"Energy is the fundamental currency of high performance."
Dr. Jim Loehr | World-Renowned Performance Psychologist
If there is one place to start on the journey of elevating well-being and performance, it's with the quality and quantity of your energy.
We show up as our best selves when we are high energy. We do our best work. We feel our best. We're better in any role – as a leader, as a teammate, as a parent, as a friend, as an athlete – when we take simple steps to protect and grow our energy levels.
But very few of us are truly conscious of our energy. Everything we do throughout a day is a net contributor or net detractor of energy. Everybody is unique. Something that gives one person energy may rob another person of it.
But it's much subtler than most of us recognize. Tiny things chip away at our energy without us realizing. Seemingly insignificant moments give us a boost, and we fail to notice the critical message in it.
One of the simplest and most powerful ways to maximize and well-being and performance is to do a simple daily exercise – the 21-Day Energy Challenge.
The way it works is simple. Carve out 10 minutes at the end of every day (or workday) and answer two questions:
What filled me with energy and enthusiasm today?
What drained me of energy today?
Write down everything that comes to mind. Don't edit. You may remember 10 or 15 things, some of which may seem so small that you think they're too insignificant to note. They aren't. Capture as much as you can. Don't expect it to be big stuff. Sit with the questions until answers start to flow.
Do this every day and don't look back at entries from previous days. At the end of 21 days, carve out one hour. This is the point at which you go back through all your entries.
There is no prescription or method for how you process and distill what you discover on this final day. I am confident that if you truly follow through with this exercise for 21 days straight, the insight or insights you need will become clear. With this new level of awareness and understanding staring you in the face, it's hard not to automatically make changes.
These changes may be small tweaks. They may be big ones. They may be a mix of the two. But one thing is a guarantee. These changes will directly elevate your well-being and performance in meaningful ways.
Try this and share what you learn with me. I learn something from the stories every time.
~Mike