If you’ve seen my previous videos and follow me on instagram you probably know that I like to work a lot. Some would even say that I’m classified as ‘high performer’. If i’m not eating or working out I work almost every waking hour. I know this sounds extreme, so let’s not forget that I actually enjoy my work.
But as you can imagine this proactive lifestyle requires quite a bit of energy and I know some of you that are watching are already getting tired by thinking about this.
So I would like to explain 5 things I do to keep my energy levels high and how you can increase your energy levels aswel.
1. Diet
When I look back and think about the time when my puberty started, I have a very clear memory of when my energy levels dropped drastically. I used to play soccer and in summer we used to have a big soccer break. I remember in this particular summer I pretty much ate whatever I wanted and I wasn’t very active. But as soon as soccer training started again, I would face the consequences of my summer lifestyle.
And this was a very shocking moment for me, as this was the first time my summer looked like this. And the results were very, very noticable.
Of course back then I didn’t know my diet was the problem, but as you can imagine my performance on the soccer field dropped like crazy.
My energy levels have never been that low, and I could only play for a short period of time because I was exhausted really fast. Finally when I started working out in the gym and changed my diet when I was around 18 years old. I experienced an increase in my energy levels again.
And even from 18 years old to where I am now a lot has changed.
I want to share my own experience and suggest you simply try whatever works best for you and you feel comfortable with.
2. Exercise
This one might be the most important one when it comes to increasing your energy levels. If I don’t exercise for a week I immediately notice my energy levels are dropping. And this might sound counterintuitive, because when you’re working out you are using energy. So you’d think that it would take away from your energy.
However, the opposite is true. Exercising actually boosts your energy levels, or at least gives the feeling of being energized.
My own story is a perfect example. In the year that my energy levels dropped I also lacked quite a bit of exercise and movement. A year later I even quit soccer and from that moment, my energy levels dropped even more.
When I started training, together with improving my diet, my energy levels were rising dramatically. The reason for this is because of the dopamines and endorphins that are released after your workout. These will give you the feeling that you’re energized, and that’s what it’s all about. Because often when you’re feeling tired, your body is not actually tired but it’s you that are feeling tired because you think that way.
And this brings us to the next point.
3. Sleep
Maybe it just sounded like I said sleep isn’t important, but that’s definitely not the case. I was only talking about the hours, which is often looked at.
But there’s something far more important, which is the quality of your sleep. As a lot of you probably know already you sleep in cycles. Where in every cycle you reach a different state, which is necessary for you to rest. You can sleep a total amount of 8 hours, but not complete a single cycle and feel terrible. Or you can sleep a total amount of 6 hours of high quality sleep and feel energized.
Personally I’ve never had trouble sleeping and most of the time I’m gone within a couple minutes.
The reason for this is probably because pretty much my whole life I’ve had a pretty solid sleep schedule. I go to bed around the same time and wake up around the same time. Your sleep schedule has a big impact on the quality of your sleep.
Going to bed at the same time every day and waking up at the same time everyday will help your body going into sleep mode faster and waking up naturally. If you do this for a longer period of time, after a while you’ll notice that you don’t need an alarm clock anymore. Which is also a big benefit, because your alarm clock can wake you up from a deep sleep and if this happens; that’s when you wake up feeling like a zombie.
So make sure you create a sleeping schedule for yourself, stop using an alarm clock after a while and also don’t use any screens before you go to bed.
These things will without a doubt improve your sleep a lot so you can wake up feeling ready to take on the world.
This next point to improve your energy levels is something that I personally use to go from feeling tired to feeling energized real quick.
4. Breathing
Believe it or not but breathing can change your state within minutes. And it’s not only about the fast transformation, but breathing exercises and meditations will also change the way you breathe as a default.
Long deep breaths as a default do not only increase your energy, but it will change the way you feel overall. You will feel a lot less anxious and stressed, so it’s definitely something you want to look into.
You can train your breathing by doing meditations and breathing exercises to become more aware of your breathing. That way when you are feeling tired you will remind yourself that you need to breathe.
5. Doing something that i like
If you’re doing something that you don’t like, and you probably recognize this, it’s very hard to feel motivated and energized. But this can also be a dangerous tip.
If you’re only going to do what you like and only do things that are within your comfort zone, you won’t grow. So by saying only do things you like, I don’t mean only do things that give you instant gratification. Because if you would do only that, you’d probably end up watching Netflix and eating chips all day.
What I mean by doing things you like is doing something that gives you purpose.
Something that tributes towards your own goals and your why. So make sure you find out what your purpose is and have a list of goals. This will make you wake up every morning with a reason to be energized and feeling excited to start your day.
Now for those who are currently stuck in a job they don’t like, I know it’s not realistic to just quit. So for those people I want to give a quick tip that I personally used when I worked at a place that didn’t give me purpose. What I did, and this may sound weird, I set goals for myself within that job. Really try and do your job the best you can. This will give you a feeling of purpose and satisfaction, even if your work isn’t that important.
The worst thing you can do is think about how your job sucks while you’re doing that job, in no way this will make you feel energized and it will only make you feel worse.
So thats it guys, 5 ways to drastically improve your energy levels throughout the day. Make these 5 methods daily habits and you will feel a really big difference throughout your day.
