Top 5 Sources Of Energy DrainsWritten by Helaine Iris
Top 5 Sources of Energy Drain By Helaine Iris ©2004Along with time and money, energy is one of your most valuable resources. And if you're a professional woman, it's a resource that's most likely in short supply. With myriad number of professional and personal tasks you need to accomplish, while taking care of your family, you have very little - if any - energy left over for you. It's easy to understand your dilemma. Energy is defined as "having internal or inherent power or capacity to act, operate or produce an effect." Mental, physical and emotional energy is fuel that drives your creativity, your thinking and your ability to take action. Energy drains limit your capacity to act and create. They also deplete inspiration and motivation that is such a crucial part of a complete and balanced life. Here are top 5 sources of energy drain I see most often in my clients' lives, as well as some suggestions for how to eliminate them. Energy Drain #1: Keeping Details In Your Head, Instead Of In A System Your brain, like a computer, only has so much RAM (random access memory). And RAM is mental energy. When you rely on yourself to remember your shopping list, your to-do list and your dentist appointment, it eats away at mental energy you could be using elsewhere to create a greater impact in your life. It's not that all those tasks aren't important, but what if you had mental energy to complete that major report, write your book or create a more powerful business strategy? Think of each item you need to remember as an energy unit. How many energy units do you spend keeping details in your head? Find (or create) and begin using a system to track and remember things for you. Use it daily, and you'll free up more mental energy to accomplish higher leverage projects and tasks. Energy Drain #2: Making Assumptions and Taking Things Personally Humans are exceptionally good at creating meaning. With every occurrence in our lives or every statement someone makes, we're constantly asking: "what does that mean?" Sometimes meaning helps us to know where we stand, but much of time meaning we create is, frankly, an incorrect assumption. How many energy units go down drain each time you second-guess meaning of someone's words, actions or inactions? Think of last time you spent an hour, a month, a year (or longer) having made wrong assumption about an interaction with someone. How much energy did it cost you? The next time you find yourself making things up about someone's words or actions, ask them for clarity so you can deal with truth, and move on.
| | GET NO RESPECT? TRY THIS UNUSUAL APPROACHWritten by Pauline Wallin, Ph.D.
GET NO RESPECT? TRY THIS UNUSUAL APPROACHLike late Rodney Dangerfield, you may sometimes find that you "don't get no respect." In Rodney's comedy routine, disrespect was amusing. But in real life it fills us with indignation. Our typical response is sarcasm or avoidance. Has such a reaction EVER made a difference in getting more respect from others? I doubt it. Today I'm going to show you a better way to deal with disrespectful people who irk you, frustrate you, and drain you of energy. HERE'S THE SECRET: When someone gets under your skin, do them a small favor or give them a small token gift. Here are some real-life examples: * A divorced man, whose ex-wife played power games by impeding his relationship with children, decided to try small favor route. One day when he picked up kids from her house he brought her a quart of gourmet-grade cherries. "I was at farmer's market and saw these cherries, which I recall were one of your favorite treats," he said casually. "I know market is far from your house, so I figured as long as I'm going to stop by here anyway, I would bring you a few." * An employee whose boss was hypercritical made a point of bringing her a copy of a magazine article on antiques, a subject that employee knew was boss's hobby. As employee walked by her desk he stopped briefly and gave her article. "I read this piece in Newsweek last night, and thought I'd bring it in just in case you hadn't seen it," he said nonchalantly. * A college student happened to be in vicinity of a classmate who had participated in spreading a rumor about her. The classmate had just exclaimed that her cell phone battery was dead. The student pulled her own phone from her pocket and offered, "Here. Go ahead and use mine." In all above examples, recipients of gift or favor reacted with a puzzled expression, but nevertheless accepted gesture. In two of situations recipients became more friendly later on. (Unfortunately, hypercritical boss did not, but that's a subject for another article.)
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