Success requires high energy level

By Kevin M

Of all the traits that make a person successful I think the most underrated is energy level. You can be brilliant, you can be a master salesman, you can be an inventor without equal, but it takes energy to convert those talents into success. Many talented people achieve nothing more than average success and I think that for many the missing ingredient is inability to take their ideas and talents and drive them forward. That’s where energy comes in. That’s how important it is.

How many good ideas have you had that you never acted on? High energy people can act on many ideas—often simultaneously—taking full advantage of the numbers game. They may fail at many more attempts than the average person, but ultimately find success through their relentless forward motion. They become the preverbal “irresistible force”.

How to become a HIGHER energy person

Notice that I didn’t say you can become a high energy person—there’s something about body chemistry that seems to determine that. But if you aren’t a high energy type, it hardly means you’re doomed to failure. You can become a higher energy person than you are now.

Human energy is a product of physiology, behavior and emotion, but we’ll get to the behavior and emotional components in a bit. What are physical factors affecting energy level?

Diet. We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat” and that’s something we need to take seriously. Foods that provide energy or improve body functions—like fruits and vegetables—should be emphasized over junk foods that do little beyond satisfying a craving. High water consumption keeps the body hydrated and clean, and that reduces fatigue. A larger number of smaller meals are better than fewer, larger ones that can leave you feeling over-stuffed and sluggish. Find an energy maximizing diet that works for you.

Exercise. Muscle capacity, circulation, digestion and a host of other functions improve efficiency with at least moderate exercise. Adding regular sessions to your schedule can have a multiplier effect—your energy level increases as a result of the energy you expend for exercise. There are also significant psychological benefits to getting in touch with our bodies, as well as the sense of well being that comes with looking better as a result.

Weight control. Energy is expended more rapidly carrying around excess weight. Being leaner means traveling lighter, and that means more energy for productive purposes.

What are behavioral factors affecting energy level?

Time management. Procrastination is the mortal enemy of good time management and an energy burner for no good purpose. We usually have one or two tasks we need to accomplish each day, the kind that can make a long term difference in our lives. But if we put them off while we pursue the trivial, we may not ever get to them. That can raise our sense of guilt and guilt is negative energy.

My good friend and frequent OutOfYourRut contributor, Dave Kelly, often says “Do the dreaded thing first”—a declaration that the most important action we take on any given day is usually the one we like the least. But once that task is done and out of the way, our minds, our time and our energy are free to take on new tasks. Do what’s most important first each day and see if your energy level doesn’t surge.

Focus. If you have an average energy level or less, you have less energy to burn than your high energy brethren and that means what you focus on is crucial. Think of focus as a sliding scale—you only have so much energy so to maximize your results, it’s critical that the greatest share of it is used on the most important tasks. Major on the majors, and let the rest fall where it will.

Energy wasting activities. Here’s a short list of activities that can soak up valuable energy for no good purpose:

• Working to create the nicest lawn in the neighborhood
• Maintaining the cleanest house in the neighborhood
• Having the cleanest car in town
• Getting involved in everyone else’s business
• Fixing things that aren’t broken
• Busy work/keeping your hands busy
• Worrying, and all the ways that manifests itself

Each of us has only so much energy to expend—be careful what you spend it on!

None of this will make you into Superman/woman but it will produce a more energetic you, and that should be the goal.

Let’s take a look at emotional factors affecting energy level…

Passion and purpose: the twin energy ramjets

OK, you’re already doing all of the things listed above, but you still don’t quite “feel it”—the energy surge that is; something’s missing! Two something’s actually: passion and purpose!

Find a high energy person who is successful in his career and in his life and you’ll probably have found one who is living life with both passion and purpose. Those are the twin fuels that power success.

Whether you’re a high-, medium- or low-energy person, having a purpose in life and doing work you’re passionate about will raise your energy level immediately.

Passion. No energy flows from just going through the motions—quite the opposite in fact. Showing up at work every day and passing the time until 5:00 can suck the energy right out of us.

Passion flows from doing what you love, doing what feels right, doing what you believe in. It may be that these can’t be had through your work, in which case you have some decisions to make:

1. Change careers. By moving into a career you feel passionately about, your energy will surge and you’ll become more productive than you’ve ever known.
2. Continue in your current career, but find your passion in something non-work related—charitable work, political involvement, training for marathons, or any activities that get you excited. The energy generated from these activities will carry over to your entire life including your career.
3. Begin a new career as a side venture. You can move into your desired field without giving up the income and benefits of your job. Get it going gradually, then you can decide when the moment is right to make a complete change.

Purpose. Purpose is the big picture in our lives. Unfortunately, most people seem to move through life without an overriding purpose, or maybe the details of life overwhelmed it long ago.

For help in determining your purpose in life, consider the following questions:

1. What drives you? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you want for your family, your health, your lifestyle, you’re spiritual journey?
2. If you don’t have a purpose now, what might it have been early in life—before things got so hectic? Maybe it’s time to resurrect some old ideas.
3. If you don’t have a purpose and never have in the past, what would you like it to be?

Having a written purpose—a personal mission statement—can be the item that unifies your life and provides that crucial forward motion that drives so many of success stories in life.

Purpose can keep us moving past the minutiae in life that tends to tie us down and suck the energy right out of us. Like a lighthouse in stormy seas, it can keep us focused on where we want to go. When we’re stuck in the weeds of life it can represent an all important escape hatch. Yes, I’m facing difficulty right now, but it’s just a detour on the way to my ultimate destination.

Not having that destination is probably the reason many people feel tired, overwhelmed, out of control and helpless. That’s why we need a purpose.

We don’t need just to survive, but to thrive–we can’t do that without energy, and we can’t have energy without better living habits and without passion and purpose. We can have all of these—and the energy they produce—and that will give us the fuel we need to accomplish that which we’ve only dreamed of in the past.

Do you think there’s a valid connection between energy and success? What do you do to raise your own energy level? What can you tell others about raising their energy level?

Kevin M

Expense Reduction Strategies Forum–We’re taking on this weekly forum as a way of exchanging ideas to help lower the cost of living. This includes expense reduction and elimination, but goes beyond, even to include lifestyle changes that may bring savings on a number of fronts. Ideas on ways to cut personal, household or business expenses are welcome!

On July 20th in this space we talked about using a diet as a way to save some money (Is Now A Good Time To Go On A Diet?). As most of us understand, typical diet plans are expensive, requiring membership in the diet program, the purchase of healthier but more expensive foods, or even the purchase of food and meals directly from the diet sponsor. But our plan actually saved money and was infinitely more basic: diet by eating less food!

In this week’s edition of the Expense Reduction Strategies Forum, I’d like to take the health/expense reduction connection to the next level. We can save money and improve health by eating less, but even greater payoffs, both financial and in the quality of our lives, can be had by going even farther, by realizing a reduction in living expenses by taking better care of our overall health.

The Cost Of Doing Nothing

The direct expense of medical care and health insurance coverage are only the most obvious costs of doing nothing. There isn’t space here to go into all of the problems with the healthcare system but it’s more complex than most of us believe. There are no easy solutions, and certainly none that will satisfy all parties. If a workable reform plan does come about, it’s best to assume that it will be both imperfect and far into the future. It’s best then to assume that primary responsibility for our healthcare rests squarely with us!

Both health insurance and direct medical expenses are generally in direct proportion to the state of our health. But our level of health has two components: uncontrollable and controllable health conditions.

There are healthcare issues, such as cancer and congenital diseases and conditions that are largely uncontrollable since there is little that can be done to prevent them.

Alternately, there’s a laundry list of conditions which are largely within our ability to control: obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, stress and accidents among them. Ignoring risk factors associated with these conditions can ultimately result in degraded health and higher expenses for both direct care and insurance coverage. Health insurance companies often charge higher premiums if you have any of these conditions, or are a heavy user of prescription drugs.

But that’s only the beginning of what it will cost. Degraded health can lead to stress (over declining health), loss of productivity and even loss of happiness. Each of these factors have direct and indirect costs associated with them.

What It Will Take

It’s crucial to understand that our health is a long term project, not unlike building a career, a business or a retirement plan. Just as bad habits can degrade health over many years, making improvements may also take years. But what is the alternative?

There are many changes you can implement which will not only improve your health, but also save you money in the process:

Diet. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it’s possible to implement a “diet” by reducing the amount of food you buy and consume. As a result of that effort in my family, we have been able to lower our grocery budget by an average of about 25%, and we’ve all lost weight. I myself have shed at least 15 pounds since the beginning of the year. Weight lost and money saved on groceries, a double win!

Exercise. The health benefits of exercise are covered everywhere, but in our media driven culture what isn’t always obvious is the fact that you can easily do it without spending a bunch of money on equipment or gym memberships. It costs nothing to walk a couple of miles a day, or to jog or ride a bicycle, but eventual improvements in weight, energy level, cardiovascular fitness and attitude can be substantial. How much money would you save if you could get yourself off of blood pressure medication?

Stress Reduction. So many health conditions are either caused or made worse by stress. No doubt life throws so many challenges at us so quickly that stress is inevitable. Still, some of it can be prevented. It’s doubtless that much of the stress we face is brought on by lack of balance. THAT’S something we can control. Lack of balance can be brought into our lives by spending more than we earn, packing our schedules with more activities than we can reasonably handle or by poor health habits. Identify and correct controllable sources of stress, and you can free up your mind and your time for more productive efforts.

Lower risk lifestyle. This is a category which is completely within our control. The usual suspects like smoking, drinking and drug use come to mind, but we can also add reckless driving and dangerous hobbies. It should go without saying that you can save money by eliminating or at least reducing smoking and alcohol consumption, which has also been shown to produce direct health benefits. And how much will it cost to wear your seatbelt and slow down a bit when you drive?

The Pay Off

Some of the payoff is in the form of direct expense reduction, but perhaps more significant are the financial benefits from the resulting improvements in attitude and outlook.

Cost of healthcare. Take better care of yourself and you have an excellent chance to cut down on the amount of money you spend for direct medical costs and for health insurance coverage. In and of itself this savings should provide sufficient incentive to take charge of your health.

Better productivity. It’s no secret that healthier people tend to be more productive than their less healthy coworkers. Increase your productivity and you may be more likely to keep your job in a bad economy, get a promotion in the future, or to develop the energy needed to trade up to a better paying job. Also, it may not be fair, but excessive weight and low energy level doesn’t help your image in the eyes of employers, whether in regard to promotion or hiring. Think of the career opportunities that could result just from losing a few pounds and putting a spring in your step.

Greater confidence in your future. We worry about many things in life, such as job security, saving for the future, and our children and family. But high on the list is our health. Let’s face it, how healthy we are has a strong impact not only on how long we’ll live, but on what the quality of that time will be. The better we feel about our health, the more confident we’ll be of everything else.

Sense of well being. This is probably the most under appreciated benefit of greater health. We can feel better about ourselves, move faster along the career path, and save a substantial amount of money doing so. But taken together, these advantages provide an overall sense of well being. When you feel good, you can take on just about anything.

Is any of this not worth trying?

What are some changes you’ve made or plans you’ve implemented to lower living or business expenses? What expenses have you been able to reduce? Are there any you’ve been able to eliminate entirely? Big ideas, small ideas, they’re all worth exploring.