Upgrade Your Mental Energy

Our mental performance is limited by our physical fitness.

Our brains are amazing organs. They are downright magical.

But our ability to think, decide, create, act, and control our emotions, all rely on our mental energy.

Without mental energy, we get tired, lazy, forgetful, reactive… you get it.

We can create temporary mental energy with sugar and caffeine, but these are short term solutions.

And when we rely on them too much, they can become detrimental to our health.

Long-term mental energy comes from somewhere else: our physical fitness.

In this article I am going to teach you how to leverage your body and exercise to create mental energy.

Implement what you learn here, and you will have better focus, learn faster, think more clearly, and feel lower stress.

Without taking these steps, you are limiting your mind’s potential of reaching high-performance states.

The Three Rules

When it comes to exercise and your mindpower - there are only three rules we need to follow. The come in order of importance:

Rule 1 - Just move

Rule 2 - Move everyday

Rule 3 - Do hard things

You can stop at number 1 and still see mental improvements. If you want to reach max potential, make it through all three!

Here we go!

Rule 1: Just Move

You just have to do something… anything. Just move.

Any workout is better than no workout.

A 5-minute workout is better than a zero-minute workout.

We spend too much time thinking about the best way to get fit, or all the gear we need to exercise, or where is the best gym… yada yada yada.

All of this thinking is taking time away from taking action.

There is one caveat to this rule: your movement must be intentional for exercise.

Walking is great, but it is not exercise.

Walking uphill with a heavy backpack is exercise.

When you move with the intent of getting your heart rate up and challenging your body, THAT is exercise.

When we exercise, we do a few things for our brains:

First, we create stress in the body.

This creation of stress forces our body to respond and adapt.

It balances our neurotransmitters. It helps us relax. It helps us regain a sense of control. It helps us focus.

Second, we burn energy.

One culprit of low energy is in due to our blood sugar spiking and dropping (due to our food).

When we exercise, we mobilize energy from our energy-stores and make it available for our muscles. Our brains can utilize this energy as well.

Third, we change our state and fire up our nervous system.

If you are in a state of relaxation, your mind will be less focused.

To be focused, it helps to be in a mild state of action or tension.

Exercise can amp up our nervous activity and wake us up. This also has a lasting effect through the day.

Have you ever exercised at night and then struggled to fall asleep? That is this principle in action.

Your exercise can be anything intentional to get your heart rate up and challenge your body.

Run, lift, swim, jump rope, play basketball… even if only for 5 minutes… Just move.

Rule 2: Move Everyday

You do not need a rest day.

Unless you are training for an ironman, ultramarathon, or bodybuilding competition, you do not need a rest day.

The more you exercise, the more fit you get.

The more fit you get, the better you can focus, think, manage stress, etc.

While you likely don’t need a rest day, you should do different things on different days.

For example, if you lift weights hard 7 days a week, you are going to be sore. Also, your muscles do need time to recover before you blast them again.

But instead of NOT doing exercise on a day, just do something different.

Go on a run. Do a different activity.

This is what we call “active recovery.”

This is low intensity exercise that keeps you moving but is not intense enough to cause damage, thus requiring more recovery.

Another benefit of moving everyday: it builds a habit.

Starting an exercise routine requires motivation.

Maintaining an exercise routine requires discipline.

When you plan exercise daily, it just becomes something you do.

Rule 3: Do Hard Things

So you are moving, and you are moving everyday… now what?

Now you do hard things.

Push yourself.

Build the body you want.

See what you are capable.

Socrates once said, “No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

Our bodies are capable of doing so much.

Also, the more physical strength we have, the more mental strength we have.

When we push our bodies hard, we create a lot of stress. This physical stress also triggers a release of BDNF if the brain.

BDNF stands for brain derived neurotrophic factor. It is important for the health and development of brain cells, and it has been called “miracle grow” for the brain.

More exercise and more stressful exercise leads to more BDNF.

There is another side effect of doing hard things in the gym: you build mental toughness.

Getting under heavy weights is difficult.

Pushing yourself into painful territory is hard.

But doing so builds grit.

If you have mental grit in the gym, you can have it everywhere else.

If you can put up with the pain of doing sprint repeats until your legs turn to Jello, then you can put up with the pain of work stress and late nights grinding out work.

How you do one thing is how you do everything.

If you can tough it out in the gym, then you can tough it out, period.

Bonus Rule: Vary Your Routine

Unless you find an exercise type you love, it helps to vary your routine.

Vary the stressors you place on your body.

This keeps it interesting, keeps your body adapting, AND keeps you learning new things.

As Socrates alludes, our bodies are capable of so much. Try new things and discover what is possible!

The Wrap Up

Your mental performance impacts your level of achievement.

While you can develop mental skills, your mental health rests upon your physical health.

To reach your highest performing potential, you must exercise.

Start by moving.

Then move everyday.

Then do hard things!

Then change up those hard things to keep it interesting.

Seriously, a 5-minute high-intensity workout is better than a zero-minute workout.

What have you got to lose?

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

• Keep reading these articles and implement what you learn
• Coaching - If you want personal help in leveling up your leadership, reach out to me at [email protected].