3 Simple Ways to Develop Better Energy (and Tranquility)
Let’s face it. Life can be challenging. Hell, some days just getting out of bed feels like a victory. Other days, no matter what you do you seem to be taking jabs to the face from the get go.
Many of us spend more time behind a computer or device than we ever thought possible. Even as life post-pandemic has returned to normal, it seems our neighbors and friends are more withdrawn than they were before the pandemic. We spend more time isolated and working from home. Our social outlets have been reduced both in quantity and quality.
If we are looking for the world to provide us energy, we are too often left wanting.
For many of us, our cups are more empty than full.
And frankly, that’s no damn good.
It’s become more critical than ever that we take ownership of our own abilty to fill our own cups. Doing so is one of if not the single most important responsibilities we have daily.
No one is going to do it for you.
Kings eat first.
But what the fuck does that actually mean? How is it even possible with all the demands on our time to “eat first.”
There are a lot of answers to that, and they are all worthy of exploration. But this week, I want to share some wisdom from Brian Johnson with Heroic.
If you are not familiar with Heroic, I encourage you to check it out at https://heroic.us. It’s a self-directed training program that will help you bring a higher level of commitment to being your best self. The program specifically aims to help you define and achieve improvement in the areas of energy, work, and love.
In November of 2023, Brian released a book called Areté that captures the entirety of wisdom that will help you understand how important each of these areas are to your ability to flourish. I encourage you to pick it up and read it. He’s written the book in bite sized chapters, so it’s perfect for those who have little time to read for more than a few minutes each day.
As you dive into the training, Brian blends a nice mix of anecdotal stories and pulls from a variety of authors and philosophers to introduce to you a number of ideas as to how to maximize each of those areas in your life.
Earlier this week, I finished a lesson titled “Energized Tranquility vs. Enervated Anxiety.” If like me you don’t know what “enervated” means, the definition is “drained of energy or vitality.”
The summary below encapsulates the ideas shared in that lesson. All of the ideas are Brian’s, not mine. However, I felt they were important to restate not only for your benefit but to help me cement them into my own thinking and daily practice.
It all begins with a basic shift in focus. For most of us, when the proverbial shit hits the fan and we begin to realize that uncomfortable sensation of overwhelm, we begin to think in terms of time management. As our cortisol rises, we become more myopically focused on the ever-growing task list before us.
Brian suggests that instead of time management, we shift our focus to energy management. He encourages us to practice energy management through three practical strategies.
Strategy #1 — Manage Your Tech Inputs
Brian reminds us that we are now exposed to more stimuli in a single day than our ancestors a few generations ago were exposed to in an entire lifetime. He says “we evolved to deal with one lion roaring at us in the jungle to having the entire jungle roaring at us all day long.” That leads to enervated anxiety.
We have the ability to take a different pathway. The fastest way to improve your energy is to reduce the stimuli you choose to expose yourself to. Limit the amount of input you expose to yourself.
I know for us, we go from sitting at our computers all day, to looking at our phones, to kicking on the TV, to again checking our phones and scrolling through social media during every commercial! It’s truly unbelievable how much we allow ourselves to be bombarded by information.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, shared something similar in one of his weekly email blasts:
Be ruthless about what you ignore. Time, energy, and resources are so precious. You have to be ferocious about cutting your priorities — more than you realize and certainly more than is comfortable.
You can only deeply commit to a few things. One or two? Maybe three?
Every pretty good, sorta nice, kinda fun thing you abandon is like shedding a weighted vest that lets you move at top speed. You were so busy focusing on how much you could carry, you never realized you run this fast.
It’s a choice, and we can choose differently.
Under the Heroic program, they recommend adopting a “digital sunset.” It’s easier said than done, but pick a time when your inputs are quieted for the day. Not only will this help you unwind, but it will help you prepare for a good night of sleep.
Ending your day intentionally is the single most effective way to assure you begin tomorrow well.
Strategy #2 — We Have to Train our Recovery
Brian starts this lesson with a quote saying, “It’s not that we work too hard, it’s that we don’t recover enough.”
The greatest performers train their recovery.
We have to learn to be on when we are on, and off when we are off. Most of us are constantly in a state of nearly all on all the time. Arguably, however, we’re never really all on because we constantly oscillate between work and distraction. Because we fail strategy #1 and don’t manage our tech, we simply do everything half-assed because we are rarely fully present.
Instead, when we are working, work. And when we’re not, don’t. Embrace having really tall and then low waves in our energy.
Embrace turning yourself off.
How? Well, that’s strategy #3.
Strategy #3 — Understand the Rhythms of Life
We have three fundamental rhythms working in our life.
The first is the rhythm of the sun or our circadian rhythm. Energy management begins by aligning our most important outputs with our most optimal time to be productive — daytime — while simultaneously learning to create a digital shutdown and power ourselves off as the literal day comes to a close.
The second rhythm is called ultradian rhythm. Throughout the day we have rhythms when we are on and off. NASA research has shown that we have a window of peak performance that last between 65–90 minutes before our energy begins to atrophy.
At the end of those windows, we need to shut down for a bit.
That doesn’t mean going from our projects to checking email or scrolling through Instagram on your phone, it literally means turning your focus off. After you push hard, be truly off. Brian suggests we go for a walk, pet the dog, do some burpees, do a quick meditation or hang out with your kids.
Train your recovery in those ultradian rhythms.
The third rhythm is what he calls micradian rhythms.
The idea here also comes from NASA research. Researchers learned that being in a gravity-free environment ultimately deteriorated our bodies’ ability to function in an optimized way. Ultimately, they connected this to similar impacts that come from a sedentary lifestyle. If you sit all day, you will struggle, and studies have shown that sitting is the new smoking. It just isn’t good for us.
So the idea here is that we go from sitting to standing every 15 minutes or so. Learn to set a timer and periodically change your position. Get up and refill your water, or change your desk from a sitting to a standing position.
Remember, no one is going to do it for you. Queens and Kings eat first.
You have to take care of yourself.
YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!
Begin today by tuning our more than you tune in. After some intentional work, give yourself permission to take a break. Step outside and get some fresh air. And when your day is done, be done. Put away the phone and be present.
Simple, not easy. But remember, no one is going to do it for you.
3 Simple Ways to Develop Better Energy (and Tranquility) was originally published in Fireside Talks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.