Michael Daly

Author, Speaker, Mentor

Tag: Relaxed

Letting Easter be a time of rest and renewal for you.

By

On 02/04/2021

In Energy

If you want to have good health and the energy to live a life of success and happiness. Then start now by letting Easter be a time of rest and renewal for you.

The following energy exercise is a great tool to help you identify the activities that not only drain your energy but more importantly give you energy. The energy you will need to draw on as a Self-leader in your own life and work so as to stay the course in pursuit of the life you want to be living, both personally and professionally. Complete the following exercise – and then work at incorporating the activities from Column 2 into your daily life. Those who are more rested, relaxed, focused and continually allow themselves to be renewed and creative will perform better than those who are not.

Exercise
List all the activities that drain energy from you and then list all of the activities that give you energy.

1. What drains my energy*
(These are some examples of what takes my energy.)

  • Cooking
  • Shopping
  • Driving
  • Cleaning the house
  • Gardening

2. What gives me energy*
(These are some examples of what gives me energy.)

  • Listening to music
  • Sailing
  • Going to the cinema
  • Reading
  • Good company
  • Travelling
  • Writing
  • Meditating

*In times of stress, fatigue and tiredness, you will discover that most of your time and energy is spent doing activities that drain your energy (Column 1), rather than doing those that give you energy (Column 2). When you find yourself in this situation, you need to shift from doing what is in Column 1 to doing more of what is in Column 2.
Now, remember what takes my energy (such as cooking) might give you energy; and what gives me energy (for instance, travelling) might just drain your energy, so this exercise is unique to each of us.

There is a real need to be relaxed and rested if you are to be at your best and allow yourself to achieve all that you now want to achieve in your life and work. Doing the activities, you listed in Column 2 will enable you as a Self-leader to have the energy to keep going and never give up in pursuit of the life you truly want to be living.

 

Image by D Enzinger.

Take time to sharpen your mind and rest your body.

By

On 13/03/2021

In creativity

You will need to stop regularly and take time to sharpen your mind and rest your body if you want to be truly creative in your life and work.

In the bogs of East Galway there was once a contest between two turf cutters. Whoever could cut the most turf in twelve hours would be the winner. With shiny, sharpened sleáns (the tool used to cut turf), the two contestants approached their designated bog areas.

From the moment the contest began, one turf cutter cut continuously. For the entire twelve hours, he never once stopped cutting turf. The other contestant cut for an hour and then stopped to rest for ten minutes. And then, like clockwork, he continued to do this for the rest of the day. At the end of the twelve hours, the number of pieces of turf that had been cut was counted to see who had cut the most. It was the man who rested every hour who won the contest by a dramatic margin.

Amazed and confused, his fellow contestant inquired about the winner’s secret. Without hesitation, the winner freely told him: “Every time I stopped to rest, I sharpened my sleán.” This meant it stayed sharp and cut the turf quicker and easier, unlike the other man’s sleán, which got blunter and blunter as the day wore on.

This is true for ourselves, too. We all need to stop regularly to take time to sharpen our mind and rest our body if we want to be truly creative in our life and work. Getting creative will empower you to move in an upward spiral of growth, change and continuous improvement. It is important to identify what works best in helping you to rest and relax, thus renewing yourself and enabling you to be creative and have the stamina to achieve the life you want to live.

A good place to start is to allocate some quality time to thinking about the life you are living and the life you want to be living and then thinking creatively about how you can bridge the gap. This is all about knowing where it is you want to bring your life and getting creative about how best to get there. It means having the courage to take time out to build up your energy and let your creative juices flow in the pursuit of the life you want to be living. One of the best ways to do this is to know what activities give you energy and what activities take your energy. Then you can see what to spend more of your time on in order to build up your energy and creativity.

If you do want to follow up on what has been written here and living a life of true and real success for you please check out my books – available from Amazon.

Image by A_Different_Perspective from Pixabay

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