Boost Your Business Energy: 14 Minutes to Revitalize Your Day

What's up, Believe Nation? It's Evan Carmichael. My one word is believe. I believe in you, and I want to see that awesomeness inside you explode out into the world so you can do something crazy special. Now, to help you on your journey today, we're going to talk about 7 ways to have energy all day. So as an entrepreneur, you need a lot of energy, right? There's a lot of work that goes into building our businesses to do all the crazy things that we need to do to get our companies up and off the ground, to turn it from an idea into something that's living and breathing and having a big impact. You need to have the energy to do it. And so today I'm going to share with you my 7 ways on how to have energy all day to put into your company. Number 1 is you have to enjoy the work. I think this is the biggest thing for a lot of entrepreneurs. A lot of people just don't enjoy the work that they're doing. You may have started with some big mission in mind, you may have started for the right reasons, and then you're not getting results. Or you may have started with the wrong reasons in mind, you know, I'm just trying to make a lot of money, or I'm just starting this business because it's the hot business of this year that I need to get into. If you are not enjoying the process, if you're not enjoying the work, it's hard to have energy. How can you have energy for something that you don't enjoy? Like, you can only force yourself to do something that you don't enjoy for so long before you quit. It's just gonna happen. If you are walking around with the weight of the world on you, dreading to go into the office because you don't wanna deal with that email, you don't wanna deal with that customer, you don't wanna make that next product, you're not gonna have positive energy. But there's also been times where you've just been in the flow and you've loved what you're doing and the time just, you lose track of it and you forget to go to the bathroom and you forget to take breaks and you forget to eat. That's when you love what you're doing. And the more that you're doing work that you love, the energy will come. And so for me, it's entrepreneurs. I love helping entrepreneurs. I'm making this video today for you guys. I've recorded like 60 videos today, all day long, one washing break so far. You know, I have coffee behind here that I'm drinking, quick like lunch break while I'm reviewing notes. Like there's no breaks. It's go, go, go, but it's fine. Like I love it, 'cause it fuels me. When I'm meeting entrepreneurs tomorrow, I'm gonna be back-to-back wall of meetings, Hangouts, podcast interviews, face-to-face meetings. It's just gonna be constant, and I love it. Like, by the end of the day, I'll be super drained, but going through the process, I love each step. And so you need to love the work that you're doing. Chances are for you, this is the biggest thing. If you do not enjoy the work, you're not gonna have energy, and there's not really a lot you can do to fix that apart from doing work that you love. Way number 2 is just taking care of yourself, and this is some basic stuff, and I'm not the expert on these things, but just taking basic care of yourself. You know, eating right, having enough water. Often I'll find if I have low energy, I take account of how much water have I had today. It's like, I haven't had any water today. Taking some water makes a big difference. One of the things that I do now is in my phone I have a trigger in the morning. First thing in the morning, I drink a huge thing of water, and then at lunchtime around noon, I have another notification that goes off, have some more water, because I don't remember to always drink water. And I find that within 5 minutes of that morning water, I already have a little bit more energy. So I suggest that you just try that. Try first thing in the morning, you wake up, you go to the bathroom, you weigh yourself, whatever you do normally in the morning, and then big glass of water, and you'll feel a lot more energy 5 minutes later because you are dehydrated, and so often we're dehydrated in our lives. So, you know, eat healthy, work out, drink a lot of water, just take care of yourself. If you take care of yourself, you'll have more energy to bring to everything that you're doing in life. Way number 3 is start your day off right. A lot of times people just fall out of their day, right? They fall out of their bed and they fall into their day and they just do whatever they normally do in the morning, and you're responding to other people's emergencies as opposed to having a plan and saying, hey, here's how I want a day to look like. Go through the exercise of what does an ideal morning look like for me, right? It helps if you have your one word because then you can design around that. So for me, it's believe. What does a believe morning look like for me. If you start your day off right, I call it the lightning rod effect. Like, there's— if the first thing goes right, you're much more likely to follow through on the next things. But if the first thing doesn't go right, it's easy to write off the day. We've all had those days where it's like you're, you're sick, you're not feeling well, or like you missed the first thing and you had 10 things that you wanted to do. You wanted to eat healthy and work out and, you know, make that phone call and send out that newsletter and whatever it is that you want to do. And if you miss the first thing, you know, you don't do the workout, it's easy to coast on the rest of the day. Like, okay, you know what, I missed the workout, so I'm not gonna make that phone call, I'm not gonna do that newsletter, I'm not gonna do everything else. And you just let the day expire. That happens. I mean, that happens to me, it happens to a lot of people. And so the lightning rod effect is like that first thing you do, if you do it, then you're much more likely to follow through and do the next thing and do the next thing and the next thing. Not just because you did the first thing, but you're the kind of person who does the first thing. You're the kind of person who follows through. It's like a mental trigger. You've told yourself, I follow through, and I follow through on one thing, so I'm gonna do it again and again and again and again. And so that first thing that you do is really, really, really, really important. And so designing what an ideal morning routine looks like that gives you energy, if you set your day up from the beginning with success, it doesn't mean like the whole day is gonna just be amazing and every day is gonna be awesome, But you really dramatically increase the chances, and I think most people don't with intention design a morning routine that sets them up for success.

Number 4 is set up triggers. A trigger is a reminder to check in with yourself to make sure that you are on the right track. So for me, my trigger for my energy level are my hands. Every time I look down at my hands, I do an inventory of my energy level. Level. So how's my posture doing? I spend a lot of time in front of the computer and my posture has a tendency of like sloping forward, which actually makes me a lot smaller and it affects my energy. So I want to make sure I always have my posture up. How's my breathing? Am I doing shallow breaths or am I doing nice deep breaths? And lastly, am I committing all my energy into what I'm doing or am I just coasting by? And that's something I do not want. So I look at my hands every day And sometimes I look at my hands up to 50 times a day to do the 3 quick checks. So if it's a no to my posture, to my breathing, or to my energy level, I have to go and fix it, whatever it takes. Maybe I need to go sprint to the bathroom really quickly and come back at my desk and keep working, or I have to do some jumping jacks, whatever it is to get my energy up high. Now for me, my hands work because I look at my hands a lot. All day. For you, it might not work. Maybe you don't look at your hands at all, or you might not even think about it. So for you, you might want to set up an alarm every single hour to do the 3 quick checks to make sure your energy level is high. Some people use a doorframe. Every time you walk through a doorframe, you do a quick check, take an inventory of your energy level, and if it's a no, you have to go and create that energy for yourself. It doesn't matter what particular triggers you use. What matters the most is it has to be consistent, and that way you can have energy all day long.

Number 5 is be around energetic people. If you are around people who hate their life, who hate their jobs, who are complaining constantly, it's really hard to have energy, right? They are, they are literally leeches on your energy, right? They are infecting you with their negative low energy. And you know these people, you've experienced these kinds of people, you've worked with these kinds of people. People go to their job and like their shoulders are hunched over and, you know, everything is negative and it's somebody else's fault and just another crappy day in the world. Like, if you hang around those people, that's what you're going to become. And it's just really hard to keep your energy level high when everyone around you is just squeezing the energy out and they hate their lives. And so it's thinking about, okay, how can I have more positive people around me? Whether it's, you know, whether you have people on your team and you already have employees employees, and you want to attract people who have good energy. Whether you're working in a coworking space where you're having other entrepreneurs around you, whether you're watching videos of people who are energetic and inspiring and doing great things. Like, if watching Steve Jobs makes you feel energy, if watching Eric Thomas makes you feel energy, then put that on. Have an Eric Thomas break and make you come alive again, right? And so just really limiting your exposure, finding ways to not be around these negative energy-sapping people so that it allows you to focus on you having positive energy all day is really important. Number 6 is work to your needs. Having the self-awareness to figure out what it is that brings you energy, it's an ideal work environment for you. And then the good thing as an entrepreneur is we get to plan around that. If you're an employee, you may have some flexibility, but especially as an entrepreneur, we can plan around the things that give us the most energy. So for me, a couple examples. I'm an introvert, right? So I don't get my energy from other people and I need to have time for myself, right? And so I don't need to be around people all day long. In fact, if I was around people all day long giving me questions all day long, then I would lose energy. But if I'm by myself and have some time to focus and do my thing and have my routine, then that feeds my energy. And so I've designed my companies around dealing with that. That's how Evan works. In my office, it's cold. You know, I keep the thermostat outside my office at 58 degrees because that's where the thermostat is. So inside the office is another couple degrees colder. It's not cool, man. It's not freezing, man. I work better in cold weather. It's also because I'm standing up. It's also because I'm stepping as I'm working, so I'm generating some heat. And so I just work better in the cold. It keeps me more alert and awake. And so when Alex or Lily or other people come over, they often have to wear sweaters because they're sitting in the middle of summer, beautiful warm day outside, and they have sweaters on in the office. If they want to come in, they don't have to if they don't want to, but if they want to be around me, they have to experience the cold, embrace it, and enjoy it as well. I've designed it around my working environment. Another one is lighting. I need natural lighting. I love natural lighting. The incandescent, incandescent bulbs, they flicker. The flicker gives me headaches. And when I have a headache, it just saps all energy from me. So even when I took over Toronto Dance Salsa, the lights were all those, those long flickering tubes, and the first thing I had to do was replace the lights. I forget how much it cost, it was a lot, but I replaced all the lights in the studio. At my home, I have all natural light. I like working in front of a big window to get air coming in from outside, get natural sunlight coming in from outside. And so that's me. Some people are fine with those flickering bulbs, it just drives me nuts. And so Understanding what triggers you to lose energy, whether it's the people like the last point, or things in your environment, paying attention to temperature, paying attention to how much you need to eat or drink, or, you know, the environment, or maybe you need plants around you, maybe you need fragrances, or you need a flower, like whatever it is, you picture your dog, or you need your dog, whatever that is that gives you energy, if you know that that's what you need, then just plan it into your daily routine and your environment so you have that around you constantly. Me instead of trying to do something because it fits into a norm but saps your energy. And number 7 is work on important things. And this ties back into number 1 of enjoying the work, but it's slightly different because you can enjoy your work but not have it be really meaningful, where this is really like the work you're doing means something. The work that you're doing, you feel is contributing to something. I'm making these videos not because I want to see myself on camera, but because I want I want you to be impacted. I want this video to make a change in some of your lives. Like, you're gonna look at your day and your life and your schedule, and hopefully some of you make a change. And if you don't, then I failed, right? Then it doesn't work out. You wanna feel like the work you're doing has meaning. If you feel like the work you're doing is meaningful, will touch people's lives, makes a difference, then you're willing to do more. You're willing to work harder. You're gonna have more energy for it. If you feel like this is pointless, this is stupid, this is a waste of my time, And I, you know, I hate that. Like when I'm standing in line or you're sitting in traffic or I'm working on some project like, this is not, this is not a good use of my time. What happens to your energy level? It goes way down. And so as much as possible, trying to factor in, you know, looking at your schedule and saying, are the projects I'm working on actually important? And if not, how do I get myself out of them as quickly as possible? And then filling it with things that are meaningful to you. And that's not just work, it's also family activities, things you're doing outside of your business, that if you're doing the things that fill you up, then you're much more likely to have energy consistently than the things that bring you down. So thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Elber Arias asked me to. If there's a topic you'd like me to cover in a future 7 Ways video, check out the link in the description and go and cast your vote. Also, I'd love to know what do you think of this video? Which one of the 7 points really resonated the most with you? Is there an 8, 9, 10 that you want to add to the list? Share it down in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. I also wanna give a quick shout out to Cyrus Webb. Cyrus, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, leaving that great Amazon review, and taking the picture holding up the book. I really appreciate the support, man, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. So thank you again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon. Well, let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy. The most important What word ever? If you had to think of one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be like a little beacon. Hey, Believe Nation! If you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.