Feb 25, 2013

Get Out of a Rut and Overcome Frustration by Tackling your Energy Drains

All of us, at some point, feel frustrated or stagnant about our situation in life - and often, although we want to make a change, we're not sure where to start. Or, we feel like we don't have the time and/or space in our life for something new.

When you feel this way, a surefire way to feel better about your situation is to tackle your energy drains.

I first learned about "energy drains" nearly 15 years ago, in Take Time for Your Life, a book by personal coach Cheryl Richardson. An energy drain is something or someone that makes you feel tired - it could be doing your taxes, which you've been putting off, the person you always dread talking to, or the bathroom you don't want to clean. Richardson talks about identifying and eliminating your energy drains in order to gain clarity about your life.

Get Out of a Rut & Overcome Frustration by Tackling Your Energy Drains

We all have different energy drains, but you know what your energy drains are. Start with the easiest one to get some momentum going. You don't have to complete each task, and you can do your tasks in increments - as I've learned from Flylady, you can do anything for 15 minutes. The important thing is to make progress and open up space - literal and metaphorical - in your life.

Here's an example: I've been cleaning out one closet for a couple of months now. When I started, there were 15 banker's boxes full of stuff in that one area. After the holidays, I moved six of the boxes to different areas that made more sense, based on their contents (and I was able to do that because I'd eliminated other clutter previously). Since then, I've slowly been going through the remaining boxes, most of which contain paper clutter in the form of old files. I'm now down to six boxes of stuff, and I'm pretty sure that I can get it down to four boxes of storage. It's not creating a ton of space, but it's creating enough that I feel possibilities opening up!

There are other energy drains in my home that I want to tackle too, but I'm sticking to one area at a time.

What are your energy drains, and what are you doing about them?

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