It seems as if at the end of each day, your to-do list only grows bigger and the only thing that ever gets ticked off is you. No matter who you are, life is about dealing with storms. According to Dr. Jack Groppel, vice-president of the Human Performance Institute and author of The Corporate Athlete, people will respond to any storm based upon their training. Says Groppel, “Everyone has a story. Your story dictates how you respond to tough situations.”

A Human Energy Crisis Is Affecting Engagement

Often, people will respond negatively to storms that don’t even exist – by worrying about things that never actually happen. This is known colloquially as sweating the small stuff. Or workers will complain about poor managers, insensitive bosses, poor working conditions and insufficient recognition, but they don’t do anything about the situation. “We’ve got to take ownership in what is going on in our lives,” says Groppel.

What’s holding us back? An energy crisis.

Millions of people in the workforce are there in body only. According to Groppel, they are disengaged because of insufficient energy capacity and poor energy management skills.

“The brain needs air and glucose to work. No air and you’re dead. No glucose and the brain can’t process,” he says. Yet, millions of people skip breakfast and try to energize themselves with too much coffee, which makes them jittery but hardly energetic.

And, he warns, if people don’t concentrate on balancing their lives with activities that promote recovery, they’ll be stuck on a treadmill forever. “If you have no recovery in your life, you have no growth.”

The Four Steps on the Road to Recovery

Recovery can be as simple as taking a break from work, talking to your child on the phone about what he or she has done that day or taking a brisk walk. People need to look at how they take care of their bodies, minds, emotions and spiritual needs and realize that it’s never too late to make life-enhancing improvements. Here are the four steps to recovery:

1. Get physical. Physical inactivity leads to low energy, reduced work performance, high blood pressure, diabetes and coronary artery disease. The healthier you are physically, the more engaged you’ll be.

2. Handle your emotions. Taking care of your emotions means working on staying optimistic, building your confidence and controlling your anger.

3. Strengthen yourself mentally. People need to be able to focus, prepare themselves for challenging situations, stay positive and visualize what they want to achieve.

4. Address your spiritual needs. Spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean finding religion. It also refers to building team spirit, integrity, respect for others and looking beyond one’s self-interests. “We need to expand our capacities and go beyond our limits – outside our comfort zones. It brings recovery.”

Conclusion

While energy recovery is achievable, don’t expect results overnight. According to Groppel, people are creatures of habit and it takes considerable effort to develop new rituals, such as learning to exercise regularly, or eating smaller amounts of healthy foods more often. But with determined effort for 30-60 days, new rituals will become healthy habits that are undertaken automatically. “When you build rituals that are in the service of your mission you will be able to rewrite your story.”

To assess your own level of engagement visit www.energyforperformance.com and click on assessment tools and again on free self profile.

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