Energize

From our Motiv8ing Ideas Archive

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
Benjamin Franklin

In a previous month we focused on perseverance and persistence...which usually require lots of personal energy! In fact, the pace and pressures of life and change in today's world places unprecedented demands on our personal reservoir of energy.
So how can we manage our personal energy in the most effective way?
...like the management of any energy resource in the world, we need to

  • Generate it

  • Conserve it

  • Channel it.


Generating energy is about ensuring that we are building up enough, and the right kind of, personal energy. Here are a few ideas:

  • Get plenty of sleep - avoid junk TV...get an extra hour's sleep instead

  • Schedule regular exercise...a minimum of 20 minutes at least 3 times a week

  • Always eat breakfast, sitting down to do so; choose something like a bowl of cereal with chopped banana on top, wholemeal toast with a poached egg

  • Increase your water intake; drink water regularly throughout the day

  • Start each day with a short spiritual or inspirational reading

  • Set work and life goals to get excited about.


Conserving energy is about making sure that energy is preserved for when it is needed. Here are a few ideas for conserving personal energy:

  • Avoid negative people

  • Worry is a misuse of the imagination; instead use these creative powers constructively and optimistically

  • Pay compliments

  • Don't talk yourself down.


Channelling energy is about ensuring that energy is used wisely. That means, for example, that we should:

  • manage time to focus tightly on work and life goals and priorities, and not be distracted by interrupts (personal or external)

  • endeavour to work on one thing at a time, keeping anything not related to the task at hand out of sight.


"We cannot be a source of strength
unless we nurture our own strength."
M Scott Peck