Raise Energy

How to change the rules of the game in your favour

Successful people do, what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do

- Stephen Covey

I remember hearing that as a boy of 11.

And it sounded very different then to how it feels now. I think as a kid doing what you’re unwilling to do sounds like such an enormous task. But I think that’s because as a kid, doing anything feels like such an enormous task, for me at least.

It’s so difficult to pull my focus from to things I’m interested in to do something I’m not interested in at all.

Now as a boy of 44, I’ve learned some workarounds…

So.. the workaround,

The trick is to overwhelm your task with energy.

Imaging it’s a game and you have 5 energy.

And the task is to complete a 45 minute gym workout.

6 sets of HIIT exercises

2 sets of 3 Core exercises

Followed by 8 rounds of Tabbata

The whole workout requires 85 Energy.

If you think of tackling the whole workout with your measly 5 energy it’s overwhelming. But there is a way for you to over whelm the work out. And that is to focus on the smallest bit of the work out.

Focus all your energy on 1 set, or better yet, 1 rep.

Forget everything else, and focus on doing 1 push up, done, 1 more. And so on…

At times you won’t have enough energy for even 1 push up, focus on taking 3 breaths and waiting till you can, eventually you can do another push up, and do just that.

The way the game works in my mind, 1 push up might take 1 energy, but I’m going to spend 5 on it. And when it’s done, I find I still have 5 energy, and so I can do another, I can even do one when I only have 4 energy, 3 energy, 2 energy, 1 energy…

Let it replenish, then go again.

Shrink the task then overwhelm it with the energy that you have.

Raise the amount of energy you bring and shrink the task, change the game and go in with an unfair advantage. And definately don’t waste energy dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

TEN MINUTE ARTIST PROMPT

Draw Energy

Draw a silhouette, draw it filled with energy draw it emitting energy.

Draw one for how you feel now.

Draw a second one with more energy inside, and more coming out, did it change how you feel, did your focus on your energy activate even more?

Share your drawing in notes and tag Ten Minute Artist: Daily Creative Joy

Or put it in the chat.

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How’s your energy today?

Share your energy raising methods in the comment section below and if you found this prompt valuable, why not pass it along to an artist friend, peer, or student who might appreciate these insights too?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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