Test: What’s your instant energy booster?

Goal-setting can give you an instant energy hit, but if it’s become your go-to mood booster you might be inadvertently sabotaging your energy levels by creating a feeling of never quite being enough. There’s no doubt that regular ‘what’s next’ thinking can motivate you to make changes and to keep growing and learning, but getting stuck in future-planning mode can chip away at your emotional energy and have a knock-on effect on your physical resilience, especially if it’s fuelled by comparing yourself to others.

Spending too long mulling over ideas of what your life should look like can have the opposite effect to energising you and start to demotivate instead, leaving you feeling stuck because your goals are out of reach. The antidote when you find yourself caught in a ‘what next?’ thinking spiral is to pause and consciously acknowledge what you’ve already achieved or experienced.

Mentally repeating your ‘I am enough’ affirmation is a simple reminder that actually, you don’t have to change or strive for anything, and you’re perfect just as you are. Try simply being present and fully open to your life just as it is for while, then notice any change in your energy levels. You might be surprised to find the motivation and energy boost you’ve been craving comes from self-acceptance, not self-improvement.