6 simple habits to boost your energy levels

Today, I want to talk about energy.

Energy is the key, the source of your success in language learning

and in so many things in life.

And I want to talk about six tips on how to generate energy within yourself

and how to maintain that energy.

I think I'm allowed to talk about that because I'm 78 and so I've

lived a lot longer than most of the people watching this video.

And so I have a lot of life experience.

The first thing about energy is the more active you are,

the more energy you create.

So while I talk about input in language learning and the need to bring the

language into you, because you don't have the language inside you, when it

comes to that energy, which is driving you to learn a language or to do anything

else, you create that within yourself.

Now, it may be true that some people are born with more natural

energy, that it's a part of their makeup more than other people.

However, whatever your sort of starting point is, your, uh, inherent.

Energy level, you can improve it by being active.

And so even in terms of business, if you don't give, if you don't volunteer,

if you don't offer to do things, if you wait until you get the reward before

you do things, you won't be successful.

You've got to be proactive and you've got to give before you get.

And if you're active and want to generate that energy level, you

will be rewarded with more energy.

You're not going to lose energy by being active.

You have to generate the energy by being active.

It's like your internal dynamo.

So that's point number one.

Second point, you want to be active both physically and mentally.

The two are related.

So when it comes to language learning, if you are active physically,

you're going to be more successful.

In your mental activity of learning a language.

So that means get in the habit of doing regular exercises.

Every morning I have my seven minute routine.

It's not a lot, but it's balanced.

I don't know what's coming at me.

Burpees, pushups, you know, crunches, whatever it might be, I do them.

And there's a double benefit.

A, the benefit that I'm that little bit fitter for having done that,

but also the sense of satisfaction that comes from having done it.

Carries with me through the day.

Remember, very often we don't know what we are achieving, but if we are active

and we sort of tick that one off, I did my morning exercise, you feel energized,

you feel good for the day, and you are in fact improving your physical.

Energy source.

Now, the third point is with physical activity, like working out and language

learning, it's the activity that counts.

If you're running a race, if you're jogging, you don't need

to be looking over your shoulder.

It's the fact that you're doing it.

That's going to make you feel good.

That's going to give you a sense of achievement, whether

it's dopamine or serotonin.

I'm not too clear, but you feel good because.

You did it.

So it's the activity that matters.

And it's the same in language learning.

That's why at LingQ, we don't try to measure what you have

achieved, how much you improved.

If I spend an hour on LingQ, on my iPad, looking up words and reading

and listening or whatever I do.

What matters to me is that I did that activity and I get a sense

of satisfaction, achievement.

I accomplished something.

I put that amount of effort into my language learning.

That's what matters.

The amount that I improved during that session, it's hard for me to measure.

So give yourself credit for actually being active.

You'll get a good feeling.

I did something and that generates energy.

Now number four, try to control your impulses.

Try to control your.

Ability to resist temptation, if you are studying, say on your iPad,

develop that ability to resist those distractions, looking up the email,

looking up Twitter, looking up whatever other things you follow, don't do it.

Every time you do it, your right prefrontal cortex is getting

stronger at that ability to resist temptation and distraction.

If you give in to distraction, you are weakening that ability

in your prefrontal cortex.

cortex.

So it's very important to be able to stick with what you're doing, resist

the distractions, and by the same token, resist the temptation to Eat, you know,

food that you know is not good for you because good eating, good diet obviously

also contributes to our energy level.

Resist the temptation to fly off the handle and get mad at someone.

That also saps our energy.

So, developing good habits, helping your prefrontal cortex get stronger at

resisting these negative temptations is a good part or an important part of

being full of energy when you need it.

Now, a fifth point in order to maintain your energy level, vary your activities.

I mentioned my morning routine because it's an app on my iPhone.

I don't know which exercises are coming at me.

It's varied.

If it's the same every day, I would get bored.

It's the same with language learning.

Vary your activities.

And I've discussed before.

The importance of not block learning, of interleaving, of moving from one content

item to another, mixing in reading a book with reading on the iPad, uh, mixing in

the listening and the reading, mixing in advanced material with easy material.

Keep it varied and that'll maintain your interest level and interest

level equates to energy level.

So vary your activities.

And you will find that your energy level will be higher.

And finally, another way of ensuring you always have the energy you need,

is to enjoy what you are doing.

So, for example, in terms of physical activity, I like to take

the stairs two steps at a time.

It's a way of investing energy.

And activity into maintaining my energy level, but I enjoy doing it.

I am conscious of taking those two, the steps two at a time, going up the stairs.

Also look around, enjoy the colors around you.

Enjoy the texture of the wood or the whatever, the dress that you see

on someone, the material, enjoy the scenery, just try to fully appreciate

all the things that surround us and by the same token, whatever you have

achieved in the language you're learning.

Give yourself credit for it.

Enjoy it.

Enjoy the language.

Enjoy the activity.

Enjoy what you have achieved.

Stay positive.

Stay in the moment.

All of those things will contribute to a higher energy level.

With that, I'm going to leave you with two videos.

One deals with the mental side.

Of maintaining your energy level and not chasing down rabbit holes

and dwelling on negative thoughts, which maintains our energy level.

And the other one relates more to physical activity.

And it's one that I did about seven years ago, and you'll see that

it's quite relevant to this video.

So thank you for listening.

Bye for now.