If someone were to describe you to another person, would they describe you as energetic and full of life or would they refer to you as dull and boring?  I am not calling anyone out for their personality, or lack thereof, but think about it – try and think of a successful person that does not have a certain amount of noticeable energy and charisma.

The simple fact is that the amount of energy that we both put into something and put back out as we present it, are closely tied to the results we get.  “No pain, no gain”, “You get out of it, what you put into it”, “If your not willing to pay the price ….”  We have heard them all before.  Well guess what? They are true.

I think the reason that we have seen such a decline on productivity at many levels of both the business world and our personal lives is because we are running low on energy.  I have felt the affect of this myself and it takes a great amount of focus and commitment to maintain the productivity level that I need to get my work done as well as remain a productive part of my household.

There are many ways that energy affects the results that we achieve.  Typically, when we talk about energy, we think about it in the physical sense.  Although this is very important, there are different types of energy.  When thinking about your habits, consider these types of energy that all affect your results:

1.  PHYSICAL

This is clearly the type of energy that most of us think about first.  How much physical energy do I have to accomplish my list?  Do I feel like you are tired all the time?  This is the one I struggle with the most.  I need to sleep more, exercise more and I need to eat a more well balanced diet.

Many of us take pride in the amount of caffeine we can pour into our bodies that translates into how many hours of energy we have to use during the day.  Guilty!  We are really just fooling ourselves.  Caffeine is a stimulant that makes our body think that it is full speed ahead.  Rest, physical exercise and a proper diet are the only real way to give your body the physical energy it needs to function properly.

2.  MENTAL

Mental energy .. Huh?  I would suggest that you need to exercise your brain as well as the rest of your body.  Not unlike your physical conditioning your brain needs a workout as well.  What are you doing to exercise your brain?  Are you reading?  Are you involved in any kind of study groups that make you think differently, “outside-the-box” if you will?

Your brain needs to be working out in order to stay in shape.  Sitting in front of the television, doing a brain dump (that’s what I call it) may be relaxing for some, but it does absolutely nothing to give you energy.

3.  EMOTIONAL

Emotional challenges drain you.  We have all felt it.  It is a fact of life that we will all deal with very emotional events throughout our lives that emotionally drain us.  In my opinion, this is the one that results in the biggest depletion of energy.  We are distracted, feel overwhelmed and at time and can’t hardly function at all.

So what do we do?  There are things that drain our energy everyday.  The only solution is to recharge our batteries.  Recharging is going to be different for all of us, but we have to do something.  In a sense, we are a machine that needs fuel.  When the battery goes dead, so do we.

Take a look at your schedule and determine whether or not you are allowing enough time to recharge your battery.  As human beings, we do not have the luxury of going to Home Depot and buying a new set of batteries.

We only have one rechargeable battery and it’s up to us to keep it charged.  So what are you doing to charge yours?

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com   10/12/12            photo by author