It’s called “spiritual energy.”  Spiritual is the most valuable source of energy out of the four sources (i.e., spiritual, mental, physical, emotional).  It isn’t just religion if that’s what you’re thinking.  It can be, if that’s what drives you.  It’s one thing that drives me.  But what also drives me when I say the word spiritual is…

• The passion or the purpose that you have for your life
• Your why to live
• The legacy you’re trying to leave behind for your children or your family
• Attempting to make the world a better place

Unfortunately, most people don’t even think that you can increase your spiritual energy.  If they do, then out of the four sources they’d typically prioritize it in last place.  But when this source is full, it has the strongest power of all to uplift the other three sources.  So, you’re return on your energy investment (ROeI), would be better served to start working on improving your spiritual energy first.

Here are my 8 ways to increase your spiritual energy

1. Counteract negative “got to do” thinking by mentally listing what you “get to do” today

I find that I can have automatic negative thoughts in the morning which is sad and depressing.  Like, ugh, I got to go to these meetings or I got to go to the dentist or I got to have a hard conversation with someone.

But gratefulness is the antidote for sadness.  Therefore, the first thing I’ve learned to do is mentally list what I get to do today.  For example…

I get to have lunch with two girlfriends today.

I get to watch a new episode of Mr. Robot.

I get to read by myself on the train today.

It immediately counteracts the “I got to” syndrome.

If you can’t think of anything or need to be guided, then I recommend this 5-minute Gratefulness Meditation.

2. Listen to motivating or inspiring music

Before a speaking engagement, a job interview or needing a creative boost, I listen to my “Motivation Playlist.”  I’ll put on my headphones in the bathroom stall and silently lip sync while I rock out – no peeking under the stall!

I’ve created a motivation playlist on Amazon Prime Music.  Here’s just a few of my choices as of this writing:

• Adventure of a Lifetime – Coldplay
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
• Brave – Sara Bareilles
• Try – Pink
• Hero – Foo Fighters
• Heroes – David Bowie
• Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys

3. Schedule quiet, uninterrupted time to review, reflect and recommit

After reading The High Achiever’s Guide to Happiness, I learned to set aside time every week to review, reflect and recommit.  Every Friday after lunch, I schedule 1 hour to review where I’ve spent my time over the past week.

Next, I reflect if there were barriers to my goals or if I was more successful than I anticipated.  If so, why?  Simple reflection in my head, not on paper.  I then reflect on what future goals I’d like to accomplish next week.

Lastly, I recommit by scheduling time in my calendar to get those future goals accomplished.  For me what gets scheduled, gets done.

In addition, quarterly, I do the same method but for a whole day to ensure I’m in alignment with my life plan and leadership purpose.  This is a whole other blog post!  In short, I review which goals I accomplished, reflect on what I did or didn’t do well, and recommit to new quarterly goals.

4. Show appreciation for someone else

I love to give gifts more than I like to get them!  I love when I pick out the right gift and make their day.  Or I like to randomly pay for a stranger’s coffee.  The rush of seeing someone get a welcome surprise gives me more joy I think than they get.

And I get that same feeling when someone notices and appreciates me.  Maybe that’s because Words of Affirmation is my Love Language.  I like to treat others the way I like to be treated as well.

So, find a way to appreciate, compliment or celebrate someone with your words.  Write a sentence, a paragraph or a full-blown letter on a card, in an email, in person or in a public group setting.  Or give a business a 5-star rating.

Filling someone’s else “happiness bucket” will also fill yours.

5. Serve others

Serving others has so many benefits.  Serving others teaches compassion and understanding.  Serving also provides a sense of belonging and significance.

You can serve formally by volunteering in your community, a church or a cause that has personally affected you or those you love.

You can also serve informally by doing something for a friend.  For example, my husband was out of town for a long time internationally during the Christmas holiday season.  I had neighbor teens ask if they could remove the Christmas lights.  My God, I was floored and impressed they asked and the quality of the work.  You could also take food to a neighbor that’s sick or just delivered a baby.

Lastly, you can also serve at home by doing a chore you normally don’t do around the house, especially one that you’ve been nagged to do.  And if you have more money than time, then hire someone to do it.

6. If you know your purpose, find time to work in it

If you know what your purpose is, then working in it is definitely a great source of spiritual energy.  For example, my life purpose is to bless others with my strongest talents, which are currently self-awareness, leadership & productivity.  So occasionally at night, I write blogs like these, have a webinar or record on Facebook Live.  I get to learn more about something I love and get to teach it back to others.  I get really motivated during these moments!

7. Walk in nature

About a year ago, I was invited to a leadership retreat in the mountains for 2 nights and 3 days.  Honestly, I was worried about lack of cell coverage.  By the 2nd day I had digital detoxed enough.  And on the 3rd day, I had a spiritual awakening.  After breakfast in town and a reflective conversation, we were asked to do a 10-minute meditation.  I had been meditating off/on for about a year so no biggie I thought.  But all of a sudden, my inner 7-year-old child was having a discussion with me.  Within moments a tear fell down my cheek.

We were then told that once the meditation ended, to do a silent walk in the woods.  As I walked, a large rock called to me.  I perched on the top and the cheek tear soon rolled into sobs.  I’ve never forgotten that moment or able to reproduce it – but I haven’t gone back to the mountains or forest either.

That said, there’s articles that talk about forest bathing (aka shinrin-yoku).  If you can’t get to a forest or mountain, try a tree-lined park or get some Vitamin G – G for ground by walking barefoot on grass, sand or dirt (aka earthing).

8. Praying/talking with God

I bet you thought this one would be first!  But as I said at the beginning, spiritual isn’t only religion.

I’m a newbie Christian.  About 1 1/2 years now.  I used to feel very weird praying out loud with other people around.  But now I realize everyone else (except pastors) feel probably the same way.  And all prayer is, is a conversation with God.  Sometimes I pray while I’m meditating, in the dentist chair or while driving to work.  It’s a few minutes here and there.  I speak.  He speaks.  I speak.  He speaks.  Nothing fancy.  I only need to be consistent to make it feel more like a conversation with my daddy.  Listening to the way my 6-year-old children talk to me in their bed at nights is exactly how I try to talk with God.

And speaking/praying/conversing with someone who loves me so much and wants the best for me, is a great feeling.  Enough to make a big dent in my spiritual energy account.

Summarized, short version

1. Counteract negative “got to do” thinking by mentally listing what you “get to do” today.
2. Listen to motivating or inspiring music.
3. Schedule quiet, uninterrupted time to review, reflect and recommit.
4. Show appreciation for someone else.
5. Serve others.
6. If you know your purpose, find time to work in it.
7. Walk in nature.
8. Pray/talk with God.

Do you lead others?

If I’m here writing about filling up your spiritual energy, you better believe I better be living this on the job and helping my team to do the same.

It’s not hard for me to do this.  Employees with life balance (high energy scores in all four sources), will also create higher employee engagement scores.  High employee engagement scores is a leading indicator of that all-important trailing indicator… financial results.  So, if I want profits, then I start with people first.

Here’s two ways how you can role model and influence your team’s spiritual energy scores.

Here are my 2 ways to increase your team’s spiritual energy

1. Communicate the vision and mission in a clear, consistent and inspiring way

Most organizations don’t have a compelling vision or mission.  It’s typically paragraphs of words that no one can remember, let alone how it makes them feel.  But if your company has a one-sentence vision and/or mission (e.g., TED’s mission is two-words… “Spread ideas”), start repeating it frequently in a clear way.  The clarity of it being one-sentence is already in your favor.

Then talk about it in a compelling way.  How does it translate to what you do?  How does it resonate with you oh wise leader?

Employees that feel a connection to the vision and/or mission, will be:

70% more satisfied with their jobs

56% more happy

100% more likely to stay with you or the organization (yep 100%!)

2. Double-down on strengths and avoid weaknesses

We all have natural strengths.  My natural strengths are in strategy and execution.  I’m good at developing/presenting business plans and driving them to completion.  Whereas my husband’s natural strengths are in relationship-building and influencing.  He’s good at selling and socializing with clients.  Flip our jobs and we’d both be horrible at them, and worst hate them.

Just like kids we focus on the C at school than on the natural A’s.  And job reviews show that we want people to become masters of everything.  But getting people to focus MOST of their day on creating a development plan to improve their C grade will make them uncomfortable, totally sad… totally unengaged!  And like I said before… poor engagement leads to poor profitability.

Only 30% of employees say they are doing what they enjoy most at work, and those who didn’t reported being 38% less focused and 49% less happy.

Let’s turn this mindset around.  I do it by having my team take a StrengthFinders 2.0 test to find out their five natural strengths.

Then I use this as a discussion to see which strength is being utilized the most and the least.  And, brainstorm how to improve the least used strength to work in their passion.  Lastly, I swap out tasks that are weak for that person to the person that has that natural strength.

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