The power of full engagement

Why full engagement is so important to us as humans? and how to achieve it?
The power of full engagement isn’t something we normally think about. In fact, most of us don’t even know what it means to be fully engaged. But what if I told you that full engagement can lead to a happier life? What if I told you that full engagement is the key to your personal growth and development?

Do you want a better job, a healthier relationship, or better grades? If so, then the power of full engagement is for you.

1. Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance

You can be fully engaged for one hour and disengaged for another; you can be fully engaged for one second and disengaged for another.
In that case, it is NOT about time. It is about energy.
Fully engaged people are highly energetic and feel good when they are on a mission to achieve their goals in life. They live in the now. They aren’t thinking about the past or future but are completely focused on the present moment. They also practice “energy rituals” every day to help them perform even better in life. (Energy rituals are like a mental ritual – they make us feel good
Full engagement is what causes us to be creative, innovative, and productive. It is the ultimate source of happiness in life. If you can learn to be fully engaged in everything that you do, the results will be unbelievable. You will feel happy and fulfilled even if you are an employee with a boring job or a student at an Ivy League school.

2. The four sources of energy

There are four sources of energy: physical energy, mental energy, spiritual energy, and emotional energy.

Physical Energy

The physical body should feel rested and energized enough to perform at peak levels for extended periods of time without getting tired or stressed out.
Physical energy can be improved through:
• Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.  Sleep is when your body repairs itself.  Stress drains your energy and makes you tired during the day.
• Eating a balanced diet.  Eating correctly ensures that you are getting enough nutrients to help your body perform at its peak.
• Getting enough exercise.

Mental Energy

The mind and body should feel rested, relaxed and responsive enough to perform at peak levels for extended periods of time. The mind should be alert and focused even under stressful circumstances.
Mental energy can be improved through:
• Eliminating all negative thoughts from your life
• Eliminating all TV, films and other negative entertainment from your life (at least temporarily). Negativity is poison to the mind and soul.
• Practicing “energy rituals” every day to help you perform better in life.
• Practicing any form of meditation and/or yoga.

Spiritual Energy

The spirit should be focused on the journey and not the destination, feeling comfortable with uncertainty, ambiguity, and change.
Spiritual energy can be improved through:
• Ignoring all negative spiritual thoughts from your life
• Giving up all material possessions for charity or for a cause you believe in.

Emotional Energy

The emotional body should feel full of positive emotions (effervescent positive energy) that are stimulating to our mind and body.
Emotional energy can be improved through:

• Practicing “energy rituals” every day to help you perform better in life.
• Practicing any form of meditation and/or yoga.

Emotional intelligence can be improved through:

• Meditation ranks number one on the list of most effective stress relievers for mind and body. It creates a feeling of well-being and diminishes levels of stress hormones, endorphins, and adrenaline in the blood which helps you cope with daily challenges and attain higher levels of performance. You should start to meditate at least 30 min. each day, until it becomes part of your routine (this will do wonders for you).
• Mindfulness helps you to become more aware of your mind and body so that you can notice when you are “stuck” on a thought or feeling.
• Meditation will help you to calm down and have a clear mind for when you are about to perform at your best.
• Yoga helps you to increase flexibility, enhance mental and physical well-being, and strengthen both the inner and outer muscles of the body.

3. You should be either fully engaged, or strategically disengaged

Achieving a state of full engagement or strategic disengagement is all about being at the right place at the right time. You have to put yourself in situations where you will be fully engaged at all times. If you find yourself in a place where you are not engaged, then be strategically disengaged so that you can focus on your energy rituals that will help you perform better in life (your ultimate source of happiness in life).

The place to practice strategic engagement and disengagement is at work. Being an employee with a boring job is a fact of life for most people (especially if they are just starting out). Most employees are sitting behind desks working 8 hours per day. This situation is not conducive for being fully engaged. If you are bored or unhappy at work, then you will be too distracted to be fully engaged and thus, will lead to your unhappiness and lack of productivity.

Another place to practice strategic disengagement is in your relationships with family and friends. If you are bored or unhappy with your family or friends, then that means that they are boring or unhappy with you (and they probably should be). When this happens, it becomes a strategic disengagement situation so that more energy can be channeled into relationships where there exists a reciprocal energy exchange in the form of friendship and love among family members and friends.

4. You should have a mental plan for every situation in your life

Every time you perform an action, whether it be brushing your teeth or going to work, make sure that you are fully engaged in everything that you do. When you do this, you won’t be thinking about the past or the future but will be entirely focused on the present moment. This is because there will not be any negative thoughts or emotions floating around in your mind, which take up space and lead to unhappiness and lack of productivity. When this happens, it will feel as if time has slowed down for you (and everyone else around you).

When you are at work, don’t get involved in office politics. You should be working on your own personal development and not worrying about the boss or other employees. If you do get involved in office politics, then you will most likely be negatively affected. When this happens, it will take up mental energy that could be used for something more productive or enjoyable. You should also avoid negative gossiping and complaining as well (this is where most office politics comes from).

The same goes for relationships with family members and friends. If you are a close personal friend or family member and you start to complain, then you become a negative influence on everyone else and can take up mental energy (and therefore, physical energy) that could be used for more productive activities.

5. You should have a spiritual plan for every situation in your life

Your spiritual plan is different from your mental plan because it has to do with your innermost thoughts and feelings about how life is going to unfold for you. It is kind of like a belief system that you constantly remind yourself about that will help shape your life. A belief system for every situation in your life can be a constant reminder to yourself that there is an invisible natural flow to the universe, which is always looking out for you (if you just believe in it and trust it).

The moment that you consciously denote a pattern or flow to the universe, this will make it happen. The reason why is because your subconscious mind goes into action, finding random events and coincidences that confirm what you have said about this magical flow and pattern (this can sometimes lead to synchronicity or déjà vu).

So what is your spiritual plan for every situation in your life? Can you see how all the pieces of the puzzle come together to support you? This is a very important question that will lead to self-awareness and happiness.

6. You should be consciously self-aware, in every situation in your life

There is no room for self-deception in the performing arts. You have to be completely honest with yourself at all times and very objective in your judgments. When you are self-aware and honest with yourself, then you will know what to do (or not do) to improve your body, mind and spirit for the better.

Self-awareness is about a constant evaluation of who you are as a person. You should be constantly evaluating both positive and negative traits that you possess or are lacking in order to see where you currently stand as a person (whether positive or negative). You should also evaluate who you would like to become over time so that it becomes part of your personal plan.

When you become more self-aware, you will develop more positive traits that will make you a better performer (and person in general).

7. You should be constantly motivated by your vision of who you want to be

What happens when you get lost on the road or don’t know what to do? You can’t very well rely on your memory in these situations because there are no retinal or cortical cues to remember how to continue and there is no sense of direction either. In this case, all you have are your instincts and intelligence (your own set of rules) to rely on for survival. The same goes for life in general.

In order to be very successful, you have to constantly be motivated by what you want to achieve in life (the vision or goal that you set for yourself) or else you will fall into a state of aimlessness. This is not conducive to being very happy because your life feels purposeless and random.

In order to avoid this, always have an air of purpose in your life and always be working towards a goal or vision that is bigger than yourself. When this happens, it will feel as if life itself has a purpose (or meaning) for everyone and everyone is working towards the same purpose (which makes the world a more connected place).
When you realize that life has a purpose and everyone is working towards the same purpose, then it can be very satisfying to be alive. When this happens, your whole sense of happiness increases because you are living a very fulfilling life.

You should be able to focus on the task at hand and not let your mind wander off into other things that are not important. This freedom from distraction will allow you to be very creative in your physical performance and express a new, unique style that is all your own.
When you can completely focus, then there is no room for random thoughts floating around that don’t serve any purpose.