What is it you think about when you hear me talk about living an energized life? Do you dismiss my words thinking you have enough energy, after all you get up (barely?), you perform your daily activities (sorta?), and you interact with people during the day (kinda?), and that’s all there is to living an energized life. Right? Not quite.
Do visions of cheerleaders come into your mind when you think of living energetically? That’s not the kind of energy I am talking about, though there are elements of energizing you could learn from them. And getting by because you had another energy drink isn’t the topic either.
The kind of energy I’m talking about is an esprit and stamina that takes you through all aspects of your life and day, without being exhausted at the end. This energy lifts you and keeps your performance high. “All aspects” includes the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual facets that you call your life. I also refer to those as your health, wealth, work, and play buckets. Do you have energy in all four of those areas, or just one or two? Or, most disconcerting, in none of those areas?
Based on the intake forms for strategy sessions I conduct for potential clients, only about twenty-five percent of the respondents have an energy level of seven out of ten or higher. I don’t know how that correlates to the US population at large, but I’m guessing that’s about average. With that assumption in place, I’m calculating seventy-five percent of the US is living under-energized lives, lives of low productivity and satisfaction. It doesn’t have to be that way.
When you have all the right stuff, you are energized throughout your life — and day. When you don’t have all the right stuff, when any of the four energy facets are lacking energy, what is it that’s keeping you from being energetic in all four areas? Most often the answer to that question is “distractions”.
What are your distractions from living in focused energy? Distractions divide those with all the right stuff and those without.
So, what are your distractions? I could raise the universal “distraction-umbrella” in answer, the one called “life”, but that’s letting you off the hook. What keeps you from living an energized life, one that’s full and high performing?
Some distractions come from believing that a facet or two aren’t important in your life, like the spiritual or emotional facets, so you live your life excluding those areas. Work and play, or physical and mental, seem to be the aspects of lives that most people pay most attention to. And even with all that attention on work and play, people get distracted and don’t stay energized. Energy isn’t a priority in life, if it’s even a thought-of possibility.
Most commonly I hear people say they don’t have time…. You don’t have time for breaks because you think that will make you less productive. When you are playing you don’t have time for other things because you have a play deficit that you “need to make up”. You don’t have time for healthy food. You don’t have time for family and friends. You don’t have time to breathe! You don’t have time for the balance required in life to keep yourself energized.
Tell me about those distractions again? Social media, like Facebook and Pinterest, are common distractions. Email is too. Oh, and electronic games! Are you one of those people with your face in your phone catching up on others’ lives, rather than living your own right where you are?
Watching TV, hanging out at the bar with the gang, shopping — there are a few more distractions from living an energized, productive life. Sure they are fun in the moment, but what do they add to your life? What do those activities keep you from accomplishing in your life? These activities are distractions that can keep you out of balance and are not elements of having all the right stuff. This behavior keeps you from living an energized life. These activities are elements of a busy life, though.
Stress can be a nasty distraction too. That’s just one of the many energy drains we allow in our lives. And oh, what a distraction stress can be! It can occupy your thoughts in amazingly unproductive and de-energizing ways. You don’t have to let that be the case, you know. You have the option of reacting differently to the stress and the other drains in life. Being balanced makes it easier to fend off the stress and stop the energy drains so you can have a more satisfying life, an energized life.
The use of good habits and rituals is a healthy way of being more productive and focused on your priorities. Those are important elements of having all the right stuff. Carefully formed habits, contrasting thought-less-ly formed habits, can help keep you from being distracted by interests around you. That promotes productivity and supports an energized life.
Is the word “no” in your vocabulary? Is it used much? Or, in an effort to be everything to everyone, you say “yes” to all those requests that come in? That is a distraction of primary magnitude! When “yes” is your customary answer to others, then their priorities and needs are greater than yours, and that’s going to suck your energy and productivity. They don’t get the best of you, and you get what’s left. Disheartening thought, huh.
Learning to control your distractions is critical to living an energized life, to living a high performance life. Controlling your distractions is what gives you all the right stuff.
Requirements for having all the right stuff for a fully energized life include having clear priorities, focus, and balance. That means letting go of the activities that don’t support you. That means learning to deal with stress in a healthy way. That means forming supportive habits. That means saying “no” much more often — most of the time, probably. That means saying “yes” to yourself — to your health, wealth, work, and play buckets; or if you prefer, to your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual facets.
You’re worried that you won’t have anything left, aren’t you. Well, what you’ll have left is your life. You’ll have a fully energized life and be a high performing person with great life satisfaction. That’s having all the right stuff.
If you’re unsure how to get there from here, that’s where a coach comes in. That’s what I do: I help people get focused so they can create more energetic, high performing lives that are satisfying, and so they can live youthfully.
If you are looking for make sure you have all the right stuff, and want my help, see my coaching page for details.