Ever heard of high ROI when it comes to your financial well being? Well how about your ROEI? Your return on energy investment. Are the activities you are currently focused on giving you more energy than they draw for you? or maybe the people you’ve surrounded yourself with and the activities you’re prioritizing are primarily “takers”. A reminder to Never let go of the routines with high ROEI (Return on Energy Investment)
The Number 1 in ROEI
The most important and highest ROEI you will ever receive is from investing your time– and more importantly your energy in the right people. Choose who you spend time with very wisely and who you give your energy to as they go hand in hand with your own happiness.
Family
Family is the most difficult, because we have no choice. Our parents are our parents, our kids are our kids, and our siblings are our siblings. They are preselected for us. My personal belief is that family is the one exception to cutting– or better put, we go the extra mile and do everything we can to avoid separation from. When times are tough, we do our absolute best to stick it through and support. However, everyone has their own circumstances and this is always a choice that is your right to make or at least a question worth pondering of, how much time and what conversations to have with family who may be less understanding and supportive of your personal desires
Friends
For what is the point of life if you don’t have your friends
My mother Ara, author of They Called me Alicia
Friends are the most important aspect of life. Happiness and success without the ability to give and share with others, is near meaningless. The greatest thing about friends, is that we choose them– initially out of some form of love and connection, both of which are precious. But as we learn, grow, and better discover our true selves, it is natural that while we will grow closer to some friends there will be others where distance is created– and that’s okay, it’s a part of life and growth. The other great part about friendship is that, because we have consciously chosen our friends– we also have the most control of our choice of friendship as well as our choice to exit a friendship, when it is drawing too much from our spirit.
If you have a circle of friends that you can share your wildest dreams to without fear of judgement and laughter, you’ve probably picked wisely– for all the time, love, support, and energy you give to them– you’re return is one that is positive and beneficial. If on the other hand, you feel the need to withhold your true self in your ability to say what’s on your mind or how you feel without fear of judgment– if you are always the giver when they are in need, but when you’re low and need support, they are nowhere to be found– you may be getting a negative return on your energy investment in this friendship. At times, it is simply honest communication that is needed to heal or it may be time otherwise to move on…
Daily habits
What is the difference between a positive action and a positive habit you ask– consistency and thought process. The first time someone smokes a cigarettes’, they think about they ponder on whether they should or not, look up at those smoking around them, and then say “why not, I’ll give it a try”. The smoker who has been consistent for years, no longer ponders before acting. A positive example would be the person who goes to the gym each day before work. At first it’s a struggle, both mentally and physically. “What will I do? What will I wear? Should I go or maybe I’ll just wait” over time turns into “my gym clothes are ready, my family is aware that this is my time, and I know I’ll feel better after”. The thought process has been altered, because consistent action as been taken…
When it comes to your own habits, I recommend you start by making a list of both habits that do not give you high ROEI (could anything from netflix marathons all the way to drug abuse) and on the other side listing off the habits that do (or would) give you high ROEI (reading, writing, journaling, exercise, meditation, and so forth). This alone won’t solve your problems, but it will help make you more self aware so that next time you are not feeling at your best– the first thought could be, what am I not doing that generally makes me feel good about myself?
Good habits make time your ally while bad habits make time your enemy
James Clear, Atomic Habits
Activities
I’m all for high efficiency, self-improvement, goal-getting mentality, and habits and rituals designed for high performance and success– but sometimes we just need to socialize, enjoy ourselves, be silly, laugh out loud, and pardon my language: chill the f*ck out.
As a child, most of what made us happy, still makes us happy as an adult– It’s why Disney movies are still so damn good. If when you were a kid, you loved nothing more than playing soccer– maybe it’s time to get out of your office and back on the pitch once a week with friends. If you loved playing outside and going for walks in the forest– then lace up and maybe pick up a nice camera and discovery a hobby for your happiness.
Self awareness is just as much about discovering who you are as an adult as it is about remembering who you were and what made you most happy as a child
Coach
Where is my highest ROEI found?
Since having a few good catalysts for reflection recently, I’ve been reminded of how important it is to know which activities give us energy– and to follow them. Which people give us energy– and to stay in close contact with them. And which activities, goals, and people do not…
For myself, waking up early is an example of one of my routines with very high ROEI (Return on energy investment). When I rise early, it ensures that I do not go the day without some form of exercise, reading, and meditation or at least quiet time to myself– all significant parts of my day when it comes to feeling my best. I’ve tested many different morning routines, the one I’ve found most effective was inspired by the “20-20-20 Victory Hour” morning routine, laid out in Robin Sharma’s best seller, The 5am Club
When I’m not at my best, I’ve usually replaced my high ROEI activities for ones that are much lower– watching too many Netflix series, mindless scrolling on Instagram, or self servicing too often. When you forget about or neglect the things that make you feel the best, with the highest amount of ROEI, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your level of happiness and joy. If that is the case, if you’ve fallen off your good habits and replaced them with activities in order to procrastinate and distract yourself– it’s okay, your human, just pick yourself up, stay mindful, and get back on the horse.
So, here are the questions I’ll leave you with to ponder–
What are the activities that give you more energy than they take from you?
Are you following them or have you temporarily fallen off?
Do the people you hangout with most often give you more energy than they draw from you?