PEP Up Your Life – Positive Energy Practice

PEP up your LIFE
Positive Energy Practice

The great news is that you have rhythm…

Let’s start by finding out what your energy rhythm is.

Are you a morning bird or a night owl  or something else ?

I’m definitely a morning person. I wake up early without the aid of an alarm clock and find it easy to get up and get in to the day.  Some of my family are the opposite – they’re night owls and they can’t get up easily. I should know – I’m their alarm call! Even after they are up it takes a significant amount of time for their operating system to come on line!  Of course at the end of the day the reverse is true.  Yet we get along very well, living and operating together.

We recognise our personal energy rhythms and if there are important tasks or discussions to be had then we plan them for when we are all at a good time for operating – around lunch time.

What about you – do you pay much attention to your energy levels.  Do you put important tasks at a time of day when you are not at your best? to suit  the clock ?  How does that work for you ?

I don’t know about you but my brain power doesn’t play by the clock rules.  It doesn’t automatically turn on at 9am and off again at 5pm.  It kicks in at 6:30am and goes for hours, dips at lunch time and then again at about 4pm.  Add in the fact that I work with clients around the globe and need to balance different time zones – I need to practice energy boosters to bridge the gaps when I feel the lull.  I also need to take that time later to recharge.

What about you ?

Imagine your week ahead and the tasks that are scheduled in.  Have you put any effort in to considering how much and what type of energy you may need to effectively complete those tasks OR have you done what we so often do – spotted a free hour here and there and squashed in some extra things to get done – you don’t want to waste time do you!  But it’s okay to waste energy?!

Trying to complete a task without the right level of energy can cost you so much more time than anticipated.

We’ve all been there .  Its 4pm and this is the time you allotted to do that task you have been putting off and guess what – your brain has decided it’s no longer working for you and gone on strike.  You now spend at least 3 times more effort trying to get something complete that should only take an hour. Why ? Because you didn’t bring the energy to the task.

Would you expect your car to travel 3 times further than the capacity of the fuel tank !.  You would have to get out and push the final 2 thirds of the journey.

This is what it feels like when you are working against your energy rhythm.  It’s exhausting.

Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky from University of California studied happiness boosters and found that people who consciously did things to boost their happiness also boosted their energy.

The problem is we don’t put energy in to preparing for better energy. We just use up our energy day after day with habits that continually drain us without a thought for renewing and recharging

Are you exhausted ? What can help?

The answer is Positive Energy Practice (PEP). We know that when we emit positive energy we attract positive energy.

So we need to choose times and places in our day for PEPs that support our own unique energy rhythm.

Great places for PEPs  :  the  shower, car, lift, coffee dock, vending machine, water cooler.

Great times for PEPs  : morning first thing, mid-morning stop, about 30 minutes after lunch, mid to later afternoon, mid-evening.

Great things that PEP :

• Focus on the successes – your 3 best achievements – things that exhilarate you.
• Support your mood with music or radio that nurtures optimism
• Remember a holiday experience where you experienced joy (great one for the shower)
• Consider a relationship you have with family or friends that brings you laughter
• Pay attention to what’s awesome (including yourself)

Get a rhythm going and PEP up your life!

Author : Maureen Hewitt, PSG