10 Ways to Find More Energy Today
Energy comes to you from your inner world and the world around you.
Find energy by respecting it.
10 Ways to Find More Energy Today
#1. Reject the need to be right all the time. The person who needs to be right, ends up drained by fools.
#2. Say yes to activities where you make the most difference. Shoot to spend at least 70% of your time in meaningful activities. Do the stuff you hate early in the day.
#3. Make fewer commitments. Regret drains energy. Learn to say no, kindly and without defensiveness. The bad feeling you have when you don’t fulfill a commitment weakens your soul.
#4. Stop trying to change people. Accept your team and organization as they are. Acceptance isn’t approval or agreement. People change themselves.
Frustration over battles you can’t win drains energy. Help people improve, when they want to improve. The frustration you feel about them, drains their energy too.
#5. Surround yourself with people who aspire to be better. Look for people who know enough to know that they don’t know. Be one, too.
#6. Look forward to something. Anticipation is energy. Tap into the “I just want to get this done” energy. But, be sure there’s something positive on the other side of “just getting things done.”
#7. Don’t depend on people who are undependable.
#8. Notice small acts of kindness. Appreciate people who hold the door open, for example.
#9. Work within the framework of established authority. Only buck the system when you can make it better.
#10. Look up and breathe deep. Stop looking at the ground so much. People who look down are down. Looking up doesn’t solve problems, it improves outlook.
Bonus: Deal with negative emotion, even if you can’t solve negative issues. The way you feel about a thing change you, not the thing.
Where might leaders find energy today?
Which of these 10 ways to find energy today are most useful to you?
How might leaders find energy today? By understanding who they are (and who they are not!), and by creating a sustainable rythmn of life that understands output, input and sabbath rest.
Thanks Carmen. Brilliant.
Good morning Dan;
As to your question; “Which of these Ten ways to find energy today are most useful to you?”
There are several I could choose. I’ll go with No. # 6 as it was the topic of discussion around the
coffee pot this morning.
Life and work can often times become routine, dull, and boring. ‘Yes’, believe it or not, life behind
the razor wire & walls of a Maximum Security Prison can be very regimented. The ‘Sameness’ of an
inmates daily routine is absolutley nesassary to maintain order as well as creating consistancy with
inmate line movements within the prison. Resulting in monotany, repetition, and yes, BOREDOM.
Hense, I’ve chosen No. #6. As an individual, I find (Anticapation) keeps my “Creative Juices”
flowing. As a Leader, giving your peopl something to look forward to gives them a vision of the mission
to be accomplished. People go ‘Stale’ without something to work for, something to achieve. Inm my opinion,
one of the most important times to be sure folks have a mission to focus on is ‘AFTER’ the successful
cmpletion of a project. Keep the creative juices flowing whioe your team is ‘Riding High in the Saddle’.
No sence resting onn your laurels now, keep riding that wave and ‘strike while the iron is HOT…
Cheers Dan
SGT Steve
Thank you SGT. YES. Give people something to look forward to. On a personal level, perhaps this week, the 4th of July weekend is enough to give us a bit of boost.
great tips – thank you for sharing! Our church leadership is going through a real slump and they needed to hear this from someone other than me. Thank you!
Thanks Tapp. 🙂 Sometimes an outside voice helps. Best to the team.
Dan, I think “belief” is a great energy and a great energizer. Many people say, “It feels good to believe!” Others ask, “When did we get weak?
Wind extinguishes a candle, yet energizes fire. In a similar way, we all have the ability and capacity to use the energy of what confronts us–to transform us for benefit and value. This ability makes plausible the transformation of even the most negative circumstances into something that enables us to become better, more fulfilled, happier, and then gives even more energy. Energy breeds energy.
It’s like the age-old dictum of the martial arts: Use the power of other people to accomplish…or if need be, to bring them down.
The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when we discover a pursuit that absorbs us, frees us, challenges us, or gives us a sense of meaning, joy, or passion.
Believing is not always believed. Yet it begins with a simple smile and continues with the practice of trust, and ultimately finds its way to a feeling of goodness–all the way to feeling good…wellness. And who can’t be energetic about that?
Thanks Books. Wow! I believe.
Books
Not only do I feel a bit smarter for reading your comment. As James Brown would say,
“I feel good, like4 I know that I should now…”
SGT Steve
I think I’d add take time to reflect, both on what gives you energy and how you give your energy away. Thanks, Dan for this post. I needed to read it today as my to do list grows.
Big ideas. Good stuff. Pick one and roll…
Let’s roll!
Oh, how I love your post today!! The list is EXCELLENT, every item! For some reason, I keyed in on #8 – Notice Small Acts of Kindness. Before I continued reading, I thought about door holding – the one who holds the door for me and for the one I hold the door for. Appreciate that moment that someone could have walked in, continued on their path and not given you a second thought BUT they didn’t. They waited an extra second. Every small act matters. Say Thank You. Say Good Morning! Say Hello. Like the theory that the flutter of a butterfly’s wings affect the weather pattern . . . 🙂
Thanks Dianna. A few weeks back, I decided to pay attention to the small acts of kindness that are extended to me. I’m surprised at how many small acts of kindness I experience. I smile bigger and say thank you with greater enthusiasm now.
Just this afternoon I picked up some bird seed for my wife. A young man who works at the store saw me standing in line. He came up to me and asked what I was buying. I told him a 50lb bag of sunflower seeds and a bag of local bird seed mix. By the time I had paid, the two bags were in the back of my truck. Bingo!!
Look up and breathe deep – you will restore not just your energy but even your mojo! And small acts of kindness will keep you content in a world where there are just too many demanding and self-serving people.
Be kind; be you 🙂
Excellent post. While all are nice, based on my experience in dealing with people, I like 4 and 7 most.
Great post! #8 for me…while we’re often waiting around to see and acknowledge the big things, noticing (and breathing in) the small acts of kindness can bring a ton of great energy. I don’t do it enough 🙂
#6 is a definite motivator… Looking forward to something, remember why you are doing what you are doing, remember a bigger picture…
Amazing post yet again, Dan! What caught my attention more is the statement about doing the stuff you hate early in the day. It happened that I tried to do the things I hate first then was completely amazed that I was able to finish it! Really a good start for the day!