How To Re-energize Yourself

How To Re-energize Yourself

By Michael Crom, Executive Vice President, Dale Carnegie Training

After years of working you may feel exhausted and losing focus. While some people try to deny it, professional life is always great. It has good times and bad. There are times when your energy is high and times it is low. Sometimes you can maintain enthusiasm for years and sometimes you’ll be casual about work for weeks on end. Some business executives are able to hide these peaks and valleys by delegating work to their staff or doing “busy work” for a few weeks or even years. As a manager or owner of a small business, however, your enthusiasm becomes the direction for the business.

With that thought as a basis, look for ways to regain your enthusiasm for your work:

1. Connect with other managers.You need some perspective. Take courses on leadership for example. Get involved in associations relevant to your field. Surround yourself with other managers. You’ll quickly see that your concerns aren’t unique. You’ll also gain insight into how others overcome these drops in enthusiasm.

2. Take an accounting of your business life.Have you gotten away from the areas you love and started doing things simply because you can do them? An editor of a magazine, for example, could do the job competently and enjoyed its prestige. However, he was miserable because he truly loved writing. After a few years of low energy, he finally quit to try his hand at writing for television. Although this move could include hardships, it will give him a lot of joy.   Find what makes you happy and pursue that. You’ll suddenly find that you have a great deal of energy and enthusiasm again.

3. Discover your legacy.Some lose their enthusiasm because they can’t see where they are going. Reconsider your vision and mission then write new ones that reflect your new mindset. Make them as specific as possible then visualize yourself reaching that goal. Feel the happiness and enthusiasm you’ll have when you get there and capture that energy for the trip! 

4. Set concrete short-term goals.Sometimes people are just over-worked and need time to relax and recover. Others may have personal problems. Solving them may be the answer to how to be able to focus again.

Whatever the reason, the only way to survive through this time is to set specific goals for each day, each week and each month. Some people even set goals for each hour. If you are positive you are on the right track with your life, this will help you get there.

(c) Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. 2001.  All Rights Reserved.