006. managing your energy for success

In this insightful episode, we delve into the marathon-like journey of entrepreneurship, highlighting the critical role of energy management in fostering business growth and personal well-being. Our exploration begins with the understanding that success in entrepreneurship demands more than just hard work and preparation—it requires a holistic approach to managing one's energy across physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual domains.

Drawing on a compelling comparison between running a marathon and navigating business challenges, we unravel the importance of resilience, the art of change, and the power of coherence in sustaining entrepreneurial efforts. Through the narrative of Harry, a thrice entrepreneur, we examine the often-overlooked aspects of personal vision and the impact of energy depletion on both professional and personal life.

As we navigate various dimensions of resilience, inspired by the insights from the HeartMath Institute, we offer practical strategies for enhancing energy and resilience. From the significance of pausing and embracing silence to the rejuvenating power of positive memories, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for founders seeking to maintain their drive and avoid burnout.

Join us as we explore the intricate dance of managing energy, not just for business success but for the holistic well-being that underpins lasting achievement. Whether at the start of your entrepreneurial journey or looking to rekindle your passion, this episode reminds you of the inner resources we must cultivate to thrive in the long run.

Don't forget to subscribe to "business is art" for more episodes that blend the art of business with personal growth, innovation, and the pursuit of impact.

Creators & Guests

Host

Ramon Estrada T

Executive Coach for Founders

What is business is art?

This is a show about successful entrepreneurship.

Unlike other shows about successful entrepreneurship, only we dig into the founder’s and leaders’ journey from purpose, mindset, strategies, and tactics to making an impact and achieving exponential growth.

Ramon: 00:01

Successful entrepreneurship and growing a company requires time, requires a lot of effort and of course preparation, proper team, many many things. And that's why it has been compared to running a marathon because it's not something that you can do on the short term. To run 42 and plus kilometers, you need to train very, very hard. You need to be physically fit to wear their proper clothes, to have, I don't know, the gadgets, supporters, but eventually, you also need to have the proper mindset. But there's also something key that you need to do, you need to manage your energy properly.

Ramon: 00:45

So let's talk about energy for successful entrepreneurship and business growth.

Narrator: 00:51

Business artists learn how to channel their purpose, vision and talents while navigating the proper strategies and tactics in their companies to impact the world for good. No more business as usual. I'm Ramon Estrada and this is Business is Art.

Ramon: 01:14

Our mind works in extraordinary ways.

Ramon: 01:18

Probably everything that is happening around us, it's being received by our mind, by our senses and everything is there. But unless, we are conscious about certain things, we will not address this. In 1992, during the presidential election in the US, there were a lot of ideas on how Bill Clinton could win the election versus the president back then, who was George Bush. But until someone named James Cardwell, one of his, let's say, advisors, he found out that it was all about the money, about the economy. He even coined this term, it's the economy stupid.

Ramon: 02:01

So all of the efforts from Bill Clinton's campaign came to talk about that, the economy and how improving the economy could help Americans back then. For successful entrepreneurship and business growth, sometimes, I think there are so many options and resources right now talking about techniques on digital marketing, on finance, pitching, motivating the team, blah blah blah. And I think that's needed and even business schools are there showing the path for all the techniques and all the, let's say, the conscious part of the work that entrepreneurs and business owners need to do. But there's something that is lacking and that I think it's really important, especially when we hear about the mental health day everywhere in the world that we are right now facing a lot of emotional problems, but what it's on the line there, it's the energy. Let me tell you about one of my, well, one of my friends and actually, he's, a nuclear lion for me, let's call him Harry.

Ramon: 03:12

When we were having our initial conversation, Harry was telling me how he has been an entrepreneur three times during the last 7 years or so. In this last work, actually, he's more like an entrepreneur. He's a business developer for a manufacturing company and he told me, right now, he has a clear idea with his board, with his team about where the company needs to go. He's the person responsible for almost all the decisions. In a way, he's, an integrator, he's a person that make things happen, but has a little bit, not much of, responsibility on deciding how the business goes because he's working, he's a minor, one of the, let's say, shareholders, but he's not the majority.

Ramon: 04:03

So he needs to work for other people. But what was on the line there was an issue that he was not really clear about what was his personal vision on his role in the company. And I noticed this because he was actually thinking about leaving his company. He he had some stake in the game there. He was actually, doing okay money wise, but there was something lacking there and when I was listening to him, there was what in coaching we call it the music in his words and it's going beyond what he was telling me and I had this sense on resonating resonation in me that there was this lack of energy.

Ramon: 04:51

There was not a lot of excitement about how he viewed himself in, not only his business, let's say professional work, but also his personal life. There was something missing really. He was not I could say or something came came into my mind that he was running on fumes. He was not that energized as the person that I met 5 years ago before when the 2 of us, we were entrepreneurs in different companies. What I'm heading here is that actually, energy is something really important.

Ramon: 05:29

Why? Because it's what will allow us to eventually do the work, to reach our goals. Once we have a destination, a clear objective for us and we know where we are standing, we can trace a path. We can start walking and and executing the plan. And for that to happen, we need to understand something that we will need fuel.

Ramon: 05:54

We will need energy. We will need calories to do the work. Going back to the marathon metaphor. I think that, eventually, when you are running, you will start depleting your energy. You will start feeling tired or eventually, you will be thirsty.

Ramon: 06:12

So you will need to be drinking some water, some liquid that will replenish you. It happens the same when we are running a business. What Harry told me is that he was tired of pushing. So have you thought about what you're doing in your business or in the responsibilities that you are facing? Are you pushing?

Ramon: 06:36

Maybe you should really focus on how much energy you still have to keep on pushing, but just the image of pushing makes me think of a lot of effort, right, about things that you need to be doing. Something that, the HeartMath Institute from California came up with is that there is this concept called resilience and resilience is something related to energy. What resilience is? Actually resilience, I am quoting the HeartMath Institute is the capacity to prepare for, recover from, and adapt in the face of a stress, challenge, or adversity. As business owners, as founders, we should realize something that we should manage the art of change because growth, launching something, making an idea to happen requires change, requires the idea to be something ethereal, something in the air, something that people could say it's inside our head to manifest it, to make it clear, to use the resources, the work of other people for that to happen, for that to be a success and HeartMath Institute realized something that it's, in my opinion, something magical is that we need to be able to learn to build this resilience capacity and in that way, we can sustain our energy.

Ramon: 08:14

So successful entrepreneurship and launching a company in many, many ways, when I have been reading about the reasons why people fail in their in in their ventures or they quit or they get even, I don't know, a lot of interpersonal conflicts with, partners or even part of the team. I think it has to do with these people running in fumes. This happened to me when I was, launching, actually, I was managing 2 2 different startups at the same time talking about not being focused and my energy eventually depleted. And I was not the best version of myself. I knew that.

Ramon: 08:57

I was not a great leader and actually, I started to face a lot of symptoms that we could call burnout. And that's the b word that Harry told me. I'm a I am burnt out. I mean, I cannot move forward. I am tired.

Ramon: 09:15

Of course, I will not leave this job and I will not leave this company because I have a family. I have responsibilities. So going back to hard math, let's think about ourselves as these energy centers in 4 domains, let's say. The first one is that we have a physical domain. We have a body.

Ramon: 09:37

Right? Actually, you are listening to me because you have ears, you have the sense of listening. So the body is quite important to realize that it's not, it's not secondary when we want to achieve our goals, where we want to reach results. And sometimes, I think that our brain or our, let's call it conscious mind, this the thinking part is the one that it's ruling the body and we don't even realize how tired we are, how tense we are and this is important because if we don't realize and we don't take the time to pause and to realize how tired we are, we will lose all our endurance. We will not be strong enough to keep on, let's say, pushing.

Ramon: 10:26

Maybe pushing it's the wrong word because eventually, ideally, things should move by themselves. Right? Because how strong do we need to be pushing for a result for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years, who knows? Really long. So there's a physical dimension.

Ramon: 10:45

There's also an emotional dimension. So talking about burnout, talking about really very, very stressed, what happens to us? Do you think that you are going to be really calm? Are you going to feel peaceful, joyful? I think it's the other way around.

Ramon: 11:02

Right? Probably, it's really hard to self regulate and when somebody brings a problem, instead of helping this person to come up with the result probably, with close the door and say, hey, listen. Don't bring me problems. Bring me results. That's what I have seen in a lot of the old paradigm in management.

Ramon: 11:25

It's about controlling and for people to solving their problems by themselves, but I think we should be calm, we should be joyful, we should be even open open for our emotions to show up and many of the interpersonal communication problems come out of these because we close ourselves, we don't allow our emotions even to be shared. I'm not saying about exploding when we are in anger or sadness and showing everybody what, what's happening to us, but it's also about maybe sharing and say, hey, listen. Right now, I am very very sad about this thing that happened and this thing that happened could even be in our personal life. Our dog is sick, something happened to, I don't know, our our parents, our kids, who knows? And when we are allowed to share these with other people, the burden, these, let's say, these energies starting to move because emotions in a way come from the from the root e motion.

Ramon: 12:37

Motion means movement and they can be part of the word of energy. So we have this emotional dimension as well and the 3rd dimension is usually called, let's call it mental. It has to do with our mindset, with our capacity to create thoughts, with our capacity to come up with ideas and even our ability to focus. So what's the problem if we don't have mental resilience? The problem with that is that we are scattered all over the place.

Ramon: 13:12

We don't have the ability to really to find the solutions to certain problems because we we're not able to go deep enough. We are not able to have multiple points of view of what's happening and this is extremely important when we are launching a company because we need to be as open minded as possible because there are things that are not going to be part of the business plan, right? When you are making something new or even growing, you are on the edge. You don't know the path because it's probably the first time that you are doing that. So you need clarity and clarity, if you think about it, when you have 1,000 things to do and probably, they are all in the same priority, once you're clear enough about what's really important and you can delegate, this brings you peace.

Ramon: 14:09

This brings you focus. This allows you to really delegate and to make sure that the things are accomplished and you are really back into the game and there's a 4th one that it's called the spiritual domain according to hard math, but let's not get here religious or something like that. When it's meant or said to be spiritual, what it means is that it is beyond ourselves. It's a feeling that we are all connected. I have to ask you, is this true or not?

Ramon: 14:43

Think about your clothes. Your clothes, did you create them? Did you weave the textile to make your clothes? How are you being fed? All these things come from someone else, from somewhere else about the energy.

Ramon: 15:01

Again, for your laptop or your iPhone, your mobile phone where you're listening to this podcast. We are part of an interconnected society and actually that's how nature is. The water comes from clouds from somewhere else, the rivers, the water, even the sun. The sun is I don't know how many, kilometers or whatever away from us, but it's there. So we're we're not an island.

Ramon: 15:36

So the more connected we think that we are, we can think of different ways in which we can create an impact and actually, this is important because by thinking about outside, let's say, ourselves, we can really value who we are, our uniqueness and starting realize that everybody else is unique in their own way and we can even be more tolerant about other people's point of view. So the 4 together makes a 5th one, which is the coherence. This coherence has to do with our capacity for our brainwaves and our heartwaves, our electrical current that that we have inside of ourselves work together. So by being coherent, by making these maybe I'm becoming right now a little bit confusing to you, but it has to do with the technical aspect of heart rate variance, variability that I will talk later on on another episodes. So the more open we are on the physical level, emotional level, mental level, and a spiritual level will eventually help us for our ideas, for our being to be in tune.

Ramon: 16:52

So we are acting from our being, which is deeply important instead of only being working from this mental aspect that is making us to reach further to do the effort and to eventually run our energy away. So from this energy aspect has is not something new if you think about it. Actually, there is this discipline, Chinese discipline called, Qigong or Qigong depending on how it's pronounced and it's it has maybe 1,000 of years and the idea behind Qigong is that the word key has to do with this universal energy that it's everywhere and that energy is within us as well because here are some great news. We are part of the universe but sometimes our rational mind makes us feel so special that we are not connected to anything else. So going back to the spiritual dimension and the word Kung or Gong is Chinese for work, for the discipline.

Ramon: 18:00

So we need to develop this key, this energy by doing several things. Otherwise, this energy will go down and will make us feel sick in the physical level, not we are going to be rigid, we're going to have probably headaches, bad digestion or many many things or making us feel weak, right? And emotional, we're going to be grumpy, we're going to be feeling frustrated, it will not allow us to show the best of ourselves and also, we are not going to be clear enough even not feeling that intelligent that could happen and if you're not connected with this key, as I said in the spiritual atmosphere and the spiritual dimension, then we're going to think that it's everything against us. So we are still in this plane, in this way of thinking of subject object, in which everything outside of us is not connected to us. So now that you know these 4 dimensions of resilience and eventually, that by feeling okay, we can say that we are in a coherent state with everything around us and we are going to be feeling powerful, let's just wrap up a little bit about what I said.

Ramon: 19:22

In this, we started talking about how business can be related, business growth, business launching has can be compared to a marathon because it takes time, it takes effort and this aspect, does not happen immediately. Right? So then we talked about that sometimes we don't realize how something is important to us until someone tells us. So this goes back to it's economy stupid. When we are clear that we need this energy, I would like you to focus on which one of the dimensions you are feeling that you are lacking something from the physical point of view, your body, how are you feeling health wise?

Ramon: 20:06

Emotionally, are you really feeling well-being? In the mental side, are you thinking clearly? Is your mind clear? Are you focused or not? And the spiritual parties, are you feeling connected to something else?

Ramon: 20:20

Are you feeling that you are here for a higher purpose than just making money? Are you here to connect with other people, to learn from others, to serve others, your clients or even your team as a leader? Now, what can we do to increase our energy? That's a big question. Right?

Ramon: 20:40

Because I hope that by now, you really want to do some something about it. So here are just three ideas that I want to share with you. The first one has to do with pausing. Yes. When we want to increase our energy, we need to stop doing what we are doing.

Ramon: 20:59

Otherwise, our energy is depleting. It happens with our mobile phone. Right? Sometimes, we need to leave it there and put it on the airplane mode so our our mobile phone charges faster. So this has to do with passing, has to do with sleeping.

Ramon: 21:18

I think, sleeping is underrated. Why? Because passing and sleeping actually seen by many people as I mean, this patriarchal society as a waste of time because it's not allowing us to achieve achieve things. And that's also the idea of having passive income, making money while we're we are sleeping. So sleeping is something important.

Ramon: 21:43

So researching and thinking about how you can sleep better, Maybe just the idea of 1 hour before going to sleep. There are no screens in Europe. You're not watching series on your mobile phone. So it's about disconnecting. It's about taking the time to be more aware of how tired you are, has to do as well, this pausing aspect with relaxation, allowing your body to release all the tension in your body, not only about pumping iron and doing crossfit and feeling exhausted and feeling strong, but it's also releasing all the tension and in that way, the muscles, the joints and even your energy will be replenished.

Ramon: 22:30

The the second aspect has to do with silence. Most of our time, you will notice that when you are tired, probably there are voices in your head and I'm not talking about schizophrenia. I'm talking about all these sometimes it comes like that. We think it they are ideas, but there are these voices that tell us that are criticizing things that we do, telling us that we cannot do things, that we are not good enough, whatever. And these words, need to be silenced.

Ramon: 23:00

So when we are actually in physical silence, not listening to music, this can help us to calm our minds and even to calm our body and this is why breathing and just being conscious of your breathing can help you because if you are breathing consciously, eventually, we will come at a stage in which when we are, inhaling and then exhaling, there's a point in which between the inhaling and exhaling there is a pause and that pause is also silence. There's not even a sound within ourselves about, something else happening outside of us. So it's an inner silence that allows us to start calming ourselves and recharges our energy. And there are ways in which I will be, again, talking about how we can use our breathing, our breath to be more clear to feel better. And this aspect of silence can be really, really enriched when we go to a forest, when we are in a park and we just sit, we are calm and we are aware of the different sounds that are outside, that are external to us and in between those those sounds, eventually, we will notice that at some moment, nothing is there.

Ramon: 24:28

There are no sounds. This is actually quite a special when you wake up really early in the morning and there are maybe some birds singing and you can listen to the wind but there are moments where there's no sound. That silence is quite rich. And the third one has to do with good memories. If I ask you right now, can you bring into your mind a moment in which you felt really energized?

Ramon: 24:58

When you felt that you were physically strong, but in a way strong but relaxed when there was no tension, when you were not pushing again, when you were just being yourself in a healthy way and emotionally you felt joy, you felt love, you felt peace, When in your mind, you were there open to whatever happened, you were being creative, you were focused and you were feeling okay, what comes into your mind? There should be an image. Don't look for it. And once that happens, I would like to ask you to really go in into this memory and being in that memory at that time. So once you are there, once you are seeing what you're seeing, listening to what you're listening, I'm feeling what you're feeling, really take your time to explore, to discover what happened in that moment.

Ramon: 26:04

And just by being there, maybe you can even go further into what you were seeing with curiosity, what you were listening to and especially what you were feeling. This really helps me in the moments wherein I am probably in a rush with so many things to do, running out of ideas. Going back to something that it's in our mind, that it's embedded let's say in our nervous system can really help us because you and I, we all know that we are comparing most of the time how we're feeling today with, I don't know, another benchmark, another moment and it's important for us to realize that these moments that we cherish, that we want to relieve, Many times we have felt that. So we have a stock of wonderful emotions that emotions and experiences that you can go back but it's also part of the previous 2, of taking the time to pause, of realizing where we are, where we want to go, and maybe this experience in silence can be part of the fuel to reach to a better self, to go to a better result, and to create a positive impact in the world.

Ramon: 27:40

Thank you so much for listening. Godspeed.

Narrator: 27:44

Thanks for listening to Business is Art and if you like what you heard, subscribe to the show, so you will be notified when a new episode drops. You can also check for more free resources at business is dot art or check your show notes for a link. Godspeed.