Mark Conner Personal Development, Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 13 – Energy

Many years ago, I experienced what I would call an ‘emotional valley’ that lasted for over 6 months. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me but it took everything within me just to make it through the next meeting, the next appointment, or the next project. My mood was higher when something was done, rather than when I was leading up to it or during the event or experience. I felt overwhelmed a lot of the time and didn’t have the energy to think much beyond what I was doing at any given moment. It was subtle but very debilitating. 

Everything in my life on the outside was going well – my family, my friendships and my job – but something was clearly wrong. 

With the help of a personal coach, I came to realize that I had been living at an unsustainable pace. I would go on a work trip to India for two weeks, come back on a Friday then speak at my church five times on the weekend, then head to the USA on the Monday. 

As a result, my emotions were simply shutting down, refusing to live at this breakneck speed. They only seemed to provide me with enough energy for what was directly in front of me .. and only just. I had nothing left over in reserve nor could I get excited about anything much beyond each day. I was suffering from a form of adrenaline exhaustion.

It took time to come out of this valley. There was no instant fix or snapping out of it. I had to slow down, take more time off, rest more, and lower the high expectations I had on myself when it came to productivity. I shared openly with my family, my friends and a few close team members at work about what was going on. They were a helpful support to me during this time.

What I’ve learned since then is that managing our energy is even more important than managing our time. After all, energy is one of our greatest resources – but it is a limited commodity.

Have you noticed that nature operates on a very clear rhythm or cycle.

  • The sun rises and then the sun sets.
  • The tide goes out then the tide comes back in.
  • We breath out and then we breath in. It wouldn’t be a good day if all we did was breathe OUT!
  • If you connect your heart to an ECG machine, your heart beat goes in waves like this … If the line is flat, you are in big trouble! Yet that is how we often live our life – we go and we go and we go!

Self care teaches us the importance of balancing activity with rest, engagement with disengagement. In fact, to be fully engaged with any activity you need commensurate times of disengagement – for recovery and renewal. 

I prefer to see life as a series of sprints rather than a marathon. Marathon runners are amazing people but have you noticed how thin and gaunt they often look – kind of like greyhounds! That’s because they run and they run and they run and they run … seemingly never stopping. In contrast, sprinters often look pretty muscular. That’s because as intense as the race is, in a 100 or 200 metres they will be resting again. 

One of the ways to improve your productivity is to work in 90-minute increments. Focus fully on one thing for 90 minutes then have a break. Take a walk, eat a piece of fruit, grab a drink. Then do another 90 minutes. You can probably do 4 or 5 blocks of work in a day. If you do this, you will be far more productive than if you work continually – which will subject you to what is called “the law of diminishing returns.”

Let’s recap our main points:

  • Adrenaline exhaustion is a subtle form of burnout. 
  • Managing our energy is even more important than managing our time. 
  • Create a life rhythm that balances activity with rest, engagement with disengagement. 
  • View life as a series of sprints rather than a marathon. 
  • Try working in focused blocks of time for 90 minutes, a few times a day.

That brings us to the end of our series on ‘Self Care’. I hope you have enjoyed it and found the conversations helpful in looking after yourself. Self-care is not selfish! The best gift you can give others is YOU being a healthy person – in every area of your life. 

You can find written transcripts of each episode on the Soul Food BLOG page. Details are on the resources page at the end of this video. 

This has been Episode 13 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. 

See you next week! 

Visit the Soul Food YouTube channel to watch this episode. For other social media platforms, see https://linktr.ee/markconner.

Many of the concepts on managing energy in this episode were gleaned from the book The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr.

For more in-depth insights about avoiding burnout, see my book How to Avoid Burnout: Five Habits for Healthy Living.

Mark Conner Personal Development, Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 12 – Diet

Did you know that the average life span for Australian men is now 80 years of age and for women, it is 84? But the ‘health adjusted life expectancy’ (or HALE) is only 69 for men and 71 for women. Research tells us that we are living longer but that the last decade of our lives is often unhealthy. The number one cause? Obesity. Over 1/3 of Australian adults are overweight as are 1/4 of our children. This one factor alone is affecting our life expectancy and our quality of life due to its impact on cardiovascular diseases.

My theory is that the best gift I can give my family and my loved ones is to endeavor to live as long a life as possible and be as healthy as I can … within my power.

You can watch this episode on video at the Soul Food YouTube Channel.

Over 3 years ago, Nicole and I moved to a more whole food, plant-based diet. This was for health reasons with both of us having a history of high cholesterol and heart disease in our family. We have both benefited from this change, in increased energy, cholesterol reduction, and weight loss (for myself particularly).

I’ve lost over 10 kilograms in that time. 

I’ll never forget bringing in the groceries a while back and Nicole noted that one bag of oranges weighs 3 kgs. By losing 10 kgs, it was the equivalent of me no longer carrying around over 3 bags of oranges! No wonder my energy and vitality has increased. 

Dr. Michael Gregor is the author of the best-selling book How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. In this book, he talks about the 13 leading causes of death in our time and shows how each one of them is affected by our diet, can be prevented by a healthy diet, and can even be reversed by adopting a healthier diet. His main point: we will all die one day … but why die of something totally preventable!

Imagine if instead of putting petrol into your car, you pour in gravel, oil, cordial, grass, and stones. Eventually, your car will break down. If you believe in God, you could pray and say, “God please heal my car!” Well, maybe God could heal your car … but will God heal your car? Probably not! You’ve been putting things into it that it was never designed to run on.

I think you get the point.

What we eat on a daily basis has a bigger affect on our health than anything else we do. 

Increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables and decreasing your intake of sugars and processed foods will make an immediate difference to your health. In fact, of you want to lose weight, I think you’ll find that what you eat is even more important than the exercise you engage in.

Talk to a doctor or a dietitian if you need some help. But why not start making some small changes … today. Replace unhealthy foods with healthier alternatives. After all, every bite is a net gain or loss when it comes to our health. As they say, “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!”

It’s very important to note that obesity is a complex topic and is affected by social factors as much as nutritional ones. Food choices are massively influenced by income, knowledge, and skills.

Let’s recap our main points:

  1. We are living longer but less healthy lives. 
  2. Many sicknesses and diseases are preventable and even reversible by adopting a healthy diet. 
  3. What we eat on a daily basis has a bigger effect on our health than anything else we do.

That’s all for today. This has been Episode 14 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. See you next week!

P.S. There are many excellent resources and books about diet. I recommend the following but do speak with your doctor and compare the various opinions:

To listen to a 20-minute message on ‘How to Improve Your Physical Health’, visit Mark’s podcast channel.

Mark Conner Personal Development, Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 11 – Exercise

Did you know that the average person sits for 8 hours a day … and it’s killing us! That’s a lot of time being sedentary. 

Our bodies were made for movement and one of the best things you can do each day for your own well-being is to move – to engage in some form of exercise. We are at our best when we are active and taking in plenty of fresh air. When I was dealing with some lower back pain a few years ago, my physiotherapist said to me, “Motion is lotion!”

Some of you might enjoy playing a sport, running, riding a bike, or working out at a gym. I played basketball for many years. But even if you’re not into intense exercise or cardio workouts, one thing we can all do is walk. And it’s one of the best forms of exercise. 

You can watch this episode on video on the Soul Food YouTube Channel.

Nicole and I have a pet dog – a cute little pugalier named Nikki. We love her company but we also love the fact that she needs us to walk her a couple of times every day – rain, hail, or shine. We love to get outside and walk to the nearby park together. Walking clears the head, gets our bodies moving, and gives us the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation at the same time.

When you walk, it’s a good idea to take a different path from time to time. Get out into nature. Find a local park, creek, or forest. Wandering or meandering into new places and unknown spaces is good for the brain and it’s been proven to prevent dementia.

Let’s recap our main points:

  1. We spend way too much time sitting each day. Stand up and move around every 60-90 minutes. 
  2. Our bodies were designed for movement. 
  3. Walking is one of the best exercises we can engage in.

That’s all for today. This has been Episode 11 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. See you next week!

P.S. There are many excellent resources and books about exercise. One book that I recommend is Eat, Move, Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath.

For a simple daily exercise plan, consider the 5BX, or 5 basic exercises. It was developed by Dr. Bill Orban for the Royal Canadian Air Force back in the 1950s (the original video can be watched on YouTube). It requires no equipment and takes a maximum of 11 minutes a day. There is a separate progressive plan for men and for women based on your age group.

Mark Conner Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 10 – Sleep

Did you know that in the ancient Hebrew worldview the day begins in the evening? If you have ever read the creation stories in the book of Genesis, you will notice the refrain, “… and the evening and the morning were the first day” then “… and the evening and the morning were the second day.” etc …

They began their day with rest and sleep in the evening … then went out to work in the morning. 

In the Western world, we tend to go to work in the morning then come home and crash in the evening, eventually going to sleep to ‘recover’ from the day. 

It’s quite a paradigm shift to think about filling yourself up FIRST … then living out of a place of fulness, rather than finishing the day on EMPTY and trying to recover.

You can watch a video of this episode on the Soul Food YouTube Channel.

Sleep – we all need it. Experts tell us that the average person needs about around 7-8 hours each day. Sure, we can get away with only a few hours sleep from time to time … but sleep is a bit like a bank account. We make deposits and we make withdrawals. If our withdrawals are more than our deposits, things start to bounce. 

A healthy sleep rhythm is essential for maintaining health and fitness. Sleep is your brain and body’s prime time for renewal and replenishment.

Here are a few tips for getting a good night’s sleep:

  1. Make sure the room you sleep in is as dark as possible.
  2. Invest in a comfortable mattress and a quality pillow.
  3. Get on hour or so of sleep before midnight, if you can.
  4. Avoid eating or drinking after 8.00 pm. That way your stomach isn’t digesting all night.
  5. Avoid too much stimulating mental activity late at night.
  6. Take a ‘power nap’ during the day if you need a top up.

Sleep – it’s an important part of self-care. In fact, a good night’s sleep can make the difference between a good day and a miserable one.

Let’s recap our main points:

  1. Sleep is vital for our well-being.
  2. We all need 7-8 hours of sleep a night. 
  3. Sleep is like a bank account – we need to ensure we are making more deposits than withdrawals. 
  4. Do everything possible to ensure a good night’s sleep. 

That’s all for today. Here’s to a good night’s sleep. This has been Episode 10 of Soul Food with Mark Conner. See you next week!

P.S. There are many excellent resources and books about sleep. One book that I recommend is Eat, Move, Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath. See also my previous BLOG post on The Beauty of Sleep.