How to Optimize Your Mental Energy Supply

Success in many areas of life hinges on one crucial factor: sufficient mental energy. While often thought of as motivation or drive, mental energy refers to your ability to engage in critical cognitive tasks like decision-making, problem-solving, and creative thinking.

Mental energy also affects your overall well-being, but the good news is you can improve it by optimizing self-care habits like sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress management.

By learning to optimize your mental energy, you can maximize your potential and find greater fulfillment in your personal and professional lives.

How to Improve Your Mental Energy Through Focus

Your focus consumes much of your mental energy, and both are limited resources. To get the most from your energy, you must direct your attention to activities that deliver the highest return on your time and effort.

Consider prioritizing:

• Meditating
• Exercising
• Reading personal development books
• Setting personal, professional, or business goals
• Fueling your brain with healthy foods
• Taking a course on a topic you’re passionate about
• Working with a coach

It’s also vital to step back and audit where your focus currently is going. Many professionals dedicate most of their energy to their careers. If you’re in a job that doesn’t inspire you, you may be wasting your time and focus on something that drains rather than energizes you. Redirecting your precious resources toward areas that bring fulfillment can dramatically boost your overall mental energy and success.

How to Use Habits to Improve Your Mental Energy

Habits are routine behaviors largely controlled by the subconscious mind, controlling around 40% of your daily activities. As such, they can serve as a good indicator of the amount of mental energy you have available. By examining your habits, you can identify the root causes of any lack of mental energy and work toward optimizing your health to maximize your energy levels.

So, how can you optimize your health and energy through habits? Adopt healthy habits, such as meal prepping, going to bed early, working with a personal trainer, and drinking plenty of water to have more energy for cognitive tasks.

In the meantime, you can also increase your mental energy by eliminating negative habits that drain your energy and damage your health. If, for example, you find yourself missing your morning personal training sessions after staying up late to scroll on social media, you might begin cutting screen time down. If you find yourself eating unhealthy foods as soon as you arrive home, you might try eating a healthy snack before you leave the office to curb the hunger you experience during your commute.

One of the most effective ways to eliminate negative habits is to swap them out for positive ones. If you’re trying to break the habit of eating fast food, for example, take an alternative route home so you don’t pass by your favorite restaurants. When you intentionally choose and develop habits that support your mental energy rather than drain it, you will reap the benefits.

The Bottom Line

Your mental energy is the foundation for success, productivity, and overall well-being. Yet, it’s a finite resource often drained by hidden habits and misplaced focus. The good news? By consciously optimizing your habits, prioritizing high-impact activities, and eliminating energy-sapping routines, you can reclaim your mental vitality.

Ready to unlock your full potential? Schedule a complimentary call with one of our Arootah coaches today to get started!