Hey love!
Have you ever wondered why you feel low in energy and why you can’t get yourself to do the things you know will move you forward? In this post, I am going to share with you 3 concrete things you can start doing right now in order to have more energy for your dreams.
Whether your dream is having meaningful friendships, a beautiful relationship, having a healthy and fit body, writing a book, graduating your dream degree, starting a passion project or simply feeling good inside of yourself – it all requires energy and that’s why it is so important to have strategies in place that help you to have more energy.
1. Distance Yourself from Energy Vampires
Most of the time, when we notice a lack of energy in ourselves, we tend to consider our health and work to be the problem. While this could be the case, often it is not necessarily our physical energy that is lacking, but our mental energy.
Mental energy often gets lost in was we don’t consciously perceive.
It is like a tiny machine running all day long in the back of our minds without us noticing.
The two main ways how mental energy is lost are:
- Overthinking and worrying
- Interpersonal relationship problems
Most of the time, they go hand in hand and personally, I have found that I am the happiest when I am surrounded by positive, uplifting and inspiring people who want the best for me. So the first thing you can do starting today is to distance yourself from the energy vampires in your life. By energy vampires I mean the kind of people who are always nagging on you, make you feel not good enough and leave you depleted.
Whenever I think of energy vampires, the analogy of dementors in Harry Potter come to my mind (I LOVE Harry Potter). So it’s time to set some boundaries and let go of the kind of people that suck the joy and energy out of you.
While setting boundaries might seem daunting if you have never done it, there is always a first time and it is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. By deciding what you allow in your life and what you no longer allow, you show to yourself that you are worthy of living the life you want to. It’s one of the most beautiful expressions of self-love and you will have more energy for your dreams.
A positive side-effect of keeping your distance from energy vampires is that there will be more space in your life for the right people to come in.
An article that is related to this topic that you will love is this one: How To Love Yourself Unconditionally
2. Remove Yourself from Drama Cycles
The next action step you can take to have more energy involves drama cycles. Now you might think, “What is a drama cycle?” A good example for a drama cycle would be a friend that tells you every day that she is unhappy with her job but doesn’t change anything about the situation.
It basically means that you are pulled into this cycle over and over again with someone who doesn’t seek solutions and oftentimes, does not want the situation to be resolved.
I know that being part of a drama cycle can be tough, especially if you are the empathetic friend/daughter/partner who always wants to help and find solutions. However, as time passes, these situations tend to leave us feeling burned out, exhausted and depleted.
Therefore, removing yourself from drama cycles is one of the best things you can do to have more energy for your own life and inner peace.
A personal boundary that I have established for myself is the following:
I always ask myself the following question:
Does this person truly want to solve their problem and take action in order to do so?
If the answer is yes, I am happy to help and invest my time, but if the answer is no, I lovingly remove myself from the drama cycle.
As paradoxical as it may sound, you’re also helping the other person more in the second case by getting out of the drama cycle than by remaining in it for months or even years on end.
By removing yourself, you give the other person the chance to take on responsibility themselves and become more self-sufficient. Surprisingly, this change also often ends the drama cycle altogether.
3. Break the Multitasking Habit
One of the things that deplete most people’s energy on a daily basis is the very common habit of multitasking. While many people think that they are good at multitasking, research has found that in reality, only 2,5% of people are able to multitask effectively.
In addition to this, constantly switching tasks also makes our brains tired, plus we tend to be less efficient. This means that multitasking is kind of a lose-lose situation. So it’s time to ditch this habit, but how?
Honestly, breaking the habit of multitasking in today’s world of social media and countless things to check at the same time, definitely requires willpower (but since you have been reading this article until here and stayed focused, I’m sure you can do it). Having a strong why such as more mental energy and inner peace plus a good strategy to go about it, also helps immensely.
Since I love practical action steps, here are some that you can start taking right now:
1. Use the Time Batching Technique
If you have never heard of batching, this will be such a timesaver to you and one of the absolute lifesavers when it comes having more energy to work on your dreams.
When we have a list of 15 tasks that need to get done, one of the two scenarios tend to happen:
- You get overwhelmed and don’t start at all
- You complete one task and before you start the next one, you get sucked into Instagram and have to use a lot of mental energy again in order to start the next one
This is where time batching comes in but how exactly does it work?
When you are time batching, you are grouping similar tasks together and complete them in one go.
Using a household example is the easiest. Let’s say you would have to wash the dishes, iron the laundry and take out the trash. In this case, you would not iron one piece of clothing, wash one plate and then return to ironing again.
You would finish one set of similar tasks until they are done before starting the next one. The same goes for the office. It is much easier for your brain to complete all emails in one go or create all of the powerpoint slides than switching from one task to the next.
On top of that, you can also batch-create to get things done in advance. If you know that you need to create graphics or powerpoint slides for a project, you can create 10 in one go instead of one at a time. Thereby, your brain does not need to use up energy to start this task again and again each time.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you feel so much resistance before doing a task but once you are in it, it feels much easier and like you’re in flow?
It’s because the brain is like a machine that needs most of its power to get started. After that, it always gets easier. It’s all about overcoming that first inner hurdle.
2. Limit Distractions
In order to have more energy to work on your dreams, limiting distractions is a must! As simple as this action step may sound, it is very powerful because our environment truly matters and can set us up for success. Personally, I prefer working outside of my home in a space where I’m not distracted by food, Netflix, youtube or whatever could take away my energy in the moment. One simple step you can take right now is thoroughly cleaning your desk and make it as minimalist and tidy as possible. You will see that your mind will also feel less cluttered afterwards.
3. Practice Mindfulness
When you practise mindfulness, for instance in the form of meditation, workouts, walks in nature, journaling (whatever truly feels good for you), you also have an easier time to focus and stick to one task at a time. Mindfulness teaches you how to focus on being aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation and judgement. It also helps to reduce overthinking and brings about more of the peace and calm that we all deserve to have in our lives.
4. Have a Day in a Week Where You Do The Things That Light You Up
The purpose of these tips is not to engage in a kind of toxic productivity where you work more but it is actually about working smarter and having more freedom because you are using the right tools that save you time. This will ultimately also help you gain more peace of mind and a sense of consciously choosing how you want to spend your time.
Another reason why you might lack energy might be that you don’t do anything that lights you up or what you are truly interested in.
There is a wonderful quote that goes like this:
You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you.
In order to feel more alive and like your true self, it’s important to have at least a day in the week (ideally, in the long-run this will become at daily habit), where you do things just for the sole purpose of them lighting a fire in you.
Whether it’s singing, painting, crafting something, writing or watching the stars – Do something that you truly enjoy without guilt (very important!!) and don’t make other plans that involve your usual work on that day.
You will see how your mood and overall energy will start to shift.
I’m excited for you to implement some of these tips into your life to have more energy for your dreams and all the beautiful things you want to do in life.
I am sending you much love,
Jennifer
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