Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Non-beneficial tasks and conversations can Z A P your energy faster than an iPhone on 3%. You realize, after, that your time and energy could have been better spent elsewhere. How do we improve our ratio of good-to-poor decisions? We identify things that are not worth our time or energy.

1. Investing Your Energy in News or Celebrities

It is okay to watch the news, you may need to know about the weather (you could just ask Siri, or my buddy Alexa), however, news consumption must be regulated because it can easily send your emotions into a spiral.

I hear you – “But how will I know what’s going on in the world?”

Want to know about political candidates? Research.

Interested in sports update? There’s google!

Prioritize the information you seek , also. Do you REALLY need to know how many local shootings happened over the weekend in your area?

For some, investing their time into celebrity gossip (tea pages) provides an escape from realism. However, this distraction zaps time and energy from you, leaving you with nothing. How did a recent rapper’s arrest benefit or harm you? Did Kim Kardashian’s dating life increase your earning potential?

For me, unfollowing all gossip or tea pages last summer on social media and youtube has shown me that #1. I am not missing anything helpful to me #2. Media has a way of finding you, even if you don’t seek it (kinda creepy…)

2. Worrying

Before you close your laptop at this absurd declaration, hear me out.

My dear grandmother (read her original blog, here) had so much to worry about at the end of her life : stage 4 cancer, bills, an ailing husband, her kids and grandchildren’s well-being – but Rose, she never once worried.

She was always calm and encouraging us to stop and pray, each time that worry crept in. Once she passed, I was allowed to open a note she wrote to me in 2006, but sealed until her death. Although I was only 11 at that time, her letter encourages me to not worry and even goes into detail about the repercussions of worrying, instead of moving forward. Perhaps, she knew I was hardwired for anxiety.

The most comforting thing is to see your life-guides / parents face adversity, overcome it and encourage you that you will get through tough times, too.

3. Other People

That’s right, you are being encouraged to be selfish. We can not make people change through love and concern. We also can not shape someone’s future with your advice or examples. Therefore, investing your energy into yourself is best to avoid being disappointed by others.

• Maintain or get into therapy
• Work-out and build consistency
• Build healthy Habits (read about the two types of habits here)
• Develop a plan for your goals and pace yourself
• Don’t overshare on social media, stay focused.

The surest sign something was a bad idea is that you disappoint yourself for not quitting sooner.

Did your quality of life take a dive when it didn’t need to?

This is also another sure sign of misplacing your energy.

All the best you,

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