How much time do you spend thinking about your energy? If you’re like most of us, I’m guessing the answer would be ‘not much’. But think about how actions affect your energy and your mood. If you do something good for someone, you feel good, right? If you push yourself out of your comfort zone and do something crazy like jump out of a plane, you are exhilarated. The actions and the feelings are intertwined. A new and a different action, generated and correlated a different way of being. An energy shift.
Energy is such an important thing to be mindful of in business and if you aren’t holding proper boundaries with your clients, or if you are overdelivering and undercharging, or comparing yourself to others, and focusing on what you don’t have instead of what you do have, then you are wasting energy that could be better placed elsewhere.
What can we do about it?
Whilst no-one is expecting you to suddenly turn into that person who is permanently happy and positive, let’s face it, none of us actually are, we can start simply with small adjustments. If you’re familiar with the personal development world, you probably already know about and practice gratitude. When you practice daily gratitude, it actually has a physical effect. Expressing gratitude makes us feel good, and so it’s like a big, fat shot of dopamine to the brain! Dopamine makes us happy and so can in turn help reduce our anxiety and stress levels – the results of which can also lead to encouraging better sleep. When we sleep better we can show up for our business, be more productive, and make quicker, clearer and more focused decisions. Try starting and ending your day with 3 things that you are grateful for… you’ll soon see how different you feel.
You can also start to look at where you are focusing your thoughts. What is triggering any negativity and procrastination? What am I consistently and repeatedly thinking about that needs my attention but is just not getting done. After-all, you are where your attention is. What can you change to take back control and channel your energy more positively? If you don’t do something about these things, you will be starting each day with the same mindset, allowing the same negative patterns of procrastination and comparisonitis.
As soon as you make a decision about, or tackle the thing that is the focus of your thoughts, your energy opens back up, and is able to direct back to the places that give you control and productivity.
Maybe your office is a mess, or perhaps you are undercharging for your services, or maybe you’re just so bogged down that it quite literally stops you in your tracks. De-clutter. Put your prices up. Make a plan.
Not doing the hard things will keep you in a state of fear and negativity, and those are both your worst advisors.
Life is just a series of choices, and that is one thing we can control, the choices we make… you made a choice today just by picking up this magazine. And this one is rather a simple choice actually: waste all of your energy trying to avoid the issues bringing you negativity, or face them, shift that energy and take control.
Focus on your energy, and keep it positive: watch your productivity skyrocket.