How to upgrade your three E’s

At the core of what most people want is to live extraordinary lives, see what’s possible, reach our goals, have more fun, enjoy our lives more, says podcast fave Tonya Leigh. She also suggested that in order to do that there are three areas of our lives we ought to focus on upgrading:

Education – exposing yourself to new ideas, new possibilities. You don’t know what you don’t know. The most successful people in businesses make learning a priority. If you want to grow your business, your life, your relationships, as a human being, you need to grow your mind. To be an effective coach, or leader, or teacher, we need to constantly learn. There are many ways to achieve this, its not all about formal education with certifications at the end of a three-year course. There are books, movies, organisations, podcasts, so many different ways to expose yourself to learning. This may mean learning new tools and skills, learning new ways of thinking or perspective. Ask yourself where are you being challenged at this moment? What are you curious about? Curiosity is there for a reason. Follow your curiosity. Your education is something that no one can ever take away. It is an investment for your future that can change the trajectory of your life.

Environment – looking at how your inner world and outer world compliment each other and when one grows, so does the other. It includes the people you spend time with, the condition of your home, the clothes you wear, the foods you eat, the quality of your water and the air you breathe, the quality of the materials you consume. All of that impacts on how you think, feel and show up. With tools to help you manage your mindset you can be in challenging environments and still manage how you think and feel. But if you had the choice to be in an environment where you could grow and bloom, why would you put yourself in an environment where you are constantly struggling. You might need to stop being around certain people, or change your diet, exercise more, start consuming materials that inspire, excite and educate you. Think about your environment and how it impacts you.

Energy – emotional and physical energy. How you feel is a vibration that is emitted from your body and we can sense energy from people. We can tell if people are anxious or uptight, motivated or happy, when we are around them because we can sense their vibration. The physical energy is the energy in your body which allows you to move. Anything you can do to upgrade these energies is going to have a massive impact on your life. Like attracts like. When you show up in a higher state of energy, you will be able to attract things you couldn’t have done in a lower state of energy. When it comes to emotional energy mindset work and meditation can help. How we think impacts how we feel. Starting the day full of appreciation sets the scene for the day. Paying attention to physical energy and whether you need to get up and move about to help you manage your mind. The more we can create physical energy the easier it is to create emotional energy. Maybe it starts with drinking an extra glass of water a day, or going for a walk, practice gratitude journaling.

You’ll all know by now that I am always wanting to learn. Not necessarily new stuff, but enhance what I already know. I would rather read a non-fiction book to a fiction novel. I want to be able to learn something from what I’ve read that I could put into practice. Obviously I’m listening to podcasts to help educate me and grow my mind.

I spent last year considering more about what I eat and introducing fruit into my diet, something I would never have bothered about before. I’m eating an average of three different fruits most days and can feel the benefits of not eating so much chocolate, crisps and less healthy stuff, although put an apple and a bag of crisps in front of me and I’m sure I’d take the crisps first! I am upgrading my wardrobe, trying to add some style and femininity into it and in turn making myself feel better through the clothes I wear. I’m thinking more about what makes me feel good rather than opting for the grungy stuff all the time. My home is still a work in progress because I’m not the only one that has control over it. There are pockets that I’ve improved, buy fresh flowers every two weeks and keep “my” surfaces as clutter free as I can.

I have a much better handle of my emotional energy. I have become more resilient over the last couple of years and shifted my mindset from trying to please everyone else, to taking ownership and control over my own thoughts, feelings and responses. I’m less great at the physical side of things as I’m still fundamentally lazy. I do go for walks most days, but other than that and #bellringing, I don’t do any other form of exercise.

How do you upgrade your three E’s?

Feeling the energy in the room

Had a meeting on Friday night which was so good, I felt really positive afterwards and energised into action. It finished quite late, so apart from updating the action log, I left the rest of the usual post meeting admin until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, I was so focused, I updated various other documents that needed sharing after the meeting and sent them and the action log round to the group members to review and feed back on. Then I filtered all my actions out and cracked on with a number of them. I had to forward other information to individual members of the group, so had to look a few things up, contact a few people and send messages out. I kind of really enjoyed it. Then of course there’s the satisfaction of closing off some of my actions.

The other thing I needed to do was play with a website plug in that will allow us to run photo competition in the coming months. It will allow people to upload their photos, for them to be moderated, then put into a gallery that then anyone can have access to if they need a photo of churches or bells or bellringing. Can’t wait to finalise the details and launch it.

Have got a couple of other things to get sorted this weekend and a few more details emails, and an old-fashioned letter, to knock out. This will mean that I’ll be able to tick quite a few items off of my To Do list.

Had a virtual #bellringing session on Saturday afternoon, then have another meeting on Sunday night, then another meeting and virtual #bellringing session on Monday morning. This is just as much activity as would ordinarily happen this Bank Holiday weekend as if we were able to go out to towers and ring with other people.

The coming week is going to be an epic adventure. As well as the day job, there is something every evening of the week, and at least 2 different things, if not 3, on the Saturday and Sunday. Some of it overlaps so I’m going to have to manage that somehow, but I’m sure it will all work out.

For this evening though, we’re going to kick back and have a takeaway instead of cooking dinner. Might even have a beer to go with it.

Done nothing all day, so why do I feel so tired?

I have literally done nothing today. I feel so lazy.

Its Bank Holiday, so I’m not at work. We had a bit of a lay in, I didn’t get up until 8am. After showering and getting dressed, I plonked myself down on the sofa and played a game on my tablet. C was helping on a Stedman #bellringing theory session, using my Zoom account I might add, but I wasn’t needed for that. I took half an hour to make my breakfasts and lunches for the rest of the working week ahead. Then sat down again and played some more game.

After he’d finished his theory session, we decided to go into town to get some lunch. The sun was shining but it was very chilly. We walked up to the High Street and back which took us about 20 minutes. I ate my sandwich, then sat on the sofa playing more of my game again. He then went to do some work in the study, and I had a sneaky 10 minute nap, before C made our afternoon cup of tea. He had his whilst working in the study, I had mine whilst playing games on my tablet.

C went down to make dinner. I sat on the sofa watching TV now that its early evening, but essentially doing nothing. And I feel exhausted. I napped before bedtime, went straight to sleep until the alarm the next day.

According to https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-you-are-tired#10.-High-Stress-Levels there are multiple reasons why that might be:

Consuming too many refined carbs. Whilst giving a quick boost of energy, these baddies tend to rise and fall quickly, quick energy boost, followed by another slump;
Being sedentary. Inactivity is as bad as too active. Exercise can reduce fatigue so walking, gentle exercise is better than none;
Not getting enough of the right sort of sleep. I’m not sure this one is me. I sleep for Britain. After a good quality night’s sleep your supposed to wake up feeling energised and ready to go. Can’t say that’s ever happened to me though;
Food sensitivities. If you have intolerances like rashes or digestive problems it might be a sign that something you’ve eaten doesn’t agree with you.
Not eating enough calories. I definitely don’t think this one applies to me. They might not be the right sort of calories, but I definitely get my quota in;
Sleeping at the wrong time. Now, I can sleep whenever, wherever. If I’m not doing anything I fall asleep, if I’m bored I fall asleep. Maybe I sleep too much!
Not enough protein. Protein boosts your metabolic rate and can aid weight loss and prevent tiredness;
Not drinking enough water. I drink about 1.5 litres per day easily. That’s in addition to coffee or anything else.
Relying on energy drinks. This is not me. Don’t like them, they taste too sweet.
High stress levels. I don’t think I’m particularly stressed. Sometimes more than others, sure, but generally I’m quite good at dealing with it. Mostly I sleep it off, if I’m asleep it can’t worry me!

I’m exhausted just thinkng about it!