Energy………Part II
Last week we left off speaking about energy, how we can get more done in a given day while leaving time to enjoy all other aspects of our lives such as family, friends, exercise and entertainment. I also spoke about how focus is what is needed to get things done more efficiently.
What does this have to do with one’s health? Everything! We are multi-sensory being’s and our health and wellbeing is directly affected by our thoughts, emotions, actions, and beliefs. Unhealthy stress has show to have a direct connection to various disease states.
We run on four different types of energy; high positive, high negative, low positive, and low negative. High positive is feeling invigorated, confident, challenged, joyful and connected. High negative is feeling angry, fearful, anxious, defensive, and resentful. Low Positive is feeling relaxed, mellow, peaceful, tranquil and serene. Low negative is feeling depressed, exhausted, burned out, hopeless, and defeated.
I don’t know about you, but I desire to spend my time between high positive and low positive, the high and low negative is for the birds.
This is where the ultradian rhythms come in I was speaking about last week. Ultradian rhythms are essentially blocks of Up time and Down time that oscillate throughout our days. Up time being clearly focused times of high positive energy engagement. Down time referring to times of low positive renewal, relaxation and repair.
Let’s start with a few facts first.
Did you know that a study was done in Britain and the results shown that multi-tasking actually decreases ones IQ more than smoking marijuana? When someone is engaged, or ‘in the zone’ on a particular project and gets interrupted, it takes approximately 20 minutes for them to get back in ‘the zone.’ An average 8 hour work day for your average employee only produces a few hours of truly focused, engaged work.
What we have here is a lot of wasted time and energy that is only catapulting us into those high negative and low negative zones.
How do we combat this?… By going with the tide and the rhythms of our bodies; the ultradian rhythms. We are designed to operate in a highly focused, high energy engagement on a particular task at a time. We are then designed to compensate, recover and repair in periods of low energy relaxation. This is similar to how most great athletes will train, and there have been millions of dollars spent to figure this all out.
1) Engage on only one task at a time, do not allow in outside interferences such as the phone, pager, etc, etc. Do this in 45 to 60 minute blocks of time. Get a stop watch and set it so you don’t have to look at the clock.
2) After your 45 to 60 minute stints, immediately stop when that buzzer goes off. Now it’s time to relax, stretch, maybe some deep breathing exercises. It’s not time to go to the email, check messages etc . This is the time of low positive energy. Falling into that electronic OCD loop will only add kinetic unsettled energy.
Try these two little tricks throughout your day. Maybe at first in just one or two blocks at a time and see how your efficiency will increase and energy will sustain.