Energy Sappers

A phone call you've been putting off....a repair you've been meaning to take care of....an apology you know you should make...a bill you're avoiding paying....a task at work that you're procrastinating doing....some cleaning you're dreading....a goal you're postponing.

What do all of these things have in common?  They're energy sappers!  They're stealing precious energy from you and you may not even realize it.  The reason is this:  The things that you ignore in your life begin to use up your resources.  For instance, if you believe you "should" exercise, but you don't do it, you begin to feel badly about it.  Feeling badly or guilty about something steals emotional energy, which saps physical energy.  So, even though you're not doing the exercise, you're actually using the energy it would take to do the exercise itself, but you're not getting the benefit and, worse, you're hurting your body and getting the guilt!  Whew...what a vicious circle!

Have you ever noticed that you avoid certain rooms in your house? Or that you feel good in one room and not the other?  Do you sigh when you look at the pile of papers on your desk?  Or get a sick feeling in your stomach when you think about the phone call you need to make?  You can actually feel your physical energy change when you think of or come into contact with certain thoughts or places.  Maybe the clutter, broken appliance, thought, or memory is draining your energy.

So, how do you end this cycle?  Action!  Taking action, even the slightest action, toward addressing your energy sappers will begin to free up tremendous emotional and physical energy.  One very effective exercise you can do to begin to clear away your energy sappers is to create a list.  Write a list of 50 energy sappers in your life.  Walk through your house and identify that which needs to be repaired.  Think of important conversations that need to be had, problems that need to be addressed, phone calls that need to be made, bills that need to be paid, closets that need to be cleaned, health challenges that need to be overcome, goals that need to be pursued, etc.  Ask yourself what you've been putting off and putting up with in your environment and in yourself, no matter how small or large.

Once you've got your list of  50, decide that you're going to take 15 minutes a day (or 15 minutes a week) to begin to chip away at the items on your list.  I always tell myself that I can do anything for 15 minutes, no matter how much I dislike doing it.  You don't need to complete an item completely right away....you just need to start it and then keep whittling away 15 minutes at a time.  I like what my sister tells herself when she begins to procrastinate or feel lazy:  "Come on, get up!  You're stronger than this!"  You're stronger than that, too!