Reclaim your energy and focus
When I visit my friends with dogs, their puppies are so ecstatic to see you, they jump and wiggle like you are the greatest person to have walked this earth. Sometimes they get so excited they even wee a bit.
I can honestly say I’ve never been so full of energy that I’ve lost bladder control. In fact, as an introvert with some health challenges, I often find myself hankering for more energy.
Running a business takes a lot of energy. Leadership, decision making, delivering service, and managing projects all require significant energy and focus from you.
This is why it’s so important to be vigilant of tolerations that drain your energy. Some of these energy vampires are obvious – pessimists and whiners, obligatory duties you dread, etc. Others can be quite stealth at draining your energy – such as those pesky, little tolerations.
Zapping Tolerations for Energy and Focus
Zapping tolerations is one of my favorite go-to strategies for when I feel drained and exhausted. The results are always energizing and brings a smile to my face.
Tolerations are those annoying things that you put up within your life. They’re like little holes in your bucket of energy, causing slow but consistent leaks. They’re dangerous because they have a cumulative effect. The more things your tolerating, the more tired you’ll feel.
The Dirty Car
Imagine your car is dirty. Every time you go out to your car, you think to yourself, “Ugh, I really need to get my car washed.” Yet, a week goes by and you haven’t gotten around to it. Each time you notice your dirty car, it saps a little bit of your precious energy.
When you do finally get that car washed, you immediately feel better. The very next time you go out to your car, you get a little boost of energy as you see it’s looking great. You’ve zapped that toleration!
Tolerations are the silent naggers in your life. Things such as broken appliances, a messy desk, a missing button on your favorite jacket, the hole in the wall you’ve been meaning to patch, nag at you to please, please do something about them.
You can cut the nagging chatter in your head by zapping it. Doing so will give you more energy and focus for the important things, and your day goes more smoothly. No more looking for lost files, dealing with broken things, or looking at ugly things. It’s time to get rid of those tolerations and reclaim your energy.
How to Zap Tolerations
- Make a list of all the things you are tolerating. Take a close look at each of the areas to see what tolerations are lurking:
- Your physical environments: home, car, office
- Your inboxes: email, voicemail, physical inboxes, calendars
- Your to-do lists: incomplete tasks and projects that have been hanging around too long
- Difficult conversations that need to happen with employees, clients, partners, kids, family members, friends.
- Bad behaviors from yourself or others. Are you putting up with your own bad behaviors such as not exercising, over-drinking, or procrastinating?
- Go for the quick wins. Circle the tolerations on your list that are easy to take care of and zap those first. You’ll immediately feel more energy.
- Tackle the bigger tolerations one at a time. Schedule time to get them addressed. Commit to resolving them once and for all.
Sometimes you don’t realize how much energy some tolerations are taking until you zap them. Be warned – zapping tolerations can feel so amazing you’ll be addicted! Just think what you could do with all that extra reclaimed energy – perhaps you’ll even do a little wee. 😉
