How to have lots of energy on a daily basis?

[Aspiring]

I've been into PD for 3 years (with breaks). After countless experiments, fails and successes I can tell you one thing:

It all comes down to energy. I mean general (physical and mental) energy.

If your energy level is so-so, you are unable to apply any personal development advice. All these high-level tips are simply irrelevant. You can read the whole stevepavlina.com and listen to all Robbin's tapes. You can plan and decide to change. But you must fail.

In low-energy days, appealing goals won't help. Neither Robins' NLP and "chest pounding" techniques. Like an expensive car, ready to pursue, but out of fuel. Just won't go!

Personally I have high energy days maybe 6-8 times per month. And these are great days, full of fast-paced action, following through and doing challenging things.

But then I am dead burnt out and simply must wait for the next period, which frustrates me like hell.

This is why energetic people are very successful. They simply have the fuel to do things...

In recent year, I completley gave up fast-food. I cut down on red meat to once per day (was: 4-5 times!). I started eating fruits every day and taking vitamins. I sleep more regularly and run 2 times a week. I have never smoked, never tried drugs.

And still I DON'T see any noticable improvement in energy level. WTF?!

So the question is:

Have anybody managed to really improve general energy level? Long-term?

I would love to see Steve's article on energy improvement.

Let's stress it: IMHO energy level problem must be addressed before you can even think about anything else (i.e. time management).

[JiriNovotny]

E-book called Powerful Sleep was something that has really helped me.

Among other things, it says that as soon as you wake up, you should see plenty of sun, and ideally go running (and have a shower). That really energizes me for the day.

[Sunnybayes]

I wouldn't know if this works, but have you tried running more often?

I don't have a problem with "energy". But I don't do much excercizing other than working out for about 3 times a week for only about 30 minutes. Though I walk daily.

But energy is a very vague term that would seem to include lots of other things. How specifically would you define it?

Energy to me sounds like just having motivation to do things. But you might define it in a different way.

Energy as in never being tired?
As in running mechanically like a computer?
As in always having "positive" emotions?
As in just "drive"

To find out about this "high energy" like you are trying to describe, what is your life style and maybe we could compare life styles.

I am a 21 year old male. I am not over weight. People call me skinny sometimes. I always sleep for 7 hours and 45 minutes, though its always at a different time, but I am careful to set my alarm appropriately. But I am able to focus on working on one thing for about 3 hours before needing a break though it depends on what kind of transition I am going through. I am generally very fit, participated year around in endurance sports during high school, so many my body has just kept some of that "goodness" from that experience. I never drank pop or ate lots of fast food, generally a very light eater.

But I know what you mean about "In low-energy days, appealing goals won't help. " Yea, I have those too, but I have not been concious on keeping track on how often that happens. But I have those on days after very intense self exploration, then the next day is just a fuzz and not able to concentrate very well after that.

But when I need to do very intense concentration, like studying for a final, then I use timeboxing of 50 minutes, and then just stopping and going for a walk around for about 10 minutes, this keeps me from frying my brain too much.

so you might be concious of when your mind starts to feel fuzzy and you energy level starts to drop down, just get up and walk around.

But also, I notice cycles on how my internal body feels inside my head, like right how it is a bit cloudy, and sometimes it is absolutely crystal clear and I can have deep insights and intense concentration. This happens on a time scale of like one or two weeks. And I am crystal clear after I've been having lots of fun, like traveling and being with people, and just being busy with activity that does not require too much concious effort, like shopping and traveling around hong kong and just doing things with friends. And then I'm cloudy if I've had a week of lots of concentration.

But also, please describe what you mean by
"And these are great days, full of fast-paced action, following through and doing challenging things."

what kinds of action are you talking about?
What how is that action fast paced?
What are the challenging things?
What do you mean in general that it has been a "great day"

One last thing. How about just doing an affirmation to yourself daily of "I am feeling like I am having more and more energy" or something along those lines, depending if you believe in the law of attraction, and the power of your thougths, and just make your subconcious mind figure out how to make more energy for you.

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Sunnybayes

I wouldn't know if this works, but have you tried running more often?

Besides running, I walk 2-4km per day. I am in OK shape. I don't think "more running" is the way to go.

[quote=Sunnybayes]But energy is a very vague term that would seem to include lots of other things. How specifically would you define it?[/QUOUTE]

Being fresh physically and mentally.
Not being tired.
Having mental power and clear mind.
Having genuine good mood (not via "quickfixes").
Just general energy - it's the best word.

Originally Posted by Sunnybayes

How about just doing an affirmation to yourself daily of "I am feeling like I am having more and more energy" or something along those lines

Affirmations are among quick fixes I hate. I tested this kind of things in the past. It's short-term cheating of yourself. Never helps in the long run.

[Catlover]

Congratulations on the changes you have already made! I agree with limiting or eliminating meat. I also find that my energy level is better when I watch my carbs--eliminating all simple carbs like junk food, white bread, potatoes--and eating only complex carbs. There is nothing like an upswing of the insulin response to carbs followed by the crash to take the energy out of the rest of my day. I exercise every day, but sometimes just walking for 30 minutes. I find that stress management is key to sleeping deeply and well. Yoga and meditation are great for that (focus on the breathing), as well as personal growth activities that help to guide your responses to things that occur so that the negative internal voice doesn't keep on chatting. I have found that my energy level is where I want it to be as a result of these changes.

[gijsbert2002]

how much time do you spend behind the computer each day?

I personally spent way too much time behind a computer.

I'm trying to decrease computerusage and the days I use the pc little or not at all I have a huge amount of energy and almost all the other days are a lot less good. For that matter watching tv is the same, it's sitting still and watching a screen that is the problem for me. Interestingly, reading is no problem.

Cutting back on pc-time is going to be a 30 days plan after my exam on tuesday. (I still have to find stuff to do when I'm not surfing then :P)

[Shamou]

I have found that if you love and enjoy what you do… you will have all the energy you want or need… if you don’t… you won’t…

Now, we all know that work is work… and it is not always pleasant… that’s why we get paid for it… however, if you change your attitude about the work that you do… you may find it fascinating and stimulating… not an easy task… but worth the effort…

I have taken tons of seminars… and I have seen those seminar leaders put in eighteen to twenty hours of work… get three to four hours of sleep… and be back the next day on the job with all the energy in the world… what was their secret…??? they loved what they did… they had a passion for it…

So, my answer to you would be… “if you get passionate about what you do… you’ll have all the energy that you want or need…”

Good luck to you...

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[munish]

Polarize yourself.

Try this-

StevePavlina.com Podcast #018 - Faster Goal Achievement

StevePavlina.com Podcast #019 - Owning Your Dark Side

[Angela]

Most people are a little dehydrated, and just a little dehydration has a big negative impact on energy and vitality.

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Angela

Most people are a little dehydrated, and just a little dehydration has a big negative impact on energy and vitality.

How many beers would you suggest...???

.

[Sunnybayes]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

Affirmations are among quick fixes I hate. I tested this kind of things in the past. It's short-term cheating of yourself. Never helps in the long run.

I deeply disagree that affirmations are quick fixes. I used to believe the same as you. I started using them when I was in 8th grade. They totally helped me out, but then they seemed to not work any more because they seemed to stop making me feel good. This was just me in my transitions through my levels of conciousness as defined by steve's post

They totally help out in the long run. Here's why:

Because for someone who has not met a high enough level of conciousness yet, who is not able to control his own thoughts very well, this is a very powerful way of getting rid of the subconcious mental habit of saying negative thoughts. And negative thoughts just make things worse. Would you agree with me on that? Saying the positive thoughts instills hope, drive, motivation, happiness, purpose, ... well just good stuff, and ingrains in his subconcious mind the mental habit of believing in himself that he can in fact work towards the things that he desires, instead of always thinking negative thoughts which keeps him stuck in the lower rungs of the organized conciousness known as society. Do you agree with me that the leaders of the planet are those who are the most concious? just take a look at Steve's levels of conciousness article if you don't, I have a theory that negative thoughts are just nature's way of making sure that the hierarchy of society remains stable, because, after all, not everyone can be a leader, and that most people must do the daily, dull, low concious work, someone has to do the dirty work to keep the society running. Not everyone can be telling everyone else what to do, someone has to do it. Those with negative thoughts are the ones who do the dirty work.

But if you have developed your mind so that you are either concious enough so that you don't even think in words, then you are probably in a state such that you don't need most affirmations, and you are at a point where you just need to plan things out, and decide what actions you want to take. And that there is no internal resistance to act, it just a matter of gathering information to plan out how you want to act. You already really do believe that you have all potential, and that, you have enough motivation. And even if you don't have the feeling of motivation, you don't need that "good feeling" of motivation because it does not matter that you are not in a good feeling, because it is just a feeling after all.

Feelings only matter if they effect your thoughts, such that they start to become negative. And negative thoughts instill a subconcious mental pattern/habit of keeping you in your current state, in paralysis, unmotivated, and in fear, thus not able to act, except only with the subconcious habits that are already ingrained in your mind, thus keeping you in place of your current level of society.

But if you don't even think in words, then you can almost induce any state that you wish, and it is just really a matter of consciously choosing what subconcious patterns that you want to install so that you can work much more faster and automatically. However, even if you are at that high enough level of conciousness, then doing affirmations is still incredibly effective when consciously deciding to transition to installing new subconcious patterns of habits/behavior. Transistions, Affirmations ease the transitions), because creating affirmations in your mind calls up more circuits in your mind, and opens up the specific pathways in your reticular activating system, so that you concious mind is directed towards information that will program your subconscious mind so that it can fulfill the goal that you've sent it to accomplish via your affirmation.

The majority of my thinking is not in words. The majority of my concious activity does not show itself to me in words. Internal words of thought are just one way to report your thoughts to your own "I". The majority of my thoughts are nonverbal. I think more with my feelings [perhaps that's called intuition?] by being concious of what my somatosensory cortex (body image) tells me is happening inside my mind so that I can just direct my subconcious thoughts so that they need not even bother with the slow, perhaps energy intensive, process of internally being verbalized. Instead I recognize that the thoughts are just flying very rapidly, just slightly peaking their head to "I", just so I recognize intuitively the content of those nonverbal thoughts, but I don't slow them down or waste brain energy by forcing them to be verbalize to "I".

However I do verbalize my thoughts when I read things for pleasure, when I want to induce the feelings the author is trying to instill inside of me. But I do not do that for fact gathering, as I read for facts in the PhotoReading style [still learning it], of just letting the subconcious do all the thinking by not making it verbalize its thoughts to me.

So affirmations are good way to become more concious, to become aware that you can control your thoughts, make them become positive, and perhaps learn to just not use the slow verbal ones at all. And they remain effective in easing major transitions of behavior. But then they loose their perceived effectiveness when you don't need more motivation, or you are able to induce the state that was caused by the affirmation manually, or that you are just in the state that the affirmation help to get you into. And that after you have done the transition, then you are able to work instantly, but that you can still drain yourself mentally by just being so productive, so then it becomes a case of learning how to still be able to think effectively even when large parts of your mind become fatigued. And then yes, after you've maximized your ability to think effectively with low energy, then you look to external ways, not depending on your thought patterns, to increase it, such as by eating correctly, maintaining physical fitness, sleeping correctly, being hydrated, and just managing how not to totally fry out your brain from thinking too hard for too long.

[Erki]

Originally Posted by Shamou

How many beers would you suggest...???

.

Doesn't alcohol actually increase dehydration?

[Aspiring]

Thanks for all answers.

Interestingly, you rather don't seem to share this problem. Or at least you label it in a different way.

[betlamed]

I think that energy is, in a way, not necessary. Sometimes I feel tired and exhausted, and yet I have the impression that I can go on and on... like the intention of being awake is more important than the actual energy level.
I admit that I have never actually put this impression to the test. ;-)

Another observation: Affirmations feel energizing to me, and maybe this is because of the sheer act of intentionally creating a thought. Maybe all the mental chit-chat is consuming lots of energy? Maybe focus and concentration are energetic all in and of themselves, or are simply not eating up any energy, so more is left for productive acts?

Has anybody else experienced similar effects?

bl

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Erki

Doesn't alcohol actually increase dehydration?

That was a joke Erki... you are right... alcohol causes dehydration...

.

[Erock]

I understand exactly what you mean and am looking for answers to this same dilema. Not really sure what the answer is though, I don't know if there is one.

Erock

[RT Wolf]

There's different sources of energy. I remember reading this:

Scott H Young » Energy Management

Note the part where he talks abuot the different kinds of energies: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual.

I've got a copy of that book and I'll start reading it soon. I too have noticed the problem that you're talking about.

Do you take a day or two off to relax every week? Perhaps some sharpening the saw regularly is in order.

I hope this helps.

[Sam988]

I'm also on my quest of having high energy every day.


Seems like that's very personal on momentary. Some people have naturally more energy while others dont. It might be also just a phase of a person's life; when everything is going well and you feel you are going somewhere with your life you have more energy, and when things arent working out the way you wanted them to, then your energy goes down.

[groove88]

Do any of you guys beleive this could be a health issue of some sort? I suffer from a level of social anxiety, which has over time gotton better, but it can still cripple me. What i seem to of noticed is that i often feel tired, and out of 'Energy' ...

Ive came to this conclusion many a time. I become lathargic and goals ambitions seem to get put at the back of the shelf.

I love it when im high (naturally) the energy is unbeleivable..

I used to have a lot of acne etc, so im busyestly going to look towards my health.

I seem to think its a cross pollenation of bad emotions as well as a bad health. Or maybe years of bad health previously? I eat clean and run too but during my teen years i ate and drank a lot of bad stuff. I neglected my body to quite a degree thinking about it, and maybe all that is coming to the surface??

Maybe a good Detox, and some of the good recommendations/advice on here could help us out

[Jes]

I'm on a quest for energy as well. I usually have about one or two days a week at my peak energy level, and here are the variables that I think influence this:

1. Sleep. If I'm lying in bed 8 hrs. before my alarm goes off, and I don't hit the snooze button in the morning, it usually means the day will be good. I'd eventually like to get it to where I wake up at the same time every day naturally, however, as I've heard that's better for you.
2. Caffeine. I've almost kicked it, aside from one cup of tea as soon as I wake up. I'm sure if you kick it altogether, your energy levels will be much more stable throughout the day.
3. Exercise. If I go to the gym first thing in the morning and really nail my workout routine (especially cardio), I'm unstoppable 'til at least lunch time.
4. Food. One small meal every three hours, beginning with a post-workout protein shake. Usually when I'm done eating or at least an hour before I eat my next meal I start to feel REEEALLY hungry. This is good for me, because if I eat 'til I'm full I crash afterward. If I eat 'til I'm 80% or so, I feel like I have more energy. I've also read about tribes who claim that's the secret to longevity.
5. Naps. I take a 23-minute nap on good days at around noon. I've found 23 minutes to be my optimal time because it cuts me off right before I go into deep sleep, which isn't pleasant to wake up from. Sometimes I just lay there for 23 minutes, and either way, it's the most relaxing/energizing part of my day. I could want to punch someone in the face before I take a nap, but as soon as I wake up, life is good.
6. Getting things done. I plan every day out the night before (well, on good days), and I find that when I stick to this plan, I feel more energetic, more motivated, more accomplished ... I just feel better. So make goals and accomplish them. Maybe it won't wake you up, but you'll sleep easier.

So yup. Try those things out if you don't already do.

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Jes

I'm on a quest for energy as well. I usually have about one or two days a week at my peak energy level, and here are the variables that I think influence this:

Very impressive Jes... thank you for sharing this...

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