How to counter low energy feelings and lack of motivation.

 

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Waking up in the morning feeling exhausted and don’t have the energy or motivation to just wake up and start the day, Does that sound like yourself then this blog will be very helpful for you, keep reading.

The first step in solving any problem is diagnostic – understanding the problem and its root cause after that treatment begins.

In this blog, we will understand the reasons for the lack of energy and motivation, how it comes about, and methods to counter it.

Reasons for lack of energy and motivation?

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There are fundamentally two reasons for lack of energy and motivation. First is physical and the second is psychological.

Let’s try to understand it one by one.

1 ) PHYSICAL REASONS

Our body is a very smart machine it reduces energy levels in the body if there is something high demanding activity going on inside our body.

  • For example, if you are eating high fat and junk foods it obviously makes you lethargic and unmotivated to work because all the energy is being used in the digestion of food.
  • Illness may be the reason for the lack of energy in the body since our immune system is using most of our energy in fighting bacteria and viruses.
  • Dehydration and lack of exercise can be major factors in decreasing the energy levels in the body.
  • Some medications like cough syrups and antihistamines are also responsible for causing drowsiness and lack of energy.

2 ) PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS

The second one is the psychological reasons which are on the level of the mind and are not visible but very powerful.

Some psychological factors that affect our mindset and motivation level –

  • Self-doubt, fear of failure, and depression are major issues that can cause a low energy feeling and lack of motivation.
  • The wrong mindset is also a major cause of low energy.
  • Weak reasons for work – will to work is not there.
  • Anxiety to face people and situations.

These are all major reasons for your lack of energy and now we are going to counter each reason step-wise.

How to counter Physical reasons for low energy and lack of motivation?

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Okay, let’s understand methods to counter “Physical reasons”.

Step 1 ) Self-diagnostic of health condition and correction.

The first step is to identify the current condition of the body. Is the body suffering from some chronic illness or there can be a lack of nutrition and exercise?

If you feel problems on the bodily level and some symptoms persist in your body for example – fever, body pain, cough & cold for more than 3-4 weeks then it’s a good time for a doctor’s appointment.

And the rest problems can be resolved by taking Natural foods, removing packaged foods, and Adding exercise to your schedule.

Conclusion?

  • identifying health conditions.
  • find out about your illness symptoms if any and take doctor’s help.
  • Most problems can be solved with diet and exercise which are our next steps.

Step 2 ) Avoiding lethargy creating food and adding energy foods to the diet.

Did you notice that after eating fast foods like pizza and coke our body becomes lethargic and sleepy? , But eating fruit such as banana or apple gives us freshness and energy.

Notice next time you eat a food and check its effect on the body, you will find that foods that are Natural or unpackaged create energy in your body, and packaged foods such as bags of chips, and fries make the body lethargic and sleepy.

We are not condemning tasty foods but we are trying to balance between taste and health.

Adding one plate of salad to breakfast and lunch boosts the energy levels of the body.

Conclusion?

  • Adding Natural foods and reducing packaged or over salty, sugary food items.
  • Eat fruits as snacks rather than pizza.
  • Not condemning tasty food but creating a healthy balance.

Step 3 ) Create energy with Excercise

Thermodynamics says that heat is required to convert fuel into energy. That is exactly what happens in our body when we exercise.

The fuel which is stored in our body in form of glycogen gets converted into energy when we do exhausting physical work. Our energy level will stay high throughout the day if we start our day with exercise.

And by exercise, it does not mean it can be only in the gym that’s our mind trying to procrastinate that I will only exercise when I have a gym membership, you can exercise anywhere, anytime.

You can choose any type of activity for 1 hr per day, the only condition is that it must be hard enough to raise your heart rate and breathing rate example – cycling, power walking, sprinting, swimming, cricket, strength exercises – pushup, pullups etc, try to avoid jogging because it is not good for heart and knee joints.

Conclusion?

  • Adding 1hr exercise per day.
  • glycogen is converted to energy in the body during exercise.
  • Dont let your mind procrastinate by saying exercise can only be done in the gym.

Step 4 ) Walk more often

Our newton brother said that a body at rest remains at rest until a force is applied to it . I don’t want to bore you with physics class, this is just to make you understand that movement is life, and the body also follows this inertia law.

If you sit in a cubicle or in the couch for long hours you will get more tired than when you are walking.

You have lots of energy right inside you but it gets covered by inertia and sluggishness of mind.

Always walk for 2-3 min after each sitting of more than 30 min.

Conclusion?

  • The body follows inertia principle
  • Keep the body in movement more frequently.
  • take a 2-3 min walk after every 45 min of sitting.

Step 4 ) Increase contact with the sunlight

In our hectic life most of our time is spent behind closed 4 walls and very little time we are exposed to sunlight.

Sunlight is not only useful in vitamin d production but it helps in regulating melatonin and wake cycles of the body.

Getting daily exposure to sunlight in the morning for at least 15-20 min charge your system and balances your natural wake-sleep cycle.

Conclusion?

  • spending at least 15-20 min in the morning.
  • Sunlight regulates the wake-sleep cycle and melatonin production in the body.
  • it also promotes vitamin d production which is essential for absorption of calcium.

How to counter Psychological reasons for low energy and lack of motivation?

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Today psychological problems are creating low-energy feelings and a lack of motivation in even physically fit human beings.

The mind is the source of our motivation and will to do the task if the mind becomes ill with problems of depression, anxiety, past memory, etc.

No matter how fit you are physically but if your mind is not in the right direction then you can’t do anything productive.

Let’s see some methods that I used to beat this feeling of low energy and lack of motivation.

Step 1 ) Finding a strong reason to wake up and work hard

The main issue behind the lack of energy and motivation is the absence of strong reason. The mind works on desire if you don’t have the desire to move your hand you will not move it the whole day.

External motivation is like a whip to a horse’s ass, it does not work for a long time and you will require a stronger whip next time.

Internal motivation pushes you when you are low, the truth is everybody feels a lack of motivation and energy from time to time but their reason put them on track no matter how they feel.

I will give you an example of how this works , suppose there is a fire in your car and you are sitting inside it and you are very tired, what will you do? Will you say I don’t have energy?

Or you run at 20 miles an hour away from the car now where does this energy come from, a second earlier you can’t even walk, and now you are running.

That explains the formula for energy – Energy is always followed by action or will, not the other way round. Waiting for energy or motivation to do something is like waiting for fuel to start combustion without turning on the car.

Conclusion?

  • Energy is followed by action or will.
  • External motivation is like a whip .
  • Everybody feels a lack of motivation and energy from time to time.
  • Find a good reason that has meaning for you.

Step 2 ) Mindset 

We need to understand that our mind is a very powerful machine but nobody has taught us how to use this.

That’s why it works most of the time on its own and does not serve us, if you try to do something important it will try to put it on tomorrow by making logical excuses.

How many times have you made a new year resolution but broken it on the second day its all due to mind-making excuses. 

So our mindset determines whether we listen to the excuses or put it to work.

Our mind is like a lazy employee who has a lot of potentials but always makes excuses and delays work, but you are the boss you can make it do work and it will slowly start listening to you with practice.

Conclusion?

  • You need to become boss and make mind your employee.
  • Mind delay every important task by making excuses.
  • If you don’t listen to your mind’s excuses and put it to work you will become successful. 
  • If you let your mind control you, it will drive you to a place where you don’t want to be. 

Step 3 ) Meditation

Meditation is the most powerful thing to get back your ownership over the mind, right now it becomes the boss and makes excuses and controls your action. Mind says and you do.

So what is meant by meditation? Is sitting 2hrs a day repeating mantras or concentrating your mind on a picture meditation? , that’s a very silly thing because one thought is trying to control another thought it’s like putting out fire with fire.

What we need to do is be aware of the excuses and pranks that the mind plays on us the whole day. Once you understand that my mind is playing tricks on me, then you can make it do whatever you want.

For example – you want to quit smoking but after a few hours your mind will throw a thought lets smoke every cool person smokes it and one is not going to kill you if you are not aware you will get influenced by it and once you take one, it will say you broke your promise so let’s take the whole packet.

Once you start seeing its tricks that make you do tasks that you don’t want. You will start controlling it.

Conclusion?

  • Meditation is not repeating words and concentrating.
  • Meditation is being aware of tricks that the mind plays on you 24*7 and taking control.

Takeaway

Low energy feeling and motivation is not something to be afraid of, it is a very common problem of today but it can have a negative impact on our life if it’s not in check.

Apply methods written in this blog carefully and diligently. It will help you achieve a good energy level and internal motivation which will help you in beating this issue in long run.