Ingredient 1 – Having something to focus on.
I am a busy person trying to run a training and business coaching service, being a father to 3 young children, a husband to a very understanding wife and a triathlete. 2 years ago I decided to go on a quest to find more energy. At the time I was dragging myself out of bed in the morning, having a major energy slump in the middle of the afternoon and found that I had no interest in doing anything other than vegging in front of the TV at night.
I looked at people who I regarded as being truely successful in life such as Anthony Robbins, Michael Dell and Steve Jobs. I knew these people must have far more energy than I have based on what they have achieved in their lives. I started asking what is so different between them and me? I knew if I had more energy, I would be able to do far more with my life.
The ways I have identifed that create energy are as follows.
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Having something to focus on.
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Fueling my body well.
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Movement.
Today I am going to explain the first ingredient - Having something to focus on.
When I take the time to sit down and think about what would really get me excited, something that I feel I could make a real contribution in or something that would allow me to grow or learn in some way, I get energised.
I recently took up triathlons and I love them. I love the training, I love the social aspect of the sport, I love the fact that it challenges me and I am fascinated with the science and psychology behind what make the top triathletes so great. During the Tri season, I had mountains of energy eventhough I was training 6 times a week and competing regularly.
I set some targets for myself for last season and found I was most energised when I had at least one of these in my sights. In Feburary when I decided to give triathlons a go, I signed up for a 200K cycle around Munster in March. This got me on a bike for the first time since I was a teenager. Once that was over I set my sights on competing well at the Kilkee Triathlon in June. Interestingly enough, once Kilkee was over, I lost focus (and energy) as I had no other major events planned. As a result I lost interest in training very quickly and subsequently, lost a lot of the energy I had through the spring and summer.
Being honest, I still have not recovered these energy levels however it is getting better. I have commited to doing some cycle spin classes over the winter, I have committed to going out on long group cycles 8 times between now and December at weekends and I have booked myself a fitness test this month in the National Coaching and Training Center in UL. Just writing about these commitments makes my energy levels raise right now. I have also identifed 3 events for next season that I am going to focus on which are spread out over the spring and summer.
My challenge now is to harness this knowledge and use the same principles to my work so that I can get as much energy, enjoyment and success from my business as I do from triathlons. This is not an easy task but one I am committed to. As we used to say when I was rowing competitively, if I put as much effort and energy into work as I did to rowing, I would be a millionaire. Perhaps!