Let’s recharge Your Energy Battery!!!
What do you do when your phone battery is low?
What do you do when your car is low on fuel?
If you don’t recharge the phone, it’s dead. If you don’t refuel the car, it stops running. Right?
And, if you don’t refuel your Mental energy, your brain stops functioning at its peak state.
You must have tried healthy food diets to lose fat and gain physical energy. Have you?
Have you tried any Mental diet to refuel Mental energy and resources?
Have you ever felt a lack of Mental Energy even you felt physically energetic? Sometimes, the mind doesn’t function properly and the body feels tired even when you eat healthy food.
I am not saying — healthy food doesn’t matter. It does matter! However, it’s not enough to sustain Mental energy.
We have a reservoir of Mental energy!
Let’s understand the Mental energy reservoir concept through an analogy of the water tank.
Just imagine a water tank. If you keep taking out the water, and never fill the tank — what will happen? You have an empty tank. Then, no longer can you take the water.
And, the same thing goes with Mental energy.
If you keep burning out the energy and don’t attempt to fill it — you will have an empty energy tank. In simple language —I can say, you are burned out. And that’s what most of the people at the end of workday feel — they are burned out! They don’t have enough energy to do other activities.
I sometimes hear people say — they are feeling burned out even in the mid-afternoon. And the reason — they would have consumed all the Mental energy stored. The result is “burned out”.
You are not alone! I have been there!
I have had millions of instances in the past — when I felt burned out during the day. At that time, I didn’t know how to deal with my “burned out”. I wanted to do more things, enjoy life and do things I was passionate about. But, most of the days, it was due to my burned out feeling — I couldn’t do any of those things I was passionate about.
I remember — always complaining about headache — and my mom always said, I don’t have physical strength!
Have you experienced the “burn out” before?
Have you found yourself freaking tired working for long hours even though you love what you do?
If yes, you are burning your Mental Fuel and not Managing its resources properly. With lack of Mental energy —your mind wanders, you lose focus, you feel frustrated, and you can’t give 100% to your work and relationships.
This often leads to being unproductive and we tend to do unnecessary things that are stealing away our time.
After doing an in-depth study on this subject and practicing it for more than a year, I can clearly say there is only ONE thing, and by doing it you can let your brain work at the highest level.
And, that is — Intermittent Rest.
Intermittent Rest– Intermittent Rest is taking rest at regular intervals in day-to-day life to regain your mental energy.
Sounds familiar to Intermittent fasting? You are correct —it is!
Sounds familiar to the Intermittent rest period in the gym? You are correct — it is!
- It’s similar to intermittent fasting. You eat once and then take a long break and as a result, you lose fat and gain other health benefits.
- It’s similar to taking rest in the gym after you complete a set. When you take rest, you allow muscles to grow. No rest, no growth.
You’d be thinking — how to practice Intermittent Rest every day?
By using the principle of “Block Time”!
The mind can’t work in constant energy cycles and rather it works in waves.
I am a fan of “Block time” which I use it —- ALL THE TIME!!
Set a timer clock for about 50–90 mins. Once the time is up — stop what you are doing. Then, take rest for a few mins. To set time, you can use your phone or computer or get an alarm clock. The type of clock doesn’t matter here.
Block time means — you are focused on your MAIN thing in that time window. If you have never done it, then sitting for 50 mins can be a challenge for you. It was a challenge for me too. 50 mins sound nothing. But, when you actually sit and focus on the MAIN thing — you will realize how challenging it is.
Brendon Burchard has detailed about 50 mins Block time in his book “High-Performance Habits”
But, you can get better with time. It’s like any other skill which requires consistent practice.
If you are new to “Block time” practice, I’d recommend starting with some something small time window — let’s say, maybe 30 mins? Pick your time which is comfortable for you in the beginning which you can easily do. The goal here is to set low expectations (in terms of time) and gradually increase over time.
And, the max limit of one block time sitting — I’d recommend is 90 mins. After 90 mins, our brain needs some downtime. Darren Hardy, the former publisher of Success Magazine, has detailed about this in his video on Insane Productivity.
According to Neuroscience, our brain needs some downtime at regular intervals to process complex information we feed to it.
Have you ever felt that — you don’t come up with new ideas how much you try. Usually, that is a good sign that your brain is saying — “give me some break”.
So, whenever you feel tired, fatigued, or just unable to think clearly — take a pause and rest. When you rest, you are actually refueling your Mental energy tank.
I am sure you know — how great you feel emotionally and mentally after travel or some vacation! You are basically refueling your energy by giving yourself a break from everyday life.
“Rest” can take any form. I am more aware now when my mind doesn’t produce good ideas. It’s an indicator for me to pause and take some rest. Below are some of the activities that I do almost every day when I am tired or feeling cranky, or even when I am feeling fully energetic.
- Breathing(inhale and exhale)
- Meditation
- Walking around
- Quick nap
- Any mindfulness activity(yoga etc)
- Doing anything that you love doing and doesn’t require you to use your mental muscles because the purpose of this is to regain energy.
If your car dashboard shows some signal, it usually means something is happening in the car, and it requires some action.
It is the same thing with our minds, and it always gives us a signal when we are tired. So, please don’t neglect these signals, and take some rest.
One of the awesome books on Energy Management is “The Power of Full Engagement” by Tony Schwartz. I have read this book many many times.
Enjoy!!