The advice no one tells you about raising your energy levels
and why time is NOT your most precious resource.
At times, I felt drained and tired; the minimum things seemed to require the biggest effort from me. And yet, I rarely had as much free time available as I had for myself during these times.
In other moments, I had little free time available, and yet I moved with flow, ease, and high spirit along my days.
So if time wasn't the main factor, what is it then?
I'm finding out that our most precious resource is not time itself, but our energy.
If we pause a moment to reflect on what is the only one thing in common among everything we do in our lives, whether it's engaging at work, with our family, projects or hobbies, we will soon come to the conclusion that this one thing is: us—and so is our energy.
Energy, as defined in the book "The Power of Full Engagement," is the capacity to be fully present and engaged in whatever you undertake. This encompasses work, quality time with loved ones, or even sitting in quiet contemplation (simply being present in non doing).
The more we care for our energy, the more fulfilled life we experience.
When our energy is cared for and nurtured, everything we touch flourishes, because we have the ability to be engaged and be present in our daily life.
When our energy is neglected and low, the more we try to engage in things and fail at them, the more drained we feel—even regarding things that we know we would enjoy. When we are depleted of energy, every little thing we try to engage with ends up requiring extra effort and energy that is not available, depleting us even more.
We are used to thinking of energy in terms of "doing and resting" or "on and off," especially related to work. If I'm working, I'm "on." If I'm watching TV, I'm "off." Well, unfortunately, that's not how it works in truth.
Certain activities, like watching TV or Netflix for example, actually drain energy from us. It's not because our body is not moving that we're resting. And pausing doesn't always mean the same as recharging. Sometimes we recharge by doing things that increase our energy.
Let’s give it a closer look into that:
What our energy is made of
Our energy encompasses four interconnected aspects: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Any impact in one of these areas affects immensely the other.
Physical Energy
Physical energy is cared for when we nurture ourselves with the basic elements that allow our body to function effectively.
My therapist taught me the rule of 5 basic needs to be fulfilled for our body to thrive: sleep, nurturing food, hydration, movement, and contemplation. This became my mantra and my main priority daily.
Emotional Energy
Emotional energy is the fuel of a prepared body. It's what lifts our spirits, what gives us drive, what allows us to enjoy life, to feel pleasure, to make positive meaning of things. Emotional energy is cared for and regenerated through the quality of our relationships and investing time in activities that have the sole goal of enjoying ourselves.
I noticed that for me in the past, it was really hard to dedicate time and prioritize things that didn't necessarily contribute to an end goal. Just feeling pleasure and enjoying myself didn't seem to be enough. I felt like I was losing "time." Well, I can share that this mindset cost me a lot—in energy and joy for living—as I buried myself only under responsibilities, goals, self-pressure, and projected expectations from others.
Thankfully, I was able to change that mindset, and today I make it a priority in my week to invest in activities that are purely dedicated to my own fun and pleasure, like dance classes, singing, and surfing.
Mental Energy
Mental energy is the capacity we have to concentrate, be positively realistic, and find creative solutions in our daily life.
When our body is prepared and our mood is nurtured with positive inputs, it helps our brain to work at an increased capacity. We can accomplish tasks that require mental energy faster because we can be more present and also more creative. When using our brain is not a struggle but a positive challenging endeavor, we get even more excited to put it to use.
Long time ago, I read a short story in a book that stuck with me: A man wanted to reach enlightenment, and to get guidance on his path, he sought the guidance of a Buddhist monk who told him to meditate for 4 hours every day. The monk told him that if he did so, he would reach enlightenment in 20 years. The man thought about it but decided that 20 years was too long a time to reach his goal. So, he inquired of the monk:
"What if I meditate for 8 hours a day, every day? How long will it take for me to reach enlightenment?"
"Then, it will take 40 years," replied the monk.
Spiritual Energy
Spiritual energy is about meaning. It's about contributing to something larger than yourself. Serving others and community. Spiritual energy gives us a sense of meaning because we feel our existence is relevant for others.
We can nurture spiritual energy in any way that gives us a sense we're in service of others or something larger than ourselves. It doesn't necessarily mean it has to be related to religiosity or spirituality in the common sense. We can nurture spiritual energy by volunteering for projects, serving our communities in some way, engaging with work that gives us a sense of purpose, and so on.
Some examples of things I did in the past that helped me nurture my spiritual energy, besides engaging with my own spirituality, were: volunteering to work in an NGO contributing with my professional skills, creating workshops at my place to teach friends about what I had learned about investing and technology and how it could benefit them, and helping a few hours on the weekends at a local coffee shop that put me in contact with people of the community. Even writing this newsletter elevates my spiritual energy, just by considering the idea that maybe sharing my struggles and learnings might help you somehow.
Energy Auditing
After I started integrating more of this concept of prioritizing energy in my life, I started what I call an "energy diary" so I can better understand what influences my energy and how I can manage it better according to my daily life. It goes like this:
Energy of the day: 0-10
What happened: Things/tasks/engagements I had in the day, and also people I met, and how it impacted my energy levels. Did it lift me up? Did it bring me down? Here it's important to say that I just notice. I'm not making judgments of value if something is bad or good. I'm just noticing what happened to my body, my mood, and overall energy after these events.
Any other considerations: Here I add bullet points if there's something external to these events that can be impacting my energy. For example, what phase of my menstrual cycle I'm in, or if I'm feeling sad about a specific situation over a period of time, etc. Anything that is not related to what I specifically experienced in that day.
Doing this helped me to learn so much about myself. Just like any scientific experimenting, you do it, you notice it, you write down your learnings. It also helped me to validate so much of what I already knew and felt about myself intuitively but somehow I always ended up dismissing because of self-judgment.
I think I can also say that it helped me to be kinder to myself.
Don't follow your passion, follow your energy framework
The other day I came across a framework that a friend of mine, Kara Ebel, who is a career coach, created to help people better understand their passions less as "one thing" and more like a group of activities that increase your energy. Powered with this knowledge of yourself, you can create ways to intentionally increase more of them at work and in your life.
It goes like this:
You list a specific task.
Then you give it a score of energy X out of 10 that you get from it.
What's your desired future for this kind of task?
In what ways can you add more or reduce it progressively in your routine?
This is one example that she provides:
And if this seems interesting to you, I highly recommend you check her video here explaining the thought process of it.
Where my energy is at now
In the last 6 months, I've been doing a living experiment with myself and I have noticed huge changes in my creativity, ambition, curiosity, and overall energy and disposition for doing things.
I'm finding that nurturing myself and prioritizing my well-being is one of the biggest acts of generosity I can do for the world and for people around me. The more I nurture myself, the better partner, friend, servant, supporter, and contributor I am for others, and therefore I get more fulfillment and connection from what and who I engage with.
It might seem obvious putting it this way, but this is the exact opposite of what I learned growing up. I was conditioned to believe that only through self-sacrifice (mental and emotional) I would be rewarded with fulfillment. It's safe to say it never happened that way.
I believe we're here to give. Love, creativity, service. We can't give properly when our pots are empty. So, let's fill up our vases first.
With love,
Nat
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