5 Exterior Energy Busters to Avoid

Coaching Question:How’s your energy these days? On a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest energy and 1 being the lowest, where do you place yourself today?

If you fall below the mid-point of 5, your energy is under attack and your productivity is paying the price.

In today’s blog you will explore some powerful awareness around specific energy busters that you will want to avoid along with opportunities for self-reflection when it comes to your ability to preserve your energy.

In order to live beyond a block in life it’s important to first understand what that block means to you and how it specifically effects your performance. Your performance is made up of behaviors that you exhibit that have a direct impact on business.

A productive day is the ramification of positive behaviors that directly or indirectly impacted your performance. In that context, let’s take a closer look at energy.

Energy is your capacity for action which often rises and falls depending upon interior and exterior forces that spill over into your behavior.

For example, let’s say you are woken up several times throughout the night to take care of your child who is going through a phase of night terrors.

Regardless of what happened at night, your work day starts at 9 am and won’t end until 6 or 7 pm. As a result of exterior forces that resulted in disrupted sleep, you start your day on half a tank of energy which directly impacts your behaviors thus compromising your performance and ultimately your productivity.

Your capacity for action has been hijacked by an exterior force: your child’s night terrors. The coaching question to ask yourself in this situation is simple: what do I want to do about it?

Your first response might sound something like this:“What do I want to do about it? I can’t do anything about it, I can’t help that my child had night terrors throughout the night and I’m now sleep deprived.”

You’re right, you can’t do anything about the fact that your child woke up with night terrors AND you can always choose how you want to behave moving forward.

When I was diagnosed with advanced cancer one week prior to my final divorce court date, I felt that I could not change the external forces coming my way AND I could always choose how I wanted to respond to it. Stress is the power you give to outside circumstance to define what you believe you are capable of handling successfully. Your energy is directly linked to how much power you give away in any given day to external forces around you.

You also have another space that is either an energy leak or energy conservation: the space between your two ears. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

Your thoughts are directly linked to energy conservation and renewable energy. Renewable energy is the ability to give out energy without depleting the source. When you are connected to the source of all energy, God, you are able to live beyond your means (energetically speaking).“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

The source that we are talking about is the source of God’s presence living in and through you: your mind, will and emotions. This is the internal force that either lifts you up and out of the thickness of life circumstances or keeps you stuck and depleted (when we disconnect from God).

When we know who is ultimately in charge of our lives, we are able to shift our attitudes to solution focused vs problem focused. “I can’t but God can through me.”

A powerful quote by Henry Ford sums this up perfectly, “Whether you believe you can or you can’t you’re right.” Jesus declares:“All things are possible for those who believe.” Mark 9:23 As the man who came to Jesus seeking healing for his possessed son said: “I believe Lord, help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24.

God also gave us free will. This applies to thoughts as well. We can choose which thoughts to focus on. As your thoughts drop into your mind, you as the landlord of those thoughts can either evict what creates an energy leak or give free rent to what doesn’t…the choice of yours and makes all the difference in the outcomes your experience.

Let’s create some clarity of focus for accuracy of response around specific energy busters that hijack your energy in life and directly impact your performance and productivity in the long haul.

I say long haul because you may be able to pretend that you are ok with some of the following energy busters for a little while, yet they are shown to have a negative impact on productivity when repeated over and over during an extended period of time.

We will look at exterior energy busters first and then move to the interior energy busters.

5 Exterior Energy Busters

1. Social Media:Because of the dopamine loop nature attached to social media, stress levels actually increase resulting in fatigue of the mind and depleting your capacity for action. Do you want a productive day? Stay off of social media unless it’s your job.
2. Leaving Action Loops Open: An action loop involves 3 steps: Start => Do => Stop. Too often you have multiple action loops open: Start => Do/ Start => Do/ Start => Do. Too many mental jobs left in the unfinished mind space results in brain fatigue. See how many action loops you can close today. Even if it’s a long term project, intentionally decide on what part you want to start, then do it, then stop doing it and move onto the next action loop. As much as we brag about being able to multitask, science continues to reveal that it’s an energy buster. Do one thing at a time.
3. Interruptions: All too often we are waiting to be interrupted, particularly when we are working on a project we are not passionate about. Set healthy boundaries around your time and communicate ground rules to your direct reports, collegues and yourself. A ground rule in this case would be the best way to stay on task for you. For example: I commit to scheduling one hour each afternoon to answer high importance emails, I will turn off all electronic interruptions and notify team members of my choice to focus. Use this for mindful living as well: I commit to pausing, breathing and setting the intention before each meeting I facilitate.
4. Unproductive Behavior: InSherpa Executive Coaching, we use coaching tools that address those behaviors that do not have a positive impact on business. Two of those behaviors are anger and intimidation, both of which drain your energy, your capacity for action along with your abilities to create positive connections within your organization. Other non-productive behaviors that are energy busters include: gossip, ugly talk, stone walling, taking offense (taking things personally), playing the victim and avoiding conflict. Which one do you relate to? What is the ramification of that behavior? How specifically does it drain your energy as the receiver or sender of the negative behavior? What do you want to do about it moving forward? What positive change behavior can you begin to implement instead of the negative behavior? Our goal is energy conservation. What behaviors can you do instead that make you renewable? Behaviors you can commit to where you can expend energy without depleting the source (YOU).
5. Bad News: When your expectations exceed reality you will experience dis-satisfaction. Bad news of any kind is an energy buster in life. Perhaps it’s a job promotion you wanted and someone else got it, a big account that did not renew or in my case, an advanced cancer diagnosis. Remember this simple truth: you can’t always control what shows up in life AND you can always control your response to it. Bad news can often times be labeled as failure. What if you committed to a talking back each time you come face to face with an undesirable outcome? An example of this practice looks like this: It’s not rejection, it’s simply direction. Flip your script and take back the power you give to exterior circumstances to define your worth, value and capability. Another phrase you can use is: this is an opportunity for learning and growth, what can I learn from this situation to make me a better leader in life? Be the boss of your expectations, don’t let your expectations become the boss of you.

Which of the above energy busters triggered by an external force do you relate to the most? Declare a positive action step that you will commit to now moving forward.

A huge part of mindful living offers you the opportunity to implement positive mental shifts from the problem to the solution.

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