I don’t know about you, I have had many days where I feel by 4 pm I can’t go on without sugar or caffeine to fuel me. Being pulled both ways by work and motherhood. Sometimes it feels as though one part is about to crack.
How many times have I wished for more energy, a way to get through the tiredness and get me to the night.
We have such a infinite time on earth, and this wishing the day away mind-set didn’t feel right to me. That just because I was tired I should lose the ability to embrace what a beautiful life I have and how lucky I am to be both an entrepreneur and a mother.
That it led me to the search for ways to increase my energy, happiness and overall joy. I learnt there are tools and techniques that are quick and simple to do, and very effective.
So here we are, I am happy to share with you the results with simple ways, when practised regularly, can change your life.
1. Start to own your own s**t! It sounds brutal though it is true. We go around blaming everyone and everything else for the mood we are in
The traffic, that email, those kids. Once we start to take responsibility for how we are feeling and know that it is our choice to whether we feel annoyed, let down or guilty, then we can begin to transform.
At the beginning, it is not easy to take responsibility for our own feelings, it is much easier to blame an outside force and think that how you are feeling is dependent on something outside of yourself.
Though we all have the power to choose whether to be annoyed in that traffic jam or to take the time to relax and listen to a pod cast/play a game with the kids. It is all a choice.
After a while the knowledge of this power we have over our own emotions becomes a gateway to freedom. It takes practice and time, though it can bring you to a more balanced and empowered place.
2 Be present
Your presence in a situation can completely change your outlook and energy. We spend so much time and energy worrying about the future and regretting the past. In the present moment, there is only the doing of the task in hand. This focus on exactly what you are doing can bring you so many rewards.
If you are working, focus on only what you have to do in that moment. If you are with the kids, ditto. If your mind wanders bring it back to the present by asking yourself what you are seeing, hearing and feeling at exactly that moment.
As your attention is brought back into the now, focus only on that moment. If your mind wanders keep bringing it back. This again is a practice that gets easier the more you do it. It will increase productivity, relationships and inner
peace.
3. Between each job take 30 seconds to release and set intention
Each time you make a transition between jobs ie writing an email or creating a new product, finishing work and getting home, helping with homework and sitting down for a meal. Give yourself 30 seconds – 3mins to release the old energy and set intention for the next job in hand.
This is done by closing your eyes and repeating a mantra such as ‘release’ over and over again and feeling the tension leave your body, then setting in your mind an intention for the next task i.e. I would like to be focused and compelling in the email or I would like to be patient and caring with my children.
This release of energy and setting of intentions is a way of unloading the system and sending positive neural messages back into the system.
Repeated regularly can increase energy and happiness.
4. Take breaks
Research has shown that if you take a break every 50mins, even if it is just to stand up, shake off and sit down again, your energy and productivity goes up.
Set an alarm every 50 mins to remind yourself to take a short break. If you can take a walk or get into the fresh air too during the day that will also bring you so much.
We tend to forget when we have deadlines looming or a project to finish to give ourselves a timeout.
By having even a few minutes break regularly through the day you can reset and re boot both your body and mind to have more energy and be more productive with the time you have.
5. Eat well and hydrate
Another simple though mostly overlooked and neglected way to get energy is diet and hydration. If you are someone who like me in the past would “forget to eat” or be too busy to stop and have a drink then you are massively effecting your energy and output levels.
We may think it is helping us get to the deadline, though what you are doing is slowing down your brain power and hindering your energy flow massively.
When you are aware that you have a very busy time at work coming up, plan ahead with what you will be eating.
Plan ahead and make larger quantities of things so you can have a few days’ worth of lunches ready to go. Taking a little extra time to plan ahead will help boost your energy and keep you working at your full potential.
Fill the fridge/cupboards with easy, quick healthy snacks. Something you can eat that gives you energy and is quick.
These may seem like simple changes, though if you start to put these into your daily routines, even if you just choose one or two to start with, you will see the benefits they bring to you, your mind set and your productivity.