How Do I Sustain My Energy?
How Do I Sustain My Energy?
This is a phenomenal question.
Many of us have well-thought-out plans for our growth. We cast visions and set goals for who we want to become. We have great intentions for how we want to show up in our work, our marriages, our parenting, our friendships, our faith, our health, our communities, our…
Uh oh.
Do you see what’s happening?
The list goes on and on. I’m getting exhausted just listing all of these things out! How could we possibly maintain the energy we need to show up as our “best selves” in each of these areas?
Before I go any further I just need to be honest.
I’m not about to hype you up and show you how you can “have it all”. The truth is, you and I are humans. As humans, we have limits. At a certain point, we have to be willing to accept ourselves as we are, limitations and all.
With that said, we can do things to increase our energy and reduce our risk of burnout.
One of my favorite tools I use for this is a little thing I like to call…
“The Canteen Tool”
Your life is like the Sahara Desert.
If you’re going to go out into the Sahara Desert every day, it would be wise to bring a canteen of water, right? Yet, my guess is you’re going out into the Sahara Desert every day with an empty canteen.
We’re going to put together a strategy to help you keep your canteen full of water.
This isn’t going to magically grant you unlimited time in the desert heat, but it will sustain you for longer, even on the hottest days.
First, I want you to grab a piece of paper and draw a picture of a canteen like this:
Next, draw horizontal lines to separate the canteen into four sections: daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
Finally, set a timer for 20 minutes. Spend 5 minutes per section writing down ideas in response to the following question:
What are a few practices that fill you up, help you feel more alive, and make you feel more grounded?
That’s it!
Here’s the most important part.
Once you create your canteen tool and identify the self-care practices that increase your energy, you have to do them.
Schedule them on your calendar and commit to keeping your canteen full.
Thanks for reading,
Mike Foster
