Protect Yourself From Energy Drainers

Do you feel emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted after being with certain people? These people can just deplete and consume the positive energy out of your lives.  Most of the time, you just move on. But when you are feeling drained by them continuously it is time to start thinking about what you can do to free yourselves from these energy drainers.

On a piece of paper, list some actions you can take to free yourself from negative people and the energy-drainers in your life.  Before taking action on any of these items, take a good long look at the situation and ask yourself why this is an energy drainer.  Your actions may include experiencing the emotions and then let them go, limit contact with certain individuals, and simply not attending the events that drain you.

On a positive note, energy drainers in your life can be a blessing in disguise. That has been my personal experience. I used to spend quite a lot of time with this individual that I wanted to help, but she keeps on draining my energy, telling lies and showing how untrustworthy she is. Through my interaction with her, I was shown that I needed to empower and honour myself, rather than let them take advantage of me and manipulate me. She helps me to learn how to protect myself, choose to focus on what is right and what is good!

Here are some of the signs to look for in regards to an energy drainer:

• They blame everyone and everything else for their problems and never take any responsibility
• They are almost always complaining and making excuses
• They always have an urgent problem (drama queen) and do things last minute
• They intrude on your life and ignore boundaries
• They are always the victim
• They have negative outlook on life and make big deals out of nothing
• They always feel like people are out to get them and even delusional
• They make you feel drained and exhausted

People like that are definitely not contributing to a fantastic friendship or relationship. You need to protect yourself from them. You need to stand up for yourself and your boundaries! Your time, positive energy, and resources are precious and should be closely guarded from energy drainers.

How To Avoid Procrastination

There is a quotation from Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles, which says: “The principles always work if you work the principles”. To me, it does translate into a variation of the work ethic.  This means doing instead of just thinking. 

And doing is synonymous to action, execution, implementation, carrying out – all these convey the active mode as opposed to the passive mode of just thinking, wishing and wanting. 

The human brain knows no limits when it comes to thinking out ways and strategies in dealing with all kinds of problems, but if these strategies and plans are NOT acted upon, they really hold no meaning – they’re like empty blueprints camouflaged in sparkling rhetoric. 

Procrastination pervades every aspect of our lives.  And we’ve mastered it to perfection having learned a subtle form of it when we were babies. 

We delayed falling asleep because our mothers wouldn’t cradle us in her arms.  We’ve procrastinated in performing our duties at home, in school, in the work place, and in our most fragile human relationships.  We shudder to think what the final tally of lost hours will be because we procrastinated habitually.

Procrastination is an expensive habit.  I discovered that one of the ways that helps me avoid procrastination is to figure out the dollar amount of something that was not done because of procrastination. 

It all points to the generally accepted idea that time is money. This alone can serve as a strong motivator not to procrastinate again.  Or at least to try not procrastinate!

Jack Canfield quoted Brian Tracy to drive home the message:  “Life is like a combination lock; your job is to find the right numbers, in the right order, so you can have anything you want”.

Not procrastinating will make us appreciate the life we have now.  And as we build on the small steps, we’d be amazed at how much we can accomplish over the years. In deciding not to procrastinate, you may want to accompany this determination with clear cut and well defined goals. 

In other words, have a goal that is quantified, and not just qualified. 

For example, saying “I will lose weight” is NOT as powerful as “I will lose 10 kilos by 30th September.”  These are concrete data you can work with.  “I will lose weight” sounds noble enough, but let’s be specific, shall we?

Do you have any tips on avoiding procrastination? I'd like to hear them.