It's a rainy night with the occasional cold breeze ruffling my tussled hair. I am especially pleased with my own achievements today -- I am more than half way through my book on how to use HTML, read a few articles in Harvard Business Review, completed my run in the park, spent quality time with my family and even managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping. Believe it or not, I still have energy to do a lot more - I plan to read one more chapter of the HTML book and one article in HBR before I hit the sheets - though it's already way past midnight. You must be wondering, how did I manage to do all that ? From where did I get my energy?
I am no different from you. I have my share of commitments, duties and errants; I don't have a diet that is specially planned for me by a dietician; neither can I afford expensive supplements to boost my energy levels. What I do have is a wealth of mental reserves that I have carefully built up. And yes, you've read it right - mental reserves. Think of them as gold inventory that the U.S. Government has carefully put away in its vault, except that what I have are stored in my body as mental fuel.
I first conceived this concept of mental reserves when I was working on my application to business schools while holding down a 100-hour-per-week day job. Those days were simply awful -- I was exhausted every single day and rarely did I end a day feeling satisfied and happy; I led a monotonous life that sucked the energy out of me. It was however not until my birthday that I realized that I should do something about my life and that got me thinking. I began to consciously keep track of my daily activities right from the moment I got off bed to the time I went to sleep; I started to look at ways to make over my life...and I had a light bulb moment one day when I saw a group of runners sprint past me as I was walking home from yet another dull work day. To last a marathon, athletes have to ensure that they make optimal use of their body fuel that is carbohydrates. And if life is often "affectionately" referred to as a marathon, doesn't that mean that we - as in you, me and everybody else - should be prudent in drawing on our mental reserves in our daily lives?
Mental reserves are accumulated when we have our daily 6-8 hour sleep; we start drawing down our mental reserves the moment we are awake. How you use those reserves to ensure that you have a surplus will determine how successful you are in a given day. Recall that I mentioned at the start of this post that I have a wealth of mental reserves? Yes, I have - over the course of day - taken care to draw on my reserves and use them on things that truly matter to me. I was aware that whatever I do will reduce my mental reserve inventory and this realization made me focus on my priorities. If you are careful with how you spend your income, you will have a substantial amount leftover to put into your savings account; in the same vein, if you are frugal and disciplined with how you use your mental reserves, you will have a mental reserve surplus at the end of the day!
Now that you are familiar with the concept of mental reserves, here are 5 things that I do to make sure that my mental reserves are optimally used and which I hope you will find equally relevant for your own use :
1. Identify three things that are critically important to you everyday. Good health will allow me to pursue my dreams and complete the marathon of life and I make sure that I invest time in my health and fitness everyday; reading and learning from others is how I'd like to inspire myself and I put aside time to jog my brain; being there for my family makes me feel accomplished and I love to spend time doing things in the house to make life better.
2. Know how your body functions and listen to it. I work best in the morning and at night, and am bad at making great progress on tough assignments in the afternoon. I used to think that I should focus on one project until I have completed it but realizing that I am not making optimal use of my mental reserves in the afternoon has led me to overhaul the way I do things. Instead of tackling a project through the day, I split my project up and allocate specific times to work on them depending on the demands of the project and the complexity of the tasks associated with it. Knowing that I function best in the morning, I bulldoze my way through all challenging (or mundane) projects in the morning, and devote the afternoon to stuff from which I absorb positive energy, such as interacting with customers, making sales calls and reading inspirational from-rags-to-riches stories penned by people I admire. I also apply a principle which I call "Just one more" to push my limits to make sure that each ounce of mental reserve gets me a 101% return. (For more information on "Just one more", read my earlier blog post. )
3. Be acutely aware of your environment. Let's get real -- you can't function with kids crying around you, parents bickering next door or dogs barking to be fed. I live in a shoebox apartment with my family and my environment is usually quite noisy in the day and peaceful at night. Instead of watching TED talks when it's quieter in the evening, I squeeze in time in the day for a short TED talk when people are having a war around me. This has in essence helped free up time for me in the evening to focus on mentally taxing work like strategizing my life and reviewing disruptive business innovations. And I still get my daily dose of inspiration from TED while conserving the use of my mental reserves! Ain't this perfect?
4. Identify trailblazers you admire and feed on their wisdom of success. I am on LinkedIn (if you're, look me up and let's get connected), and I follow certain influencers very closely; I am also on Twitter and those thought leaders I admire (such as Jack Welch, Jeff Weiner, Richard Branson, Dave Kerpen and Marissa Meyer) often have inspiring tweets and blog posts that will help refuel my mental reserve. Build your own lists and set aside time everyday to learn from the best to know how you can be better than the best.
5. Be adaptable yet disciplined and focus. Sounds contradictory? They sure do, but that's what I do all day every day. I adapt my schedule to new changes but remain unwavering in adhering to my priority list. If I have to spend my morning doing something which depletes my mental reserves, I am disciplined enough to know that I need to recharge sometime in the day; I also maintain my laser focus on my list of priorities and be sure to set aside a chunk of my time and mental reserves to accomplish each of those activities. Life is never predictable but how you react to it is within your control !
I hope this post has changed your perspective on how you have viewed life and has jolted you out from your lethargic slumber. If you find yourself drained and unhappy, do what I did -- get acquainted with the concept of mental reserves and work on the 5 steps I listed above. Start your day wise, be disciplined and you'd be handsomely rewarded for those mental reserves you've spent - and saved.
Now, if you'll please excuse me, I'd like to go get my additional readings done!
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