Finding more energy to do stuff

Although there may be many things that stop me "getting stuff done", I find one of the biggest blocks is having enough energy to just keep on going and crash through all the obstacles until I reach my goal.

When I look back from the moral high ground of hard work and achievement, I realise that many of those blocks were combinations of a lack of focus and procrastination. Energy seems to be the antidote, so the question has to be, from where can we get more of it?

Physical fitness

I've long believed that mental fitness and physical fitness go hand in hand. If you want to really feel "switched on", then it's my belief that you have to physically fit. Not necessarily Mr or Mrs Universe and hyper-strong, but certainly fit.

From my experience - both personally and from observing others - physical fitness is the first thing that gets parked in a lay by when life gets busy. You know the feeling, you're just too busy writing that proposal to go to gym tonight, right?

Wrong?

Here's the first challenge for this week:

What are you doing to improve your physical fitness?

Don't expect your business to improve if your answer is something less than "hard physical exercise twice a week".

How to change

Get off your backside and do something - it almost doesn't matter what - but here's the real key: make a start within three days. This e-mail is delivered to you on Friday, (USA early morning and Europe, approximately midday). That means by midday Monday 21st September (Europe time) you ought to have taken action to improve your physical fitness.

Energy - delivered free with each job

Funny isn't it how you don't have enough energy for one job, (that you don't really fancy) but you've enough for goofing around with some other task that doesn't really have much impact on your overall success?

Every goal, ambition, dream or target that you have in your life comes ready-made with a fixed amount of energy attached to it.

Once that pre-fixed energy is gone, there is the danger of you lapsing into a state of flux: you neither have the power to carry on towards your target, nor do you have the will to forget the whole thing.

The result: procrastination. All you can do is think of other things that you'd rather be doing.

Here's the big "but": that unfinished task acts like a drain on the energy attached to all the other things that you do instead.

You can boost the energy tank associated with each task, but only if you top it up before it runs empty.

The trick is to either plan your jobs so that you finish each one while its energy level is still sufficient to keep you going, or to deliberately stop before the tank runs empty - so that your enthusiasm can supply the needed fuel for you to start again another day.

Think of it like a car. All the time there is gas in the tank, you can go somewhere and get things done. If the needle says that the tank is running low, you can get to a gas station and fill up.

But if you ignore that needle and allow the tank to run dry, you grind to a halt. Odds are that you will come to a full-stop in the most inconvenient place possible, and getting more gas will be a major challenge.

How to get your energy levels right

Resist the temptation to keep going until the job's done - you'll just tire yourself out. Take frequent, short breaks. Use an accurate stop watch for this task. Work for (say) 45 minutes, or an hour and then take a forced 10 minute break - even if you don't feel like it. You'll get more done. If you're looking for a software tool to help you with this, I'd suggest "Interruptron" an excellent little tool reviewed in a previous Impact Improver.

That's it folks for this week - as usual, your comments welcomed and appreciated, particularly with reference as to what you'd like to hear about. I do get quite a few e-mails by the way, and I read them all, so please don't feel shy about getting in contact.

Best wishes for the coming week.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com