If you’ve read Change Your Habits Change Your Life, you know that the most successful entrepreneurs in my Rich Habits Study used certain strategies that enabled them to focus for extended periods of time, often ten hours at a time, without feeling drained or losing focus. This ability to focus on tasks for long periods of time enabled these millionaires to accomplish more than their competition, every day.
Since we are all on equal footing when it comes to time, getting more done with the same amount of time makes you more valuable to your boss, your clients, your customers and everyone else who depends on you getting your job done.
So, how did these self-made millionaires get more done?
You’ve probably heard of fusion and fission before.
Fusion is the process that powers all stars in the universe. In the case of our sun, fusion is the conversion of hydrogen to helium. Fusion releases an enormous amount of energy over a long period of time. Average-sized stars, such as our own, can produce this star-power for up to 10 billion years.
Fission is how nuclear power plants produce energy. In this process, the nucleus of a large radioactive atom is intentionally split into two. The energy it releases, although very powerful, pales in comparison to fusion and is very short-lived.
When we engage in any activity, we use one of two types of energy.
Willpower Energy
Every cell in the human body is fueled primarily by glucose and occasionally by ketones. The brain is the largest consumer of glucose and ketones. It uses up to 20% of all of the fuel produced by our bodies every day.
Willpower is conscious exertion, meaning we force ourselves to do something. The cortex, the font of our consciousness, is the newest part of our brain (about 300,000 years old), and controls Willpower Energy.
This forced conscious effort, however, depletes the body’s reserves of glucose within two to three hours. When glucose reserves become depleted, the brain sends a signal to stop engaging in the activity. This is commonly referred to as Decision Fatigue. So, Decision Fatigue is really just the depletion of glucose reserves in the body.
For most people, this ends whatever task they were engaged in. A select few, however, are able to ignore this brain signal and power through Decision Fatigue in order to complete their task. When we fight Decision Fatigue, the brain sends another signal to the liver to produce more glucose, thus restoring our reserves of glucose for another two to three hours.
Willpower Energy is, for this reason, very much like Fission Energy – powerful but short-lived.
Emotional Energy
Our emotions reside in the subconscious parts of our brain, primarily in the Amygdala, which is part of the Limbic System.
The subconscious is very powerful. Far more powerful than our conscious brain. It has evolved over millions of years.
As a result, it is more efficient in performing tasks. For example, the subconscious can multi-task, which is something the conscious brain (cortex) cannot do. The subconscious can control your heart beat, blood flow, keep organs functioning, deploy immune cells to fight invaders, etc.
When you tap into Emotional Energy, you are unleashing the subconscious brain’s enormously powerful energy source. Like fusion, you are releasing your inner star-power.
Because the subconscious is far more efficient and powerful than the conscious part of your brain, Emotional Energy allows you to engage in a task for an entire day, not just two to three hours.
With Emotional Energy, your ability to focus is greater, your ability to focus is long-lived and you can therefore get far more accomplished. And, with Emotional Energy, you can do this every day for many years, without your brain sending you any signals to stop.
You unleash Emotional Energy whenever you pursue anything you are passionate about. This includes dreams and the goals behind those dreams. So, dreams and goals unleash your inner star-power.
This is why pursuing dreams or goals is critical to success. They unleash the star-power that resides in each one of us.
About Thomas C. Corley
What a great article Tom. I loved reading it and the information is so powerful and empowering.
Thanks again! n