1. Intro
You’ve probably heard this before: “You must have enough energy to deal with the stress of your new job.”
The reality is, that our lives are filled with a surprising amount of stress that we can’t really control. Our work demands too much from us. The demands of family and friends. The normal daily grind. And many of us aren’t getting enough sleep.
Life can be stressful, but it isn’t the most taxing thing on the body.
A study conducted by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that the people who show higher levels of fatigue were those who had poor sleep or who were unable to get enough restorative sleep at night.
The results also showed that these two factors helped to explain why some people have high levels of fatigue after a long day at work.
When they looked more closely, they found that fatigue was not always caused by low-quality sleep or lack of restorative sleep; rather, it was also caused by other activities in their day such as daily exercise, being tired all day, and working too hard on a difficult task.
2. How to Start the Day Full of Energy
An optimal life is a delicate balance between your physical and mental energy levels. To be productive, you need to keep the two at an optimal level.
The first step to getting more energy is finding out how much energy you currently have in your day. (If you don’t already know, this is often referred to as the “energy bar.”)
The second step is to make sure you’re not consuming too much of that energy by doing some easy habits that help maintain a healthy energy balance. For example, if you do a lot of walking, stop and take a break every three minutes or so.
If you love to cook and eat healthy meals, try taking a brisk walk before getting home from work. If you love to read, try doing it while standing in front of a window instead of sitting at your desk all day.
3. Eating a Healthy Breakfast
When you get up in the morning, it’s a good idea to make a habit of having breakfast. You should eat breakfast three times a week. It doesn’t have to be a high-calorie meal.
You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want, but you need three things: - A healthy breakfast — A healthy lunch — A healthy dinner
Although there are many diet books and cookbooks on the market that say that one should eat three meals per day, I’m not sure how much of an impact this has on your energy level.
You can have some form of healthy food for lunch and dinner, but if you have to choose between having a balanced meal or eating unhealthy food for breakfast, I would choose the healthier choice every single time. There is no excuse for not having healthy food in your diet.
4. Drinking a Full Glass of Water in the Morning,
I have always been baffled by the obsession with water. How can you possibly use a glass of water for 12 hours straight? You can’t!
The truth is, your body’s ability to perform its many vital functions depends on the amount and quality of your daily water intake. It is true that drinking a glass of water at bedtime will help you drift off to sleep easier at night, but this won’t keep you awake all day.
Drinking too much will dehydrate you as well. It is more than just a silly myth that drinking enough water every day could prevent us from getting sick.
We need it to keep our bodies functioning properly and help us recover from illness better than we would be able to if our bodies weren’t getting the hydration they need right now.
In my opinion, the healthiest way is to drink enough water throughout the day and night to keep your body healthy and hydrated, without feeling thirsty or bloated throughout the day. If you feel that thirst isn’t going away anytime soon, then it is time for some serious dietary changes.
5. Exercising Regularly to Boost Energy and Productivity
If you’re going to work on yourself, you have to make sure that you are doing so as often as possible. You don’t want to just put in a little, a bit here and there. You have to do it daily.
If you want to live a better life, be more successful, and achieve your goals faster, it’s imperative that you get the most out of your time each day.
6. How to Stay Motivated Throughout the Day,
Energy is an essential component of success. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to function at all. In fact, we’re all wired to use energy. We run on it; we breathe it; it fuels the blood. In that sense, energy is a part of us and how we are wired to operate our minds on a daily basis.
However, there are times when our energy could very well be being wasted away in the wrong direction. It could be one of these habits that drain us of our vital resources:
1) Asking questions that are pointless,
For example, I was once asked if my cell phone and internet speed were sufficient to keep me up-to-date with my work. Obviously, the answer is no because they aren’t ;-)
But the question itself was more than just a waste of time. We might spend an hour on this question, but what do we gain? Do we have nothing in return?
A friend has told me a story about his boss having this habit of asking her staff what their favorite thing was every day (sometimes multiple times). Although this might seem like a great way to build team spirit/motivation among your team members, in reality it has little or no value and makes you look like a fool (or worse): “what’s your favorite thing?”
“I’m not sure” — “I’m not sure.”- “I’m not sure.” — “I don’t know.” — “I’m not sure.” = Awkward silence = No response = No action = Waste of time = Energy drained = You didn’t get any real information from that question = You lost some valuable time (i.e., your manager has nothing more interesting to say than wasting people’s time doing nothing)
2) Spending too much time on yourself
This can sound counter-intuitive but spending too much time on yourself can actually cause you to lose focus and energy: “who cares about me right now?” — “what am I doing?” — “… oh yeah… watching TV…” — “… oh yeah… checking Facebook…” — “… oh yeah… watching Netflix…” Do you see where this is going?
How often do you check Facebook or Netflix while sitting at work? A few times per day? Maybe once per week? The point is that when you’re spending too much time focusing on yourself (or at least trying to), then don’t expect your whole team to want to help you out with whatever
7. Conclusion
Your level of physical and mental energy is constantly being drained. There are seven factors that contribute to your overall energy level and the drain on it:
1. The number of hours you spend working
2. The amount of time you spend sleeping
3. How much time do you spend communicating with people
4. How much time do you spend relaxing
5. How much time do you spend reading or doing other things that require concentration
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