How to Maintain High Energy: All Day, Every Day
Have you ever experienced an overwhelming sense of unfulfillment even after spending hours reading, taking courses, or listening to podcasts? You’ve diligently taken notes, memorized, revised, and checked your habit tracker, yet you still don’t feel like you’ve accomplished enough.
Action will deliniate and define you.
330 million terrabyte of data...
… is created every day on this planet. And most of this data yells: “I want your attention!” Whether it be that that video which shows how to be more charismatic or the super important local political discussion: they all have on thing in common. Most of them don’t transition into taking action. Still, we temporarily feel like we’ve accomplished something. Almost like watching porn, our brain feels similarly stimulated as if we’d had real sex. Just the moment when it’s done, we feel miserable. Because we know, we didn’t step up. Once again. This ladies and gentlemen, is the tremendous issue we face in the 21. century.
We are a civilization centered around information consumption rather than action-taking. If humanity as a whole made taking action, rather than consuming information, their primary habit, our world would be vastly different. In this post you will learn to transform your body and mind into a action taking powerhouse! Three different areas of your life are targeted: Your environment. Your body. Your mind. The mind section will be moved to a new post in the future, since the article will be too long otherwise.
Ready? Fire! Aim!
Environment
The place you live in
Is the place you call home designed to distract and entertain, or is there at least one corner dedicated to nurturing the genuine spirit that occasionally seeks expression? You know, the one that actually likes to learn the piano, read a book or meditate.
Only a few of us are aware that every object in our home is like a magnet that pulls us more or less towards its direction. Depending on our associations with it, its influence is either stronger or weaker. A plant? You pass by and all you could feel is the joy of having it or a twinge of guilt that watering is due. The picture of friends or family? Same. Maybe a similar feeling of guilt that you didn’t reply them on WhatsApp yet (got ya), or the upcoming birthday.
The microwave? Probably no gravity at all. You see, every object evokes certain thoughts. It’s only then challenging when the object’s gravity is that strong, that it takes over your mind. 10 years ago, if I’d seen my computer or TV I’d have been highly inclined to immediately turn it on, because purely the anticipation of entertainment was so strong for me.
The dopamine factory in my head was programmed towards this kind of thoughts and it took a lot of willpower to withstand. Now the deceisive question: Do you really want to live in an environment, where you are merely the product of it, or is it your desire to be the captain of the ship you live in? Honesty. Answer this question purposefully and take action immediately. Dedication. Right after you have finished this thought take one object in your apartment that regularly sucks your attention and put it where it belongs to.
The people you surround yourself with
Jim Rohn once stated, that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. And I didn’t believe it. To be an exceptional researcher one has to try to validate and falsify a theorie at the same time. Since the statement of Rohn is rather abstract it’s tricky to do both of it. We could argue that the one who’s most assertive and decisive will influence everybody else around her or him. The one with the greatest power wins. Many books write it. History proves it. However, this usually accounts for somebody which character is highly informadible and neurotic, which unables any change in behavior or thinking.
Statistics say something different. Just by how our brain is wired, we are naturally inclined to over time align to a group’s behavior. This is because we have an innate desire to remain part of the tribe. Abandonment means death. The University of Washington writes that children and young adults between 13 and 21 are more 200% in danger to become smokers if their parents also were smokers, compared to offsprings of a non smoking family.
The new England journal of medicine conducted a study with over 12.000 participants for 30 years. What is the likelyhood of somebody to become obese as well, if just one of your close friends is obese? The results were staggering. The fact that only one person of your proximate circle is obese increases the risk for you to become corpulent for 300%.
One positive example: Many of you know that US Vietnam War Veterans became heroin addicted during the war. One out of five Vets fell prey to heroin usage. When the US government found out about the drug epidemic, they tested the soldiers before flying back home. However, most of those soldiers didn’t relapse at all, the moment they were back from service. After one year only five percent and after 3 years only one out of ten Veterans relapsed. Most of them didn’t even undergo a treament to cure the addiction.
If your environment significantly increases the likelihood of becoming a smoker or seemingly cures Vietnam veterans overnight from one of the most addictive drugs, then we should be very cautious about whom we surround ourselves with. Regardless knowing this information, the only chance to make use of it is to ask the right questions:
Who are you now and where you want to be in the future?
Does your environment foster the person you’d like to become or the person you have been the past 5, 10 or 20 years?
Since radical action is our friend, take action immediately after you have clarified who you are right now and where you want to go. Cut ties and build new bridges. As mentioned, this goes against the grain, but knowing that the feeling of discomfort in these regards is natural helps you overcoming it. Take action today.
Body
When do you feel most energized?
Exactly! We do not maintain the same level of energy throughout the day. Sometimes we feel sluggish. Sometimes we could chop down a whole forest. You may smirk now and think ”Well, I am more the sluggish type…”. Stop right there. This is simply wrong. You are in control of your energy levels, as if there were a control panel in your head. You just have to know which switches to adjust and buttons to press. This takes a while, but when you’ve figured out how this imaginary panel works, you’ll be like a scientist in a power plant who knows exactly what to do to increase energy production.
Introversion VS Extroversion
Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Well if you enjoy solitude more than socializing you are likely an introvert. If socializing fueles your cells, you are an extrovert. Also this is a widely spread misinformation. You are never either or. If you enjoy solitude, that doesn’t mean you don’t need other people around you. Whereas even the most extroverted person you know also needs solitude here and there. You are never either or. All of us are Ambiverts or Omniverts.
With this information you are finally allowed to let go the false belief belonging to only one side. Enjoy both faces and get the most out of them. Seek solitude in times of need. Socialize when you feel like it. But don’t numb your feelings about it. This will make you literally sick and disrupt a high energy level.
Why the morning is the most productive time of the day
Hormones, blood sugar, willpower, brain activity, illumination – Everything is different at the beginning of the day. Just think about willpower. The simple fact that you have to make dozens of decisions over the course of the day can lead to worse decision-making in the afternoon or evening. That’s why it’s much more likely to hit the gym before noon than in the evening. Some maniacs go even as far to limit clothe variety in order to minimize decision-making. The golden rule is: get the most important things done in the morning. I usually stick with 2 to 3 super important tasks.
Places that stimulate your neurotransmitters
Simply writing about this excites me: Places we spend time at are associated with energy levels. Depending on where you currently dwell, it’s more or less likely to do chores or playing the piano next.
Your couch is dedicated to rest. Getting out of restmode requires movement or the right mental stimulation. Right after a 30 minute couch and youtube session, not only your body is inert, but also your dopamine levels got strained due the excessive video consumption. Unlikely you will clean the apartment right afterwards. Same goes with bed, especially if you darken the room.
When you come home from work or a walk in the forest, tell yourself: “why not heating dinner in the microwave and playing a game of chess at the kitchens’ table?” (hit me up if you’re on lichess. Always in need of new victims hehe). The starting situation is critical when it comes to the subsequent task. Do you start with both legs stuck in mud, or with nikes on track? Visualize places with energy levels and avoid getting into them if you don’t want to.
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