The Actual Reason Your Growth Has Stalled

As the Saying Goes…

Have you ever heard the saying, “what got you here won’t get you to the next level”?

This rings true for any type of growth (professional, personal, physical, emotional, financial) because as you evolve, so does your list of tasks, obstacles, and responsibilities.

It’s actually a good thing that your problems get bigger and more complex because that’s a sure-fire sign that you are growing into the fullest version of yourself.

Your growth will come to a grinding halt, however, if you don’t optimize yourself to meet the increasing types of challenges that you find on your path to success. And one of the most overlooked ways to maximize yourself is to amplify the effectiveness of your time and energy.

As you grow and experience new levels of success, how you utilize your focus and energy (which are finite resources) becomes exponentially more critical to your progress.

When you are the lifeblood of your business, your success literally depends on your ability to maximize yourself and your time, so use this powerful tip to ensure you continue to rise to the occasion as you experience higher levels of growth and achievement.

 

Energy and Focus

In a world obsessed with the latest tools and tactics, it’s tempting to overlook the vital roles that energy and focus play in your overall success.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how advanced or ambitious your systems and plans are if you, the person responsible for orchestrating and executing these things, are showing up stressed and scattered.

If you don’t have the protocols in place to optimize your time and energy, then you are directly diminishing your ability to effectively perform your duties with clarity, drive, and confidence.

When you aren’t showing up as your most powerful and productive self, you are doing a disservice to your business while making it harder to create new levels of growth and success.

 

Energy Audit

If you want to ensure that you are showing up every day with the energy and focus needed to keep pushing things forward, you have got to be intentional with how you spend your time.

Generating elite levels of productivity does not happen by accident, and you first need to get crystal clear on where your energy is going and where it is coming from.

A simple yet profoundly effective exercise I have all of my clients perform is an energy audit.

To do this, I have them take a piece of paper and draw a line right down the middle.

On the right side, I have them list out all of the things that increase their energy, mood, and clarity. Whether it is people, places, foods, books, activities, exercises, or rituals, I have them list everything they did in the past week that left them feeling good and energized.

Then on the left side, I have them list out of all the things from the past week that drained their energy.

Whether it is mindlessly scrolling through social media, comparing themselves to others, eating certain foods, watching certain programs, or interacting with particular people, I have them list out all of the things that took up time without contributing anything of value to their lives.

I also have them estimate how many minutes they spent on each of those draining activities.

 

Rearrange the Game

Once you review the things you are doing on a weekly basis that add energy and focus to your life, it’s time to create more time to spend intentionally doing the things that add to your growth.

But you’re extremely busy and are stretched thin as it is, so where is that time to go to come from?

Good question!

You’ll recall in the exercise that I have my clients determine how much time they spend each week doing the things that drain them. This is done intentionally.

Taking minutes away from the things that steal your energy is where you are going to find your new time to invest further in the things that light you up and increase your drive and focus.

This is a momentous win-win for you and your growth because you’ll not only be cutting down on the things that drain your precious time and energy, but you’ll be doubling down on the things that increase your clarity and drive!

Making the transition of spending less time doing the things that zap your energy and replacing that time with things that increase your positivity will allow you to show up powerfully each day to take action on moving yourself forward.

 

What’s the Catch?

Now, there is one thing I want you to be wary of when doing this exercise and making these big changes to your schedule.

The things that drain you may put up a fight when you try to cut back on them. A lot of the things we do that don’t add any value to your life tend to be automated and habitual.

They tend to be temptingly easy and distracting, so your brain is going to be reluctant at first to get rid of these activities.

If this happens, don’t freak out and assume you have no willpower.

Simply remind yourself what these draining activities are actually costing you.

Vividly picture all of the growth (personal and financial), productivity, and clarity you are sacrificing by continuing to give your time and attention to these negative things, and that will make it abundantly clear to your brain why you are implementing these changes.

Perform these energy audits each week and consistently refine how you spend your time to continually increase the amount of energy and focus you have as you continue to grow and reach new levels of success.