Mental Energy: Appropriate Focus & Realistic Optimism

“Thoughts are mental energy; they’re the currency that you have to attract what you desire. Learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don’t want.” (Wayne Dyer)

“A figurine of a stormtrooper under a desk lamp with an incandescent light bulb” by James Pond on Unsplash

Just as physical energy is the fundamental fuel for emotional competencies, so it is the fuel from mental skills. Nothing so interferes with performance and engagement as the inability to concentrate on the task at hand. To perform at our best we must be able to sustain concentration, and to move flexibly between broad and narrow, as well as internal and external focus. We also need access to realistic optimism, a paradoxical notion that implies seeing the world as it is, but always working positively toward a desire outcome or solution. Anything that prompts appropriate focus and realistic optimism service performance. The key support of muscles that fuel optimal mental energy include mental preparation, visualization, positive self talk, effective time management, and creativity.

Much as it is true physically and emotionally, mental capacity is derived from a balance between expanding and recovering energy. The capacity to stay appropriately focused and realistically optimistic depends on intermittently changing mental channels in order to rest and rejuvenate. When we lack the mental muscles we need to perform at her best — if we have too short an attention…