Have you gone through days, week or long seasons where you feel depleted, both physically and mentally?

Me too.

And unfortunately the older we get, the more intentional we have to be to maintain our energy levels. Maybe you're feeling more foggy brain at work, or lately you just don't seem to have the energy to cook or clean. Maybe you got out of the habit of going to church or working out at the gym. If that's you, again - me too!

In this blog article I'll share some personal insights and practices I learned from the book 'Freedom to Focus' by Michael Hyatt. I read it about 4 years ago, and loved what I learned about recharging your personal batteries. There are definitely days where I struggle with one or more of these, so I am not perfect in this, nor the expert.

But when I'm putting these five changes into practice, I can attest to the energy and clarity my brain has to perform my daily tasks better.

With that, let's jump in!

1. Get better sleep

The average American gets just 7 hours of sleep a day.

Sleep is a tough one for me. I'm a night owl so I typically stay up late and feel groggy in the morning. But I love the quote I heard watching the movie 'Air': "You can't hoot with the owls at night and fly with the eagles in the morning."

I've learned that if I can get eight hours of sleep total, my energy level is at it's best when I wake up.

If I know I'm going to have a particularly early morning, I try to make an effort to be in bed two hours early. It's a hard habit to follow through with when your brain is buzzing with thinking, but it pays off.

Another thing to help with sleeping is being mindful of how much time I'm on my phone. Screen time can be addictive and rob me of much needed sleep.

2. Be intentional about eating

I don't know if you can relate to this or not, but when I'm "in the zone" I tend to neglect eating anything for lunch. I'm also not a breakfast person in the morning, so it's common for me to not eat anything by 2pm in the afternoon. Of course by that time my mental and physical power has began depleting rapidly, and usually I'm not at my best even after having a snack.

Giving my body healthy nutrition through out the day though has paid great dividends. I'll eat "healthier" snacks through out the morning and afternoon such as a protein shake, apples, granola bars, bananas, oranges. I'm also trying to eat more chicken, fish and vegetables.

While I have a few "splurge days" through out the month, I can tell a huge difference in my mental energy when I routinely put healthy food inside me.

I also stopped putting sugar in my coffee! In the beginning this was a very hard habit to remove. But again, my mental clarity and focus has improve about 20%.

I'm also trying to drink more water - about three big 32oz cups of water per day. Water makes it easier for blood to flow through your body, including getting oxygen to your brain, which helps stimulate mental thought process and clarity.

3. Moving around

Now that I work in an office environment, this is particularly important to be mindful of. If you spend most of your work day sitting at your job, getting up, walking around, stretching and changing environments is important for staying out of a sluggish mood.

Little actions like the ones above don't seem like a big impact, but I've noticed when I start with these small movements, they lay the foundation for bigger changes.

For example, ever since I created a habit of making myself step away from my computer screen, it's now become easier to take my dog for a 30 minute walk. That 30 minute walk makes my heart pump, increase my breathing patterns and makes blood flow to my brain. All of these help rejuvenate my mental state of mind.

One of my goals is to work out more through intense exercises. I'm not there yet, but I'm believing these collection of small actions will create the next launch pad to do more push ups, sits ups, jogging, etc.

4. Connect with others

As an introvert, this has taken much more intentionality to connect with people. Here's the interesting thing about being an introvert:

I get my energy by being alone, so reading, writing or reflecting all fill my tank.

However, if I'm not investing that energy into others, it actually has a negative effect on me. I tend to get stuck inside my head with my thoughts, form unhelpful beliefs about myself or the world, or can even began feeling depressed.

It's like have a full tank of gas, but not using it to drive anywhere. If you're not going to travel in your car, why keep it full of gas?

When I spend a couple of hours per day connecting with others, whether it's with neighbors, coworkers or church friends, I can feel my energy tank driving me to new destinations - stimulating my brain, helping me learn new things, gaining new perspectives. It's like I can feel my brain being worked out!

The trick is I can't benefit like this if I haven't filled my tank by being alone. Both practices of personal filling up and interpersonal letting out work together to make me rejuvenated.

If you've had a hard time connecting with people, try joining one of the following. Some of these you can find through Events on Facebook, talk to your employer about or even post on social media to see if anyone would be interested in starting a group with you!

• Exercise or fitness program

• Business networking group

• Book reading club

• Hiking group on the weekends

• Serving at a homeless shelter

• Doing a community outreach project together

• Moms meet up in the park

• Dads pickle ball group

• Neighborhood potluck

• Chess club - perfect for introverts

• Small groups at your church

5. Make time for recreational activities

You know the old saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Or, Jill a dull girl. Either way, it's true! When we don't set up times in our week to have fun with others or do something we enjoy just for the sake of the happiness we get from it, we become dull in several areas.

For me, I start feeling less focused on what's important to me. I fall into uncreative slumps where my brain doesn't want to imagine or dream of new ideas. I become less productive.

On the flip side, when I'm spending a few hours each week doing recreational activities, it releases an amount of energy and satisfaction that makes me more exuberated and energetic in other areas of life. Some of my favorite recreational activities include:

• Reading

• Writing

• Walking with my wife

• Playing pickle ball with my wife and friends

• Having game nights with friends

• Playing my guitar

• Playing mini-golf

My encouragement to anyone looking to mentally rejuvenate your week is to:

1. Try implementing each of these five areas together through out the week
2. Start with baby steps (or if you're like me, baby crawls) and change one small routine at a time
3. Don't feel bad for missing a few. The goal isn't perfection, it's consistency.

Thanks for reading!

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