Do You Want More Energy At Work?
Do You Want More Energy At Work?
– By Dr Nav Ropra.
Dentists sometimes come up to me and ask how to have more energy at work. How can they get through the day and not come home to simply eat and sleep, only to get up the next day and do the same thing.
One of the reasons I believe people sometimes do not have energy because their vision is blocked and they cannot see how what they are doing serves them or others. If this happens to you, then mentally, emotionally and spiritually, it will be very draining. The side effect of this is that your finances will start to decrease also. Your vision will become blocked by not knowing what your values are or what is truly important to you in your life. You can get sidetracked with other people’s values or opinions about you. Having to justify yourself to others or seek approval from others in this regard is a dangerous way of living and robs you of your energy and life force.
‘I believe people sometimes do not have energy because their vision is blocked and they cannot see how what they are doing serves them or others.’
If you carry other people’s opinions around with you, then this is a source of emotional baggage and will wear you down. This is because people come and go in your life, but only you know what it is like to be you.
Other things which can reduce vitality are; ineffective leadership skills, doing low priority tasks, being ungrateful to life, eating too much, eating the wrong kinds of food and physical inactivity.
When I ran my 24 Hour emergency dental practice for over a decade, I was on call seeing patients at all times of the day or night 7 days a week. It did not appear to me as hard work as I was doing what I loved. The practice was organised in such a way that the highest priority action was to get the patient out of pain in the most efficient and effective manner. These were the most difficult of dental pain cases. As well as the dental symptoms, patient’s were sometimes irate or anxious and may not have slept for several nights prior to attending. Have time for patients who are in this position. They need your skills and expertise as a clinician the most!
‘It did not appear to me as hard work as I was doing what I loved.’
In order for the practice to be constantly open 365 days a year, the dental team had to be absolutely clear on what our own vision and the vision for the practice was. All other distractions (marketing, bills, management, employment etc) needed to be addressed immediately and automated so that they were done!
If you are experiencing low energy then here are some tips which might just help:
- Get clear on what your values are
- Set a purpose for your practice and your life
- Set goals according to your values
- Start a gratitude journal
- Eat less food
- Delegate low priority tasks to those who love to do them
- Be thankful
- Eat quality foods
- Drink water and become hydrated
- Physically exercise in moderation
- Cut down on things which make the body toxic (caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol)
- Smile more
- Breathe more
- Set realistic time horizons for things to be done
- Audit what makes you energetic and what does not
In the Dental Mastery Experience, which is a seminar I run to assist practitioners in empowering their lives, I show participants how to get clear on what their values are. Once they have done this, we then tackle the fears and guilts which may be clouding their vision in life.
They are then free to create what they would love to from a place of authenticity and from knowing their unique values.
When a practice is structured in a way that is supportive to a practitioners values, then your vision, your vocation and your vacation become one, and your vitality soars once again. After doing this restructuring with my own practice, I now get to opportunities do this with other dental practices.
Practitioners often comment that ‘going to work has becomes fun again.’ A certain fragrance of energy happens when you and your practice are congruent, that would not be possible otherwise.