Powerful Questions Podcast: What brings you energy and joy?

Finding answer to this question for yourself can change how you feel in your daily life, how balanced you are. And having more energy on a daily basis, you can invest it into whatever it is that is important to you and achieve more in every area of your life.

So how can you find out what it is for you that brings you energy?

Start by answering a couple of questions for yourself.

Question number one: List the things that you can do in 5 minutes that will make you feel happier, more energized and joyful. It can be anything: watching a cat video on the internet, looking at the pictures of your loved ones, doing some excercise even if it's just for 5 minutes, breathing deeply, meditating, drinking a cup of tea on the balcony. List as many things as you can possibly think of. Add to the list when you notice that whatever you did in your day has made you feel more energized. And make sure you include the things you have listed into your life every day!

Do not tell yourself that you have no time for this – because in the end, it will save you time. Being more energized will help you complete other tasks more quickly and to be more productive. So it is not really spending time, it's investing time.

Question number two: What are the activities that bring you into the state of flow? State of flow, or being "in the zone" is a feeling of being fully immersed in an activity, being in a state of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment of the process. You are completely absorbed by what you are doing and do not even notice the time flying by. Being aware of the activities that bring you in this state and including them into your life as much as possible will make you more happy and successful in the long run.

Question number three: What are you so passionate about that you can tell others about it for hours at a time? What really interests and fascinates you? What awakes your curiosity and love of learning? Find out what it is and follow the interest.

Ok, these were already three questions for this episode. And there is one more thing I want you to do. And it's to think: what is it that doesen't bring you joy? What are the activities that you hate doing? What drains your energy and leaves you empty and not able to do more? Are there people whom you never want to see and when you do, you feel like you come out of the meeting with less energy than you had before?

I know it is not fun to think about it, but it is really important to understand what the overall balance in your life is. Are you doing more of the things that energize you? Or are you doing more of the things that drain your energy?

Think about what you can do to minimize the draining activities. Can you outsource some tasks that need to be done but you don't want to do them? Can you stop doing some things, just give them up completely? Can you ask your partner or your roommate to take those over?

And use the time that has freed up to fill it with energizing and joyful activities. Imagine: what would your life feel like if you would just do the things that make you happy? What could you let into your life?

Be joyful – and start today!