Monday Motivation - Maximize Your Energy

Welcome to Monday Motivation – Maximize Your Energy

 

Have you heard it said that “Time is your most valuable asset?” I won’t argue that maximizing your time on this Earth is critical, but I wouldn’t say that time is the most valuable. You have all the time in the world, but if you don’t have the energy to write, if you are physically, emotionally, and creatively depleted, you’ll show up to the desk with nothing to give.  

 

As we come into the holiday season, I want to share a framework of how you can maximize your writing energy. Self-care, when there are parties, family obligations, and work, is so critically important. In your self-care toolkit, balancing your energy is one of the most powerful tools. 

 

What do I mean by balancing your energy? First, let’s define energy as usable power. It is the vitality and resources you bring to writing. We use and replenish energy. An easy example is sleep. You wake up in the morning (hopefully) feeling awake and full of physical energy, and then by the end of the day, you are tired and need to replenish that energy bucket. There is a constant flow of energy. We use energy, and then we need to add that energy back. 

 

When you are writing, I believe there are five energy centers: physical energy, emotional energy, creative energy, intellectual energy, and spiritual energy. Let’s unpack this a little bit more.

 

Physical Energy is the backbone of your energy buckets. Without physical energy, you can’t do your work, because you are not awake enough to focus and feel as if you need to nap or rest. When you are low on physical energy, you feel slugging and tired. When you are filled with physical energy you feel alive, vital, and full of excitement. 

Emotional Energy is the balance between positive and negative feelings in relation to your work. Positive emotional energy powers your work. You feel as if your writing has purpose and meaning, whereas negative emotional energy leaves you feeling as if you either cannot complete your work or if you do, it won’t be important. 

Creative Energy is the source you draw upon to power your imaginary worlds. When you are full of creative energy, you find creative inspiration in your life. You are full of ideas. The universe speaks to you with story direction. 

Intellectual Energy is used to focus and do the “thinking work” of writing, such as ironing out character details, heavy research, or intense plotting. The brain-intensive work of writing. 

Spiritual Energy is the belief that your work fits within a broader tapestry of art. When you are filled with spiritual energy, you see yourself as a vessel for art. While Emotional Energy is cultivated within the self, Spiritual Energy exists outside of the self.

 

We use all five of these energy buckets when we write, and yet we don’t always intentionally fill them up. What happens? When one of these buckets is empty, we get to the page and feel exhausted and we need to fill it up.

 

The motivation this week is to take care of yourself by taking care of your energy. I’ve built a tool to help with this. I call it an energy audit—side note, if you can think of a better name, please send it across—but the audit is a way to evaluate your current energy level, and identify ways to fill your energy buckets when they get low. The audit has a key question to ask to query your energy level—such as with your physical energy, “Am I physically and mentally alert when I sit down to do my work?” a scoring on how much energy you have, how it feels, and a place to brainstorm ways to fill up each energy bucket when it gets low.

 

But, even if you don’t download the energy audit, focus on keeping those energy stores balanced. If you are feeling physically drained and you don’t ha

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