Slow down and invest in your life capital
What will you do today to recharge and increase your life capital?
In this fast-changing and demanding world, we are constantly on the go and making things happen, completing tasks, talking and sharing ideas; we are even thinking and planning in our sleep. We are carrying out daily activities that consume our brain power, our physical strength and perhaps our emotional energy too, as well as our precious and limited time. Depending on where we spend most of our time and with whom, others’ behaviours may have certain influences on our self-efficacy, positivity and the levels of compassion and hope in our life.
It is important to know what situations are under our control and which are not as we are more effective when focusing on what we can change than wasting energy on what we cannot.
For instance, we cannot increase the number of hours in a day, but we can experience time with a different perspective and attitude (i.e. ‘Time is abundant and I have plenty of time to enjoy my daily activities’, versus, ‘I do not have enough time to do what I should complete today’). Furthermore, instead of managing time, we can manage our energy and spend it on what matters to us, aligning our boundaries with our values and letting go what is beyond our control.
We might not be able to change the organisational culture and the people we work with overnight, but we can certainly ground ourselves and stay bravely true to who we are, so that we can work out a state of balance that maintains our inner peace. Let us be the change that we want to see at work.
We may not always happily accept the responsibilities that come with our commitments, but we can choose to be aware of our thoughts and feelings, refocusing on our values and transforming ourselves to attain the more positive outcome that we wish for.
We have the choice and the authority to balance our each day with activities that recharge, nurture and inspire us.
Below is a step-by-step guide for your exploration in order to invest in your life capital:
(1) list the activities that you do in your typical day or weekend (with the estimated time per activity);
(2) evaluate the listed activities in terms of whether they are depleting (-) or recharging (+) activities. Sometimes an activity could be both depleting and recharging, so explore a bit more on what makes it depleting to you and how it may be recharging for you;
(3) if there is a recharging (+) activity that you would like to have it in your list, what would it be? What would you need to do to have it actually take place every day?
(4) what are the depleting (-) activities that you could let go of? If it is difficult to choose, consider the followings:
how you may turn it into a recharging (+) activity,
if you could delegate or outsource it to someone, or
whether you might revisit what is important in your life now in terms of your beliefs and values, as well as your reasons for holding onto the specific depleting (-) activity (what does it really bring you that you don't want to let go?).
You are the person who knows what recharges you most effectively and when. Take this moment to breathe in deeply and invest in yourself by undertaking a recharging activity for the next 5 minutes. Go on!