The Four Pillars to Successfully Managing Your Energy

In order to continue growth and forward movement toward your best life and managing your energy, it is important to put into place four pillars that will support your success. The four S’s create what you need to make it easy to do what you want to do and focus on doing vs. wanting.

SMART Goals

Research is clear that our likelihood of being successful in attaining our goals is closely linked to whether or not we have SMART goals.

How do you know if your goal is SMART?  So… What makes them SMART?

S- SPECIFIC

In order to achieve a goal, it must be clear and well defined. Looking at the end of the journey, and being as detailed as possible will help to specify your goal. Vague goals lack direction and can't be measured.

M-Measurable

Being precise in the details of our goal including dates, times, frequency, quantity, etc. allows us to follow our progress and know when we have achieved our goal. This detail allows us to chart and celebrate our achievements along the way and motivates our actions.

A-Actionable

An action-oriented goal begins with a verb that directs us as to what we will do. It is essential that the language is present tense. 

R-Realistic

By setting challenging yet realistic goals you will ensure building your self-confidence while working towards your goal and personal fulfillment upon reaching your goal. In order for it to really be achieved, it must be linked to a timeframe. 

T-Time Bound

In order to increase urgency and increase your rate of achievement, your goals must be time sensitive. Working towards a deadline will ensure you reach your goals quickly.  Time bound goals are more specific, measurable, realistic, and push you to action. 

SMART goals may be more challenging to write, but they are much easier to attain.

If you want to achieve your goals you must clearly state actions that are realistic.

Structure

Once you have a clear vision of your best life and have set SMART goals, creating an environment conducive to success is key. The structures you set in place for your environment will make it easy to do what you want to do. 

Some environmental suggestions may be as simple as:

• Having your kitchen full of the healthy foods you’d like to eat.
• Having containers you like to use for fresh water at your desk, next to your bed, in your car, etc.
• Having linens you love on your bed and proper lighting, blinds or colors in your bedroom.

Systems

Now that you have the structures in place it is important to set yourself up for success by placing things you need in your path.  Having no system is a really inefficient system! 

Prepare in advance for each day, week, month or trip. Allow yourself to cruise on auto-pilot by having things ideally placed and ready to grab.

A few items you could have in our path might include:

• Packing your workout clothes in your car for after work the night before.
• Organize your desk for the next day before you leave your office at night.
• Pre-plan and prep and pack your healthy meals so you can grab-and-go.

Schedule

Now that you have a great structure for yourself and systems to make it easy to do what you want to do, you need to plan ahead and actually schedule your best life.  It is easy to schedule work or family obligations, but to schedule time for you and time to do your prep work is essential! 

Things we need to prioritize on our schedule and often forget:

• Cleaning the house, doing laundry, grocery shopping, food prep, etc.
• Time for prayer, meditation, self-hypnosis,listening to music, taking a walk, etc
• Journaling, goal setting, list making, scheduling our day, week, month, trips, etc.

Once you have written your SMART Goals, taking time to create an environment full of structure, systems in your home and office, and scheduling or work and play are some of the easiest things we can do and they will provide some of the most profound effects on your success in learning to manage your own energy!