Being Here Now

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #17, Start Planning

These last few weeks (and the next few weeks to come) have been extremely busy for me. I sometimes wonder where I will get all the time I need to accomplish all the things I need to. Quite honestly, when things feel most overwhelming, what has really helped me through this craziness to start planning.

I sit down, grab my planner, and start parceling out segments of time for specific tasks. Just putting down all the little things floating in my head on paper helps me manage. It also takes the mental strain away because I don't have to think about what to do next. I just have to look at my plan and get moving.

Invariably, I feel much more relaxed and focused after doing these planning sessions.

Try it!

Check out the other Increasing Energy tips:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Partner Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be
• Accomplish Something
• Do Something for Someone Else
• Do Something New
• Make it a Competition
• Call Mom
• Take Inspiration from Others

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #16, Take Inspiration from Others

If you've read a fitness magazine or watched shows like the 'Biggest Loser' you know the power of a Before and an After. People love to see where others have been and where they end up. Stories of transformation are powerful and energizing. "If they can do it", we think, "I can, too!"

In a similar way, hearing people talk about their life changes and the way they've rewritten their reality is a powerful motivator. You might not be trying to build a village in Nigeria, you may just be trying to get through your day, but the effect of someone else's story of triumph can be powerfully moving (literally and figuratively!).

The next time you're feeling like you can't get through your day, search out stories of triumph, of success, and of living well.

Here are a couple I like:

An story about an amazing dog

 

 

Randy Pausch Graduation Speech:

 

Read the rest of the Increasing Energy series:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Partner Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be
• Accomplish Something
• Do Something for Someone Else
• Do Something New
• Make it a Competition
• Call Mom

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #15, Call Mom

When I get in my own head, thinking too much, brooding, I get ineffective. I become lethargic because the stuff going on in my head is so much, I can't do much. Some people are the opposite. They become whirlwinds as their thoughts whip them in to a frenzy. Unfortunately, that's not me.

When my mind gets overactive, too much into making connections, untangling motives (usually other people's), and overworked, the very best thing I can do is to call my mom.

Most often, all I need is to hear her voice and I can snap out of it.  I can see things more clearly and I don't even need to talk about what was happening in my head. I just need to hear the voice of someone who loves me to feel reassured and confident about going on with the rest of my day.

In fact, there was a story about this very thing a few months ago. It talked about how a Mother's phone call can be 'as comforting as a hug.'

Try it. It works.

Read the rest of the Increasing Energy series:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Partner Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be
• Accomplish Something
• Do Something for Someone Else
• Do Something New
• Make it a Competition

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #13, Do Something New

We are creatures of habit. We like to make sense of the world by having things go the same way all the time. Most of us work best when we know what's happening and what's coming. It eases our minds and give us confidence that we can handle the future.

But we can also easily fall in to ruts. Though statis can be comforting, it can also be boring and dull.

To combat this, to shake things up so you can have a new perspective, see things a new way: Try Something New.

Some suggestions:

• Drive a new way to work.
• Work with people you haven't worked with before.
• Instead of jumping on the weekly conference call from your desk, get up and go to the meeting site (obviously, this only works if its in the same building or on the same campus).
• Set up a lunch with someone you don't know very well, but would like to.
• Take a walk at lunch.
• Eat your lunch outside.
• Sign up for a training session or a take a class on something you've always wanted to learn.
• Read a book from a genre you wouldn't normally choose.
• Take on a leadership position, or, allow yourself to be a part of a group and go with the flow.
• Challenge yourself to do something you normally wouldn't like speaking in front of people.

There are so many things you can do to just shake up your routine a little. Just that little effort to do something differently can be a boost to your energy and mood.

Try it, tell me how it goes.

Here are the first 12 in the series:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Partner Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be
• Accomplish Something
• Do Something for Someone Else

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #12, Do Something for Someone Else

I've been away from blogging for a few days because I spent the Labor Day weekend at a silence and meditation course. My task was to stay away from reading, the internet (email, web surfing, blogging, all of it), talking to others, and even prolonged nonverbal communication. I have to say,  now that it is over, I have a new appreciation for how verbal and nonverbal communication act as a 'glue' in our lives. I began to feel the loss of human connection very quickly in the process and started to feel a little lonely.

There was one thing that saved me and kept me going, however. It was the 'seva', which is the Hindi word for service. The acts of service were small: picking up some tissues on the floor, throwing away used cups, serving food. The boost I got was that I felt that sense of belongingness to others that I wasn't able to get through talk.

Doing things for others gets us outside of ourselves, it puts our focus on others and gets us to think, "What can I do to improve things?" When we stop thinking only of ourselves, loneliness vanishes and energy and motivation rises up like a wave. This was certainly my experience over the weekend.

I'm not saying that you should competely stop thinking of yourself and just think of service all the time. That's not balanced and it's not practical. But I suggest taking a little time to see how you can serve others. What you can do to improve the situation for someone else. I guarantee you'll feel joy and strength. And energy, always energy.

See the first 11 tips below:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Partner Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be
• Accomplish Something

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #11, Accomplish Something

Do you have a drawer that is messy and full of odds-and-ends that you can't find any other place for? In America, we call this a "Junk Drawer". Mine is often overflowing with all kinds of things: stamps, keys that I don't know which door they go to, rubber bands, odd-sized screws and left-over washers and bolts from furniture assembly projects (usually from Ikea).

Or maybe you have a shelf that is just stacked with books you don't read and don't want, there's a  pile of papers, maybe from mail that came 6 months ago, there's a dog toy, a glass, and various other items.

Sound familiar?

One way to gain a sense of completion and create motivation and energy is accomplish something.

I say: tackle that drawer, clean off that shelf, deal with the stack of papers on the corner of your desk. Once you get that job done, you'll feel like you've gotten a huge thing done, and most likely, you'll feel more mentally free to attack the things you need to do.

Check out the first 10 in the series on gaining energy:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Parter Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over
• Visualize Where You Want to Be

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #10, Visualize Where You Want to Be.

I learned this technique as a part of a "get healthy" regimen I was doing a couple years back.  I found that it wasn't so useful (for me) for the "get healthy" regimen, but it was really useful for my day-to-day activities.

It's really simple: Visualize where you want to be.

I don't mean in a year or in a month, but in an hour, or at the end of the day.

So, say you're stuck in a particularly unmotivated state, you know you have stuff to do, you want to get stuff done, you know you'd feel better if things were done, but you can't fight the inertia that has overwhelmed you. You know that feeling: you're sitting on the couch and it doesn't seem like you can ever move.

Visualize yourself doing the things you need to. Actually see yourself typing away on your keyboard, or putting your dishes away. Then see the completed file or the cleaned kitchen.

It can sound kind of goofy, but seeing what we want to manifest can be a powerful inducement to get it to be a reality.

Check out the first 9 in the series:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Parter Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away
• Invite People Over

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #9, Invite People Over

You want to get stuff done? You want a real kick in the pants? Invite people over. It's amazing how effective and efficient I can be when I know I have people coming over. If I want to get my house cleaned but I'm lacking the motivation and energy, I pick up the phone and call people over.

And then, as if by magic, my house gets cleaned.

This is also effective at work. Do you have a project that's been lingering around? Something you'd really like to get done but keeps getting pushed aside? I dealt with this by setting up a meeting. I'd invite everyone I needed to review the progress of the plan, or by delegating items, or whatever needed to happen next. Often, that helped move forward and keep my inbox moving.

Part of why this works so well is that we hold ourselves accountable to other people and don't to disappoint them or waste their time. When we know people are coming over, we want to make sure our homes are clean and pleasant for them. When we know people are coming to a meeting we set up, we want to make it worthwhile.

Check out the rest of the tips:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Parter Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music
• Put Some Things Away

20 Tips to Help You Increase Your Energy NOW, #8, Put Some Things Away

This is one of my sneakiest "get energy" tricks. I'm not sure why it works so well, but every time I remember to do it, I am amazed at how it seems like magic.

It doesn't matter if you're at work or at home, the idea is that you put a few things away. I'm not saying clear your entire desk or clean your whole living room or kitchen. Just put a few things away, like four or five.

Somehow, the very act of clearing a little bit of space feels to me like dusting away some of the cobwebs in my mind and putting down some of the weights on my shoulders. Invariably, I feel a renewed sense of vigor. There's something really addictive about seeing things looking a little more open. It creates mental space, as well.

My theory on this one is that it breaks the monotony of whatever I was doing previously and helps jump start my brain and body. Another great way to use this tip is if you're stuck on something. I used this a lot at work or when I was writing a paper. If I felt stuck and like I just couldn't move forward, I would stop and put a few things away. That short mental break and the act of getting up and moving about really sparked a new fire for the work I was doing. Often, I would find that a solution would come to me, or the next sentence or thought would crystallize. It also helped me from beating myself mentally when I couldn't get where I wanted with ideas or solutions.

I don't have much more to say about this except that it is simple, quick, and it works. Try it!

Check out the rest of the tips:

• Move More
• Self-Care
• Eat Less
• Parter Up
• Plan Your Day in Advance
• Take a Mental Break
• Play Music

 

Week 4 of My Resolution Chart

You might notice something here. The last two weeks, the title of my post has been "Week # of  Following My Resolution Chart."  That word "following" is missing this week. The reason is simple:  I didn't follow the resolution chart.

I'm trying to make myself feel like a failure, but I can't bring myself to do it. I have to admit, I did worry for a bit: What am I going to say on the blog?! Should I just skip it and hope no one notices? I think, though, that the lesson I'm learning in NOT doing the chart is really important, at least, it is for me.

The fact is we're getting advice from many sources every day. Someone or something is in our face telling us how to do things, how to improve, how to be better (I mean, that's what my blog is based on!), but really, we all have to figure it out on our own. There's no shame in giving something a shot and not having it work out. Each of us is different and will be moved and motivated by different things. It's better to accept that reality than try to wish for something that may never be.

I know this though: If we don't at least make an attempt at something different, we won't ever get to where we want to be. And that's what the resolution chart was for me. It was a good faith effort to see if I could increase my productivity, my happiness, and my stick-to-it-iveness.

It's like the quote goes: "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you always got." I love that quote. Any time I am stuck in a rut, I remember that sentence. It's a lesson to me to try something, anything, but above all to DO something. And most of all when I am in a whiny place. I have a serious dislike for whining, especially from myself. I cannot believe that my life is anything less than wonderfully blessed so when I get whiny, I get to doing something different.

Interestingly, last Monday, when I posted about week 3 of the resolution chart, I got a call from a lovely person about how much the idea of the resolution chart is helping him and how much he is getting done and how good he feels about it. And, therefore, I am blessed. It didn't work for me, but it did for someone else. I love that.

So back to trying something different. I said it previously, but I'll say it again, I've worked on my emotional health enough now that I am pretty good at keeping my day-to-day life in order. I no longer have piles of stuff sitting around, my sink is cleaned regularly, the house is pretty good shape. I am proud of how it has evolved, and I love to have people in it. That's the best I could have hoped and wished for.

What I find that I struggle with is the things I have intentions of doing, but don't get around to. So I took my own advice! Imagine that! I wrote a piece for my Increasing Energy series called Plan Your Day in Advance and I've been doing just that.

The idea is that I choose five things that I would like to get done that are not part of my normal routine. Things that I would like to do, not HAVE to do, things that make me feel productive, like a better person, like a good friend, like a good wife. Here's my list for tomorrow:

1. Organize Indian clothes in cabinet.
2. Make Tasha's annual check up appointment.
3. Work on bridal shower stuff and send out updates.
4. Order new thank you and blank cards.
5. Contact friends about Friday night get together.

Do you do something similar to this? Different than this? Any other ideas for me try? Share with me. I'm interested.

If you want to read the other resolution chart posts, here they are:

• Getting to Where You Want To Be
• The Truth After Week 1 of Following My Resolution Chart
• Week 2 of Following My Resolution Chart
• Week 3 of Following My Resolution Chart