How to Enjoy Every Moment - Energy Management Fundamentals

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We often feel urge to get things done and do not feel happy when something didn’t get completed. What we often forget is that being fulfilled and having a lot of things done fast may not be the same thing. A lot of people work long hours without even enjoying what they do. Most people seemed busy. Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean productive and fulfilled. Sometimes the opposite is true - the more things we need to get done the more stress we feel.

When we present we have more things done in less time and at the same time feel energetic and alive. Most energy derived from being in a present moment. What can give us ability to stay in a present and be fully engaged? It is the ability to manage our energy effectively on multiple levels.

Small Things Ads Up

Bad habits still running our lives and we usually tend to have a lot of them. Each one taking our energy on an unconscious level and a lot of those old patterns adds up quickly and by the time we even get up from bad in the morning, we already on our way to waste a lot of energy which is trapped in our body as an emotion. Its can be changed by taking control of our energy.

We need to take an inventory and figure out what taking energy from us and what gives us energy. Do you know what gives you satisfaction and good emotions? Let’s assume that working on your business activities is giving you energy. Do you know which activities in your business will give you the most leverage?

From reading what successful people do and by studying business fundamentals I know that is probably 2 types of activities:

• Creating Content (bringing value to people)

• Promote your business (expending your communication channels)

Those are leverage activities and everything else will be details but can take significant amount of time and energy. For example I can be working on producing a graphic for my blog post, which can take significant amount of time especially when I am not really proficient doing this type of work.

Could this activity help me to get much closer to my goal? Maybe just a little, but it can take a significant amount of time. I know if I do thing kind of activities for a long time it drains  energy. Small things like that adds up quickly and contribute to our whole energy picture.

Where Our Energy Comes From - Four Fundamental Sources of Energy

Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz

Source1: Spiritual

The most important type of energy that we can possibly get comes from our purpose and passion. If you don’t have some sort of purpose, if you don’t know what are you doing and why on daily basis - you are not enjoying the process and this probably will deprived you of energy more than anything else.

I use to work in corporate environment and often feel tired and sleepy at the end of the day. I couldn’t understand why at that time. I have been healthy throughout my life. I’ve been doing physical activities in one form or another and eat pretty healthy foods. I thought that I should have enough energy because of that. My friends even called me energizer because of my natural energetic. Despite all of that, I felt drained at work and after work on a regular basis.

Now it is clear to me why. It is happened because I was lacking purpose and was heading nowhere fast. I expended too much energy minute by minute thinking about what’s going to happen in a future and probably constantly ponder thoughts on how I hate my job. And this kind of mental activity is draining.

You must know your purpose and passion to have a lot of energy which will lead to all kind of good things.

Figure out what you want to do each and every day and do it

Source 2: Physical

Obviously physical conditions are crucial to live quality life and have balance. If you don’t watch your body conditions that you probably don’t really care much about anyone else. You must love yourself first before you can love anyone else. And how can you love yourself if you not taking care of your body. Some people probably will argue with me on that, but that is how I feel.

Physical energy also can be divided on several sources:

• Exercises
• Nutrition
• Rest

We need to pay attention to all of them to maximize our energy so we can become more and do more. Luck of good nutrition plan can drain your energy dramatically. I almost eliminated meat from my diet 4 years ago (I still eat meat on rare occasions) and personally can tell that it made a big difference. Especially I felt this difference first thing in the morning after waking up. Result was much more energy.

Rest is also very important. All athletes work out hard but also have good periods of rest and recovery. Do you think that working 10 hours a day in a row is very good idea? It is probably not. I’ve done that.

It is proven that people can’t concentrate for more than short period of time on one task and be really productive. We got distracted and it is not most efficient way to spend time. That’s maybe one of the reasons why when I was in school we have brakes every 45 minutes. I notice if I take a brake every hour or hour in half between doing important tasks I feel much more energized and creative.

Source 3: Emotional

We must feel positive emotions to derive energy from this source. We get positive energy from being self-confident, having the right skills, empathy, openness, trust. Negative emotions are very costly and drain our energy. Obviously emotional energy is well connected with spiritual and physical and they work together. By doing physical activities we train our emotional system as well.

Source 4: Mental

Mental energy is our ability to focus, concentrate be creative and optimistic. We need to stimulate our mind to stay sharp and focused. To increase our energy derived from this source we need to do visualization, positive self-talk, have positive attitude and constantly sharpen our minds.

What can prevent us from taking advantage of these sources are bad habits. And what is the best way to get read of old habits is to form new habits.

Conclusion: The key to stay present/engaged is to have a lot of energy. We can do that by becoming aware of  area that need improvement and form new habits (behaviors) to replace old ones that drains our energy. Once new habits are formed, it is automatic and energetically supports us instead of draining us. Habit is a nature’s (God’s) way of least resistance.

All those sources are interconnected. Now that you can become aware what sources of energy exists it is easier to spot the problem and understand why you are not feeling the way you want to feel and to form a new habit to fix it.

Please leave comments on what area drains your energy and what area gives you more energy. Argue with me if you don’t agree - that’s ok