Most of the people in the world have very low energy levels, but everyone wants more.
More energy means you can work harder, longer, and faster. It means that you can accomplish things that you only dreamed of. Maybe you want to start a business, but just don’t have the energy.
Or maybe you’re trying to get in the habit of working out, but the energy just isn’t there. Either way, you need energy if you want to function at a high level in life.
What most people don’t realize is that energy is actually very much psychological—and there’s 3 very common “energy sappers,” that 99% of people have without even realizing it.
1. Eliminate Decision Fatigue
Not only is decisiveness absolutely critical if you want to accomplish your goals, but it’s also crucial if you want to avoid sapping your energy.
The first type of fatigue, which is decision fatigue, occurs when people are indecisive. This will DEFINITELY give you low energy levels. It occurs when people fret about, not really knowing what they’re going to do, and they end up wasting a ton of mental energy and time.
Let me give you an example. Say that “Jerry” is trying to decide what he wants to do later in the day. He just got off work, and he has two options—go home and sit in front of the TV, or go to the gym.
He spends the next 30 minutes trying to decide while he’s driving home. Not all at once, obviously, but interspersed between other thoughts.
“Hmm, I told myself I’d go…but I’m tired, but I should really go…hmm. Maybe I’ll eat something and then go? But what would I eat, hmm I’d have to google ‘good pre-workout foods,’ uh but what if I can’t fall asleep afterwards? But I’ve been saying I’d work out forever…”
And this goes on and on and on. Do you know how fucking tiring that is? IT’S EXHAUSTING. It’s no wonder that most people who do this have low energy. Now, conversely, say that Jerry was DECISIVE.
He gets off work, and the very first thing that crosses his mind is: “I’m going to hit the gym.” He’s made his mind up. That’s that.
He has a relaxing drive on the way home, listening to his favorite Peter Frampton CD, and then pulls into the driveway. Without a second thought he runs inside, changes into his Adidas track suit, has a banana and a whey protein shake on the way out, and heads to the gym.
Imagine how much energy Jerry just saved himself by being decisive.
Rather than being a little bitch and letting his emotions flutter about, blowing his opinion around like a leaf in the wind, he just grew a pair and DECIDED what he was going to do.
If you want to instantly get rid of low energy levels, ELIMINATE INDECISION. Be decisive. Just make a decision and stick with it.
2. Eliminate Persona Fatigue
This one is a lot more subtle, but will leave you with low energy levels all day long if you let it. Persona fatigue is what happens when you feel like you have to act a certain way around others.
So, instead of just learning to be yourself, you waste tons of energy trying to “fit in,” and “look cool.” It’s stupid, and it leaves you with low energy.
Think of how freeing it would be if you could just act how you wanted to act—and imagine how much energy you waste every day by having to hold your emotions in and act a certain way that isn’t you.
Let’s use another example. Say that Jerry is at the club with a group of girls, and he tries to “act cool.” He tries to play it off like he’s James Bond or some shit.
Every single little move is calculated—his walk, his words, how he says them, his facial expressions…he has to expend an enormous amount of mental energy just to interact with girls.
And what’s funny is that they’ll actually sense that he’s being fake most of the time, and they’ll be repulsed by him.
Either way—he’s depleting an enormous amount of mental energy.
Now, contrast this with another example. Say that Jerry is at the club with a group of girls, but this time he just doesn’t give a fuck. He says what he wants to say (within reason, obviously—don’t be an idiot) and does what he wants to do.
He doesn’t worry about impressing others or “acting cool.” If something pops up into his head, he just says it. It doesn’t really matter to him whether or not the girls like him, because he’s just confident in himself.
Consequently, he saves an enormous amount of mental energy—he can focus on having fun rather than appearing a certain way. AKA say goodbye to low energy levels.
Some typical personas that guys often try to keep up might be:
- The tough guy persona
- The cool guy persona
- The suave, James Bond persona
- The badass persona
- The player persona
- The unemotional, stoic persona
There’s obviously a lot more, and sometimes guys can even keep up “negative” personas (such as being a nerd, weirdo, etc.) because they’re trained to do so from a young age, but the point is that if you just let go and stop giving a fuck, you’ll completely eliminate low energy levels.
Now, as with anything in self-development this can be taken too far. Don’t just do whatever the fuck you want without any concern for other human beings. But, rather than others’ opinions of you being your primary focus, they should be somewhere in the background.
When you learn to just be yourself, you’ll have loads more energy, because you aren’t wasting it on keeping up a certain persona.
3. Eliminate Self-Judgment Fatigue
This one is related to the second type of fatigue, but it’s still in its own distinct category. Out of these three points, this one is probably responsible for most human beings’ perpetually low energy levels.
Self-judgment fatigue comes from you constantly judging yourself.
“I’m not tall enough, I’m not muscular enough, I’m not handsome enough,” blah blah blah. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. Aside from the fact that women don’t actually care about looks, you still shouldn’t even care what other people think about you.
For a second, I want you to write down all of your insecurities. Seriously. Take a moment to write them all down.
They could be things like “I’m not X enough,” or “I’m too Y.” Got it? Okay, now ask yourself the following question:
“Does whining and complaining like a little bitch solve anything?”
The obvious answer to this question is NO. What is the point of beating yourself up? Don’t tell me “so that you can improve,”—this is nonsense. You can improve without beating yourself up.
There is literally no purpose to judging yourself. All it does is cause you negative emotion and sap your energy.
When you can learn to stop judging yourself, you will automatically have more energy, because you won’t be expending it all on judging yourself.
Summary
Energy is in large part physical, but an enormous part of it has to do with the mind.
If you let your emotions and desires dictate your thoughts, you will have very little energy.
If, however, you eliminate these three types of fatigue, then you will instantly quadruple your energy. It won’t be easy at first—you’ll often catch yourself being indecisive, self-judgmental, or holding up a false persona.
Don’t sweat it, though—just be glad that you became conscious of what you were doing and correct it. If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to let me know. And, as always, I’ll see you next time.
