Humans are not meant to run at high speeds continuously for long periods of time, instead we are performing at our best when we move between expending energy and intermittently renewing energy.To do this, we need to live a rhythmic life with periods of intense activity followed by periods of rest.

The Best Way To Optimize Your Energy

You are much better off oscillating between activity and recovery than when you are living in a linear fashion with your brakes on all the time.Most of us are in a state of constant energy preservation. We’re never fully engaged or fully off, we just keep going until the clock hits 5pm.

You Either Fully Engage Or Strategically Disengage

<ul><li>The body and mind should take  frequent breaks.</li><li>The point of these breaks is to renew your energy.</li><li>Turn these breaks into rituals.</li><li>Use rituals to refill your energy without using up any energy or willpower.</li></ul>Rituals are powerful because they insure that we use as little conscious energy as possible where it is not absolutely necessary, leaving us free to strategically focus the energy available to us in creative ways

The Benefits Of Energy Rituals

If you want to perform at your highest level, you have to optimize each of these four sources of energy:Physical: How’s your body doing? How’s your muscle to fat ratio? How does your nutrition look like?Emotional: How’s your emotional life doing? Do you feel positive emotions on a regular basis? Are you emotionally resilient? Mental: How’s your brain doing? Are you able to focus and concentrate for sustained periods of times?Spiritual: How’s your motivation doing? Do you have a purpose in life? And a clear set of values that drive your actions?

The Four Sources Of Energy

<ul><li>Positive emotions fuel performance.</li><li>The more positive emotions you're feeling on a regular basis, the more emotional energy you have and the higher your performance will be.</li><li>If you don't have access to sufficient positive emotions, ask yourself if you are devoting enough hours a week to activities purely for the pleasure and renewal they provide.</li></ul>

Emotional Energy

Set an exact time and exact place for when you'll do something dramatically increases your chances of actually doing it.To manage your energy as skillfully as possible, you must rely on positive energy rituals that happen automatically without the use of any willpower on your part.The beauty of rituals:<ul><li>They happen automatically.</li><li>They don’t use up willpower.</li><li>They don’t use up conscious energy.</li></ul>

Energy Rituals In Your Life

The top players optimize the rest between each point.Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr have found that the top players are able to lower their heart rates between points by up to twenty beats per minute while the average player’s heart rate stays the same.

Tennis Players and The Power of Rest

Concentration is mainly your attention.To perform at your best, you must be able to sustain concentration, and move flexibly between broad and narrow focus.Potential energy rituals to replenish your mental energy:<ul><li>Meditate daily for 20mins.</li><li>Commit to a daily yoga practice.</li><li>Play concentration-enhancing brain games.</li><li>Exercise.</li><li>Get enough quality sleep.</li></ul>

Mental Energy

The better your nutrition, sleep, and exercise are, the more physical energy you'll have.Potential energy rituals to replenish your physical energy:<ul><li>Going for a daily walk/jog</li><li>Scheduling a weekly tennis session</li><li>Deep breathing</li><li>Daily Sleep rituals to fall asleep faster and stay asleep all night</li><li>Eating healthy all day long</li></ul>

Physical Energy

<ul><li>Spiritual energy is the connection to a deeply held set of values and to a purpose beyond our self-interest.</li><li>It gives us the motivation to act.</li><li>To optimize our spiritual energy, we need a set of strong values and a purpose for why we do what we do.</li><li>Find out what your purpose and values are.</li></ul>

Spiritual Energy

<ul><li>If we want to perform at our best, we must first and foremost manage our energy, not our time.</li><li>Optimizing our performance, health, or happiness is not about the quantity of time, but about the quality of energy.</li></ul>

Energy, Not Time, Is The Fundamental Currency Of High Performance

<ul><li>The ultradian rhythm is a cycle that repeats itself countless times during the day.</li><li>To get the most out of your working day, go full out for 90-120 minutes (fully engage) and then take a 15-20 minute break (strategically disengage).</li><li>Take 2-3 short 1-5 minute breaks during this time.</li></ul>

The Ultradian Rhythm

<ul><li>We are oscillatory human beings who should live their lives as a series of sprints, not one never-ending marathon</li><li>To optimize our energy throughout the day, we should follow the ultradian rhythm and take a 15-20 minute break every 90-120 minutes</li><li>Installing energy rituals is the holy grail of optimizing your energy and performance</li></ul>

The Conclusion

Harness and optimize your energy, as it is even more important that time.

A personal energy training program outlines strategies on how to prevent burnout and improve productivity, discussing such areas as how to work with four key sources of energy, balancing stress and recovery, expanding capacity, and implementing positive routines. Reprint. 60,000 first printing.

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Personal Development

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Mental Health

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Books

“Combines the gritty toughmindedness of the best coaches with the gentle-but-insistent inspiration of the most effective spiritual advisers” (Fast Company). This groundbreaking New York Times bestseller has helped hundreds of thousands of people at work and at home balance stress and recovery and sustain high performance despite crushing workloads and 24/7 demands on their time. We live in digital time. Our pace is rushed, rapid-fire, and relentless. Facing crushing workloads, we try to cram as much as possible into every day. We're wired up, but we're melting down. Time management is no longer a viable solution. As bestselling authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz demonstrate in this groundbreaking book, managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance. The Power of Full Engagement is a highly practical, scientifically based approach to managing your energy more skillfully both on and off the job by laying out the key training principles and provides a powerful, step-by-step program that will help you to: * Mobilize four key sources of energy * Balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal * Expand capacity in the same systematic way that elite athletes do * Create highly specific, positive energy management rituals to make lasting changes Above all, this book provides a life-changing road map to becoming more fully engaged on and off the job, meaning physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned.

Tony Schwartz is a journalist, business book author, professional speaker,and the ghostwriter and credited co-author of Trump: The Art of the Deal. He is the founder and head of the productivity consulting firm, The Energy Project.

Tony Schwartz

James E. Loehr is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. James E. Loehr has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. James E. Loehr's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

James E. Loehr

Jim Loehr is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Jim Loehr has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Jim Loehr's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

The Conclusion

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The Ultradian Rhythm