identifying energy leaks and finding more energy.
Let’s see a few things that we put up with every day:
– Friends taking us for granted
– People trashing our ideas
– Being in the wrong line of work
– Yelling at kids
– Our unending to do list
– Never getting around to do house repairs
And the list goes on and on………
Now the question comes how to identify these “energy leaks”.
When your phone is not charged there is some sign on the phone which tell you, you need to take action.
When the fuel in the vehicle is less, there is a sign.
Do we have any sign which screams to us, “Hey there is energy drain”
Yes, there are three types of signs which we keep getting but we get so accustomed with these everyday tolerances that we think them as normal. The first type of sign is at the thought level, which can be a negative thought like I always do this, or I am a loser or I know something bad will happen. This language drains you. The second type of sign is the feeling level, when you are overwhelmed, irritated, confused, angry, moody, helpless, do you think that’s uplifting……no these are real enemies of energy depletion.
The third type of signal is you get at the behavioral level, when your motivation is going down, you cannot put focus on your tasks, and you have problems in your relationships.
We can compare our energy levels to, air in a car tyre. If the tyre has no holes, it can keep the air inside for long. If the tyre has a hole, even a tiny one, it will deflate very soon and all your efforts to pump it up will be useless until you plug that hole.
The same applies to your energy level. Before deciding where to begin to increase it, I would recommend looking at your energy zappers first. No matter how diligently you boost energy, it will just continue to drain until you plug the “holes”. These could be –
– Lack of sleep
– Clutter, mess and disorganization
– Procrastination: unfinished tasks
Anger
– Living beyond your means
– Information overload
– Resentment
– Worrying and control issues
– Gossiping
– Poor Diet
– Overwork
– Endless to do list
– Lack of exercise
I urge you to decide that you have functioned in the ‘Survival Zone’ long enough. Now is the time, to move to Performance Zone by reenergizing as the best part is unlike time, energy can be regularly renewed.
Do an ENERGY AUDIT in all these areas of your life (Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), identify your energy drains and close the leak. Take just one behavior from the Energy Audit that you’re not currently doing but know you should, and start doing it at a specific time every day for a week. You’ll notice a difference in your life.
There is an Indian proverb – Everyone is a House with Four Rooms, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room, every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.
Commit to visiting all of the rooms in your house everyday and consider the following in respective rooms
Physical
Take a break at least every 90 minutes.
Eat nourishing food
Sleep 7-8 hours
Emotional
Diffuse negative emotions
Fuel positive emotions
Mental
Stop trying to multitask.
Work as much as possible in short, uninterrupted sprints.
Do the most important thing first every day, for at least 60 minutes.
Respond to emails at designated time frames.
Spiritual
Find ways to do things that gives you more fulfillments
Live your core values
I am sure you are an expert now at your own Energy Management, and will remember to identify your energy drains by tuning into your body, mind, soul, plug in the leaks and find more energy to be “Peak Performers”