Energy Management – Emotional Wellbeing

I want to ask you a few questions about your Emotional Well-being. Notice how easy, or not,  it is to give your answer.

• How much more effective are you at completing your daily tasks when you feel positive? 
• What do you have to do to answer the question above? 
• Can you recall a time or a situation in the past when you were certain that you were driven by positive emotions? 
• What about every other situation?
• What about an average day? 
• What is your USUAL frame of mind? 
• Do you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day ahead of you?
• How optimistic are you in and about you life?

Learn the next step in Energy Management

Emotional Wellbeing!

What you are doing by answering those questions is taking an Emotional energy audit. If you have read the previous posts in the energy series you know how important these audits are to prepare us for the new habits we want to adopt for more effective energy management. There are plenty of other very specific questions that your can ask yourself to identify the key aspect of emotional energy: your balance between negative and positive attitudes/thoughts/emotions.

• What triggers them? 
• How do you shift from one to the other? 
• Does it just happen or do you have control over that process?

The key is in the level of control we have. The more able we are to improve the quality of our emotional energy the less affected we will be by external forces and pressure. Imagine being able to maintain a positive outlook and approach even in a very negative work environment (one of the most common challenges for those wanting to manage emotional energy).

In the same way as with Physical Energy, we need strategies and renewing rituals for our emotional wellbeing that will enable us to develop the positive mind-set. Some of the best strategies named by a group of attendees one of our recent Personal Effectiveness workshops on Time and Energy Management are:

• Daylight and sunshine
• Colours and your physical environment
• Chocolate!
• A cup of tea or coffee
• Good preparation and a strategic approach
• Music
• Looking out the window
• Slow diaphragmatic breathing
• Laughing and not taking things too personally
• A walk
• Meditation
• Reading for inspiration
• Dancing
• Celebration and rewards (yes, for adults too! Think hard. When was the last time you rewarded yourself?).

Make it personal!

There are some brilliant ideas on that list but yours could be completely different. Ask yourself what brings positive energy into your life? What do I enjoy doing most that helps shift my energy when needed? You’ll be able to find a lot of examples and if you pay attention and stay aware during the day, soon you will notice happiness and joy in some very unexpected places. Are you ready to discover and appreciate those new sources of positivity in your life?

Make it happen!

If you have implemented some of the physical energy renewing rituals already, you might have noticed that they also helped change your mood. This is because all energies are linked. You can’t invest in one without positively affecting others. For the next week focus on managing emotional energy. Discover what works for you and helps you shift from negative to positive approach. AND USE IT every time you need to! It takes actions but results can be astounding. Make it happen!

The next energy we want to deploy helps us think effectively. Mental Energy is the energy of attention and focus. Next week we’ll see how we can try to manage the effectiveness of our thinking .

Other posts in this series:

If You Want to Be More Productive, Stop Managing Time
Energy Management – Let’s Get Physical!
Energy Management – The Meaning and Purpose
Energy Management – The Power of Your Brain

Author : Joanna Sobczak, PSG