Being an entrepreneur is a journey that challenges your mental, physical, emotional, relationship and financial health. Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster of unpredictability, insecurity, patience, persistence, and risk that can take a toll on our energy emotionally, physically and mentally. It requires us to be agile, flexible, resilient, and conscious of self care to support our stamina. As entrepreneurs we need to focus on our health and our energy so we can have the peak performance required of us on a daily basis and long term.

How Entrepreneurs can Improve their Energy

So you signed up to be an entrepreneur excited and ecstatic to be your own boss and make your footprint in the world, but you did not realize the amount of energy it would require. You knew it would be a challenge and require a lot from you, but now that you are in it, you realize there are some days your energy is being taxed to the point of draining your performance. It leaves you slowing down or missing the ball on some important aspects of your business so you are searching for ways to improve your energy as an entrepreneur.

Increasing your energy and performance is multi faceted and therefore requires you to assess multiple areas. In addition, your energy drain could be stemming from a variety of reasons which you will need to discover through self awareness, monitoring, and a detailed assessment.

Your energy is affected by a number of different areas that extend far beyond just the physical demands of your day. In fact, your emotions, the environment, your thoughts and your physical health all play a role in elevating your energy so you can perform at your peak.

Now as an entrepreneur or business owner, it is quite common that we are trying to do it all and especially if you are just starting out or at the growth stage where you cannot quite afford support in running your business. The E-myth is a great book about the mindset of entrepreneurs and how we cannot be the technician, which is the person trying to do the business, and drive the business at the same time if we want to grow it. Instead we need to hire help, delegate, and lead.

Let’s take an honest look and evaluation at what is affecting your low energy, the areas of energy you will want to assess, and the ways you can improve your energy!

Energy Drain Causes for Entrepreneurs

Here is a simple check list to begin your personal assessment of what may be depleting your energy as an entrepreneur while you are running your business.

This is a self evaluation to bring awareness as to the causes for your energy drain in your day to day business operations.

Do you have too much on your ‘to do’ list that is physically not possible?
Are you being interrupted with multiple priorities throughout the day?
Do you not have enough staff and are you trying to do it all?
Is your work physically, emotionally, or mentally draining?
Are you in the middle of a launch or project with challenging deadlines?
Is your business in a growth stage that is busting at the seems?
Is your personality a ‘I will do it myself’ or ‘Not ready to let go’ or ‘Perfectionist’?
Have you been under a long period of high stress whether in your business or personal?
Are the days too long and/or no down time taken regularly?
Do you have financial and or emotional stress daily?
Is there a health concern or condition impacting your energy?
What is your attention and habits for self care and your health?
Is there something in your daily environment causing you stress?
What are the thoughts you experience daily?

Take time to review and answer the above energy evaluation of what may be impacting your energy as an entrepreneur. This is the first step to bring awareness to the cause or problem impacting your energy. When you know the cause, you can begin on the solution!

4 Peak Energy Sources that affect our Performance

There are four main energy sources that we can both gain energy from and lose energy with too. The four energy sources you will want to assess for yourself and your day to day business as an entrepreneur include the following:

Physical Energy: This includes everything to do with your body such as exercise, nutrition, health, hormones, pain, and impacts on the body.
Emotional Energy: What is your emotional health? What emotions do you experience daily? How much stress do you have and do you express or have an outlet for your emotions? Do you let yourself feel?
Mind Energy: This also equates to your thoughts or mindset on a daily basis. What are the persistent or daily thoughts you have? What are the beliefs that drive your day, habits, actions, and create barriers for you? Yes, Mind Energy also includes mindfulness, manifestation or as business owners call it vision, and visualization. This is a science and includes neuroscience so if it feels far fetched you, know it is grounded in neuroscience!
Environment/Setting or Surroundings Energy: We are very much impacted by our environment and this includes our working environment, our home environment, relationships, impacts of our setting our surroundings, and the impacts of interacting with others and technology. Are there things in your environment affecting your energy?

Now take a look at each of these categories and examine where you feel is negatively affecting your energy the most and where you would like to focus to improve your energy.

Ways to Improve Your Energy

Entrepreneurs can improve their energy by assessing, self managing, and implementing their peak energy performance plan. This is a very personalized approach and requires personal accountability.

First off, start with an honest reflection and assessment of the route cause as to what may be impacting your energy. This may require a day in review, a list of activities you do in your day or the big picture of everything you have on your plate as well as your personality.

Once you know the cause, manage the root problem with solutions that will support your peak energy!

Second, target a specific energy source that you have determined to be the main drain on your energy. Which energy source will you focus on: physical energy, mind/thought energy, emotional energy, or your environment energy?

All these energy sources are interconnected so yes you can combine them at the same time, but make sure when it comes to focusing your energy to improve it, that you have one main area.

Finally create your Peak Energy Performance plan with some of the following action steps to increase your energy:

Delegate, Hire, Focus efforts on Strengths
Limit ‘to do’ list to 1 main priority and 1-2 smaller tasks
Recharge with health breaks throughout the day or focus on Health
Time block your day with only one focus in each time block
Emotional health supports, emotional agility, emotional intelligence
Mindfulness practice, be intentional with thoughts, Visualization
Assess the stressors in environment and manage environmental stress
Have daily physical health and energizing habits to support stamina, mood, and emotions
Develop a personalized Peak Energy Performance plan with everything you need to be at your best, feel great, and succeed!

There you have a brief overview of how you can improve your energy, what our sources of energy are that both impact us and can be improved as well as how to assess what may be draining your energy!

Energy is personal and therefore needs to be personalized to your specific needs, who you are, and what your day demands of you! Peak Energy Performance (PEP) can support you in increasing your energy and performing at your peak as an entrepreneur. If you would like more details on PEP or how to receive coaching to increase your energy and performance, contact Jody at [email protected].

Connect with me on Social