How Do They Find Their Boundless Energy? — Part 2

Choose the Energy That Serves You

Picture yourself early in the morning walking barefoot along the beach.

You can hear the seagulls flying overhead, the waves crashing against the surf.

The smell of saltwater is in the air. There’s sand between your toes, the warm orange light appearing on the horizon, and a cool breeze hitting your face.

Pause and experience this for a moment. Do this now. Close your eyes and imagine it, really feel it.

What if you could tap into this experience at the office or at home with the kids?

You might be thinking, “not where I work” or “not my kids”. But it’s this present moment experience that leads to high-performance.

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Follow Your Bliss

In part 1 of this article, we established an energy spectrum. On the left is constrictive energy and the right expansive energy.

The primary lesson: Avoiding stress, making judgments, brooding, fear, busyness, and excessive expectations all lead to constrictive energy.

But what if you find yourself experiencing this low energy state more than you’d like to admit? You want to expand your energy and perform at your best, but you just don’t know how.

How to Shift From Constrictive To Expansive Energy

You have the ability to choose the energy that serves you. Expansive energy results in joy, meaning, and high-performance.

Expansive energy allows you to stay light on your feet.

Most people live life weighted down by their thoughts, emotions, and external stressors. But those who have sustained success tap into expansive energy.

They are more creative, intuitive, and are able to flow through life. They are able to achieve effortless high-performance.

How do they do it? They’ve adopted the following six mindsets. Here’s how you can too.

Welcome Stress Into Your Life

Stress, pressure, anxiety, and insecurity are uncomfortable. Would we really choose these feelings over contentment, comfort, and peace?

Naturally, you gravitate toward pleasure and away from pain. But to pursue what you want most in life, to be happy, and to engage in work that matters, you must press into the pain and discomfort.

All great works, positive change, and success are formed in the fires of struggle.

Ryan Holiday says, “the obstacle is the way.” This couldn’t be truer and over time what we avoid always grows into a bigger monster.

Start by changing your relationship with stress. Embrace the suck and honor the struggle.

With the right amount of stress and the right amount of rest comes growth, opportunity, and happiness.

Be Present with What is

Go back to imagining your walk on the beach. This is what presence feels like.

Notice there was no cell phone in your hand. You weren’t feeling guilty about the past or anxious about the future.

You were engaging in the moment. And that’s all there is — this very moment!

Now is your opportunity. Will you choose to engage it or look for the nearest exit?

Being present is a skill to develop. Start a mindfulness practice and experience what now feels like.

Focus on Expressing Yourself, Not Proving Yourself

“Leadership is first being, then doing. Everything the leader does reflects what he or she is,” says Warren Bennis, author and founding chairman of The Leadership Institute. “Therefore leadership is about expressing yourself, not proving yourself.”

All great leaders and influencers have something to express to the world. It goes beyond the dollar and prestige associated with such roles.

There are those that have deep desires to create something meaningful. Others are simply driven by what they might gain.

Entrepreneur Larry Wilson, author of Play to Win, defined “the difference between desire and drive as the difference between expressing yourself and proving yourself.”

In what ways are you expressing your values in your work and life?

Show Compassion for Others

Love and compassion have an energizing effect on you and others.

Science shows us that gratitude, love, compassion, and kindness toward ourselves and others changes our brain. It’s the quickest way to emotional intelligence.

Imagine not having these traits. Instead, you go through your day angry, frustrated, and annoyed by everyone around you. Exhausted yet?

What if, instead, you were curious about others and looking for ways to lift their spirits and encourage their greatness?

Your thoughts of compassion raise your level of energy and facilitate your staying connected to intention.

WAYNE DYER, THE POWER OF INTENTION

Be Intentional

Know in advance how you want to show up for what’s ahead of you today.

This is true of all high-performers. They prepare themselves for what’s ahead so they can use their energy to create the results they want to see.

Here’s a simple and relatable example: You pull your car into the garage after a long day at work. You are about to step into your home where behind that door is those you love most. You pause to set your intentions. You ask yourself”

• How do I want to feel when I walk through the door?
• What obstacles might I run into as soon as I step foot in the house? How could I best choose to respond?
• In what ways could I express my values with my kids this evening?

Imagine how your evening at home would go if you did this more often?

This is the power of intention.

Love the Process

Those who experience high energy enjoy the process as much as the outcome.

Loving the process is the game, not the shit the process will get you.

@GARYVEE

“Doing the work has a special way of putting both success and failure in their respective places,” says Brad Stulberg author of The Passion Paradox. “After a massive achievement or a devastating failure, getting back to work serves as an embodied reminder that external results aren’t why you are in this.”

For you to experience sustainable and boundless energy it’s the work you do that matters most. Do it for its own sake. When you do, the results that ensue might surprise you.

How could you look at your life and work differently and enjoy the process more?

Conclusion

You choose the energy you bring into your day. How often do you choose what constricts high-performance?

Stress is part of the journey. Instead of running from it, lean in and be present with the entire experience of pursuing your dreams.

Let go of the idea that you have to do more to be more. Express who you are.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

HOWARD THURMAN

Show compassion for others, live your life with intention and enjoy the ride you’re on. The ups and downs are all opportunities to experience life.

Use this life to fuel your energy rather than drain it. You can be the creative force in your life and it starts with applying these six practices.

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