There was a time when I lived on energy drinks just to get through the day. I used to feel exhausted all time. So much so that doing something as simple as refilling my water bottle felt like an enormous task. At first, I didn’t pay attention to these signs, taking them as a symptom of lack of sleep or exercise. But it wasn’t until I started noticing my daily activities that I realised this was not the case. Turns out, most of the things I did daily were behind my exhaustion. They were sapping all my energy, leaving me drained both physically and mentally.
Feeling tired every day affected my ability to manage my day-to-day activities. I often found myself yawning in meetings, short on ideas, and working extra hours because I couldn’t finish my tasks on time. My productivity had hit the rock bottom. My personal life was in shambles too as I would often wake up late, skip meals, and cancel my plans just so I could stay at home and rest.
I was a product of my daily habits, and I knew I had to change my ways before things get worse. It was time to press the reset button. But bad habits die hard, right? It took strong dedication and conviction to break the spell of bad habits. By being more mindful and regularly doing what’s necessary to boost my energy, I was able to let go of these small yet harmful habits.
If you want to know about the everyday habits that can silently drain your energy and how you can overcome them, read on.
Working in a cluttered environment
My desk used to be filled with all kinds of stuff like books, mobile, wires, and sticky notes. My room was equally bad. Clothes were scattered all over the place, books were left on the bed, and sheets were crusty. I didn’t think it mattered much until my mind began to feel cluttered as well. All the things that were out of place would pile up in my mental to-do list and leave me feeling exhausted. I felt tired and low on energy. I even read up about it. A psychologist and author of the book High-Octane Women: How Superachievers Can Avoid Burnout, Sherrie Bourg Carter told Psychology Today that “clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.”
That’s when I decided to bring this change into my life. I started cleaning my desk in the morning and keeping things organised. It didn’t take long or too much effort either. Ironically, I felt more relaxed after decluttering my space. As I cleared the clutter from my life, I felt renewed and energised, which also helped me feel better for the rest of the day.
Opening up too many tabs
I, like many others, keep multiple tabs open on my browser. Needless to say, it makes the job difficult. You can’t focus on your work. And when you want some information, you have to switch back and forth constantly between tabs. This steals away both your attention and energy. Rana Mafee, a neurologist at Case Integrative Health told HuffPost that, “Bouncing from tab to tab gives your ego the misconception you’re getting an incredible amount of work done. In reality, you’re not fully processing anything you’re trying to efficiently consume.”
I used to do this all the time while doing my work. But it didn’t do me any good. In fact, after a while, I felt mentally exhausted just by the look of so many tabs. So, I decided to follow this age-old advice—do one thing at a time. I would close the tabs I wasn’t using and focus solely on the ones that I needed at that time. This one little change helped me preserve my energy, and feel more relaxed.
Worrying about the things that are beyond your control
I have wasted a lot of time worrying about what will people think if I do this or that. It didn’t do me any good. You think about something over and over until you’re trapped in the loop of overthinking. It does nothing but drains you emotionally. The truth is—which I learned the hard way—one can never know what the other person is thinking. Instead of worrying whether or not someone will like you or respect you, you can just focus on improving yourself. That’s how we grow in life. Don’t sweat over what others think of you. It’s beyond your control anyway.
Working in a cluttered environment, opening too many tabs on the browser, worrying about things beyond their control, staying glued to screens, skipping exercises, and letting small tasks pile up.
You boost your energy by decluttering your workspace and keeping things organized, focusing on one task at a time, letting go of things beyond your control, taking breaks from screens and prioritizing rest and creating to-do lists to stay organized and avoid procrastination.
By taking proactive steps to change habits, prioritizing rest, exercising regularly, and staying organized with to-do lists.
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