How to mimic a high energy drive
Raising your energy by just 8% puts you in the club with the energy elite.
Are you one of those lucky people with insanely high energy drives?
I'm not. Whenever I push myself too hard, trying to stay busy all day and work all night, I get a mean migraine.
The truth is, energy is unequally distributed. Some people have more of it than others. What's possible for your best friend (an all-nighter before an exam, or going to a 9 a.m. lecture after partying till sunrise) may not be possible for you.
This has nothing to do with laziness or lack of willpower. Giving your body more than it can handle will simply lead to collapse – and I learnt that the hard way.
While nobody can magic up a naturally-high energy drive, anyone can raise their energy levels. The good news is that a lot is known about the things that tend to go hand in hand with higher energy, so you can use this knowledge to maximise yours.
A big study published in Nature in 2017 suggests that your genes are directly responsible for just over 8% of your energy levels. (The indirect links are harder to quantify: factors such as mental health also have a role to play.)
So, if you can make yourself just 8% more energetic, you can compete with the crème de la crème!
Four small changes to maximise your energy
You probably don't need another person telling you that sleep and exercise are important in raising your energy levels (I can see you rolling your eyes).
Bear with me! Because what I want to do is suggest four small changes that will substantially improve your sleep quality and tick the exercise box:
Read a (boring academic) book before sleep: Obvious, but how many of us do things on our phones while waiting to dose off? Even though we know the blue light is antithetical to relaxation. By contrast, picking up a paperback copy of the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary to Ecclesiastes sent me to sleep in fifteen minutes.
Don't check your phone until after you've showered: This one is really, really hard at first, but totally worth it. When you pick up your phone as soon as you open your eyes, you're basically inviting other people's needs, wants, and requests to come flooding into your morning. This drains you before you even get out of bed! Delaying it allows you to start the day on your own terms, summoning energy and focus.
Do a daily ten-minute yoga or dance routine: I know, I know! News of the century – exercise gives you energy. I recently failed a twice-weekly exercise plan because so much has been happening, so this month I have committed to a ten-minute daily workout instead. Because you can tell yourself you don't have a spare hour, but ten minutes? Find a video you don't hate and follow it over your morning coffee. Remember, it's only that 8% extra we're after, so every little helps.
Keep your workspace tidy: This is about saving bandwidth. For a student, energy is a precious commodity, so you can't afford to make your brain work harder than it has to. When you sit down at a clear desk, your brain has less filtering to do and can channel more energy to the task of reading The Descent of Man (or whatever).
So even if you didn’t win the energy lottery, you only need to make small changes to become competitive in the world of high-achieving energy monsters. Tweak your routine and see your performance capacity grow.