(Yvonne Singer)

 Ask yourself: Are you reaching for the stars and feel like your are never quite reaching far enough, even when things are moving in the right direction? Are you having spurts of success followed by a lull in some are of your life- from work to even dating or fitness? Does a negative person or a bad even really knock you down and spoil your day?

I can say “yes” personally to every single one of those questions…until I learned (and still practice, consciously) how to conserve and replenish my personal energy…and hopefully what I have learned from breaking all of my past bad habits can help you in some way to do the same!

Things worth having are worth building: “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is your career, relationship, social life or fitness. If you are looking to have a different life you need to make LIFESTYLE changes and each one requires small steps in the right direction. Yes, its true, sometimes everything changes overnight for the better in one area or another, but that generally becomes sustainable when you have the habit of making small and stable adjustments to create a solid foundation and keep it solid in your daily life.  

Sometimes the phone needs to go to voicemail: I love my friends and family.  And, unless there is a major event happening, we can’t all be available to just chat at all hours.  Socializing is extremely important, as is quiet time!

Criticism (unless constructive) is someone else telling you their problems with themselves: There are innumerable numbers of people who have dumped such harsh judgement upon me that at one point I let it actually affect my view of who I was….because people are, sadly, jealous and angry at times and you & me become their target.  I have become a strange type of creature that uses the “You will never have ……(fill in the blank)…” speeches to fuel my fire.  Success, after all, is the best form of dealing with these naysayers. Its their problems they project upon you.  My most favorite?  The artist who gave up on their dreams telling me that my “art form” will amount to nothing. Each time those people pop up, so does more creative opportunity!

Being tired is not a pre-requisite of being successful:  I used to feel that not sleeping was a sort of badge of pride that said that was working really hard to get what I needed and wanted.  All I accumulated from that thinking was exhaustion and days of misery.  We’ll all have some long days, but exhaustion is nothing to be proud of, and nothing to aspire to in the grand scheme of things! Plus, I accomplish so much more now that I sleep, its insane what I was doing to myself!

Vacations are productive: Yep, those trips that you are putting off- even stay-cations with nothing to do at all- are super-productive!  Life is not just about work or taking care of your children or anything else that is singularly and intensely focused.  Take time both physically and emotionally away from your present life to totally detach and sink into your own energy; you will find it is the best investment you can make in your long-term endurance and creative momentum!

Do you have tricks you have learned to stop getting burned out? Have you learned your own ways to stay on track with your personal goals amidst a bustling life? Add them below! We all could use as many ideas as possible to protect and replenish our energy so we can break the cycle of boom & bust and actually, tangibly, happily grow!  xoxo Dana