Boost your energy

With all the daily demands on your energy, it is a must to increase and better manage your energy levels!

Professionals are increasingly faced with the challenge of putting extra energy into their work to remain successful both personally and as a team. If you don’t divide your energy and replenish it daily, your personal energy sources will be under constant pressure. This leads to loss of interest in your work, fatigue, reduced performance and sometimes even sick leave and burnout situations.

The four types of energy

Energy is often expressed as “the strength and vitality required to perform physical or mental activity. When you are faced with a challenge that is also crammed into your schedule, the question of “how much energy do I have?” or “how can I increase my energy or distribute it better?” quickly arises.

These questions make sense when it comes to how you can and will deal with energy. But when you look at your energy level, there are actually four types of energy that combine to determine how your energy is doing: physical, emotional, mental and goal energy. You can represent these four types visually in the form of a pyramid. At the bottom physical, at the second layer emotional, third layer mental and at the top purpose.

Each type of energy is equally important in how to increase your overall energy, and how to better use it to create more impact in your life and work.

• Purpose is the most important factor affecting the strength of your energy
• Mental is the degree to which focus applies in your energy
• Emotional determines the quality of your energy
• Physical is related to the amount of energy you feel

More impact

In order to become fully energized and use more of your potential, it is important to determine and consistently maintain those actions that increase and sustain the levels of each of your four types of energy. If you can, you will be more fulfilled, energized and effective in all aspects of your life.

It is best to build your energies from the bottom of the pyramid upwards. It is easier to increase your emotional energy when your physical energy is high; you can strengthen your mental energy more effectively when your emotional energy is in good shape, and so on. However, the power of your energies works from top to bottom. When the target energy is strong, it gives extra power to your mental, emotional and physical energy, creating more impact.

The four types of energy in more detail

Physical energy is about diet, exercise, sleep and relaxation. These are the building blocks of your fitness. They make an essential contribution in building a solid foundation for other types of energy to increase and be used effectively.

Emotional energy is about feeling emotionally strong and being emotionally balanced. This is when most people perform best, and that is much easier when your physical energy is high. Feeling emotionally strong and balanced is achieved by recognizing what or what you are charging your positive energy to. Such as by recognizing things that stimulate or deplete your emotional energy. So you focus entirely on the positive, energy-giving aspects of your life.

Mental Energy is the easier to build and hold when your emotional energy is in order. You can think more logically and clearly, and your thoughts are less disturbed by negative emotions that “creep in. You’ll have fewer distractions or interruptions, allowing you to concentrate on what you’re doing with more focus.

Purpose Energy when your daily life and activities match what is really important to you it gives you a sense of meaning. You have a goal and live by it. As a result, you can concentrate better, experience more positive emotional energy, show more perseverance, and feel more physically energized. Purpose Energy requires you to spend time reflecting, clarifying your priorities, and living your life in alignment with your core values.

Charging your battery

You charge your smartphone battery every day. If you don’t, it simply doesn’t work anymore. The great thing is that you can also recharge the four energy sources over and over again. The higher your energy levels in all four energy sources, the happier and more fulfilled life you lead. Essentially, you have more control over your life and can handle the challenges that come your way much more easily. The simple exercises below will help you get started and boost your energy quickly. At work, choose one of the following exercises every 90 minutes and you’ll see your energy levels rise again.

1. Run or walk up and down the stairs a few times (5 minutes)
2. Look through your digital photo album and choose 30 photos of friends, family or beautiful images that make you smile immediately. Bundle them into a folder and look for when you need a booster for a while. While watching, bring the energy of that moment back to the here and now (5-10 minutes)
3. Walk outside in the fresh air (5-15 minutes)
4. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and have a chat with a colleague (5 minutes)
5. Lay your legs on your desk and allow yourself 5 minutes to daydream, no matter where your thoughts whirl, just let them go.
6. Stretch your arms and legs out nicely and let your head roll from shoulder to shoulder a few times. (5 minutes)
7. Listen to music you have fond memories of
8. Do a few push ups against the wall (1 minute)
9. Try yawning very deeply a few times (1 minute)

If you fit a few of these exercises into your daily schedule you will more easily recharge your battery. Much energy wished!

Courtesy of the thought leadership of Richard Maddocks

Learn more about effectiveness personal leadership? Watch: The Leader in You!