No doubt your busy. Although not too busy to read this post but busy enough. We'll keep it short so no one will miss you...;-)

A question, in a variety of forms, consistently asked of us by our coaching clients is how to cultivate energy? Tired of the "knowns", beyond sleep, nutrition & exercise, our coaching partners are a universally seeking lot. They keep us on our toes! A new answer to more energy? Wow, how about a tough question...no more softballs!

So we boiled it down to one word...Imagination. Invigorate your mind with the power of a query. Ask a question then explore where your mind takes you. Modernity asks us to do. The rates at which we are tasked and held accountable often create within us a myopic vision and response loop - achieving the bare minimum, constantly, is tiring. An analogy; imagine running while holding your breath. Just considering that makes me exhausted!

Your imagination is your being's natural rejuvenator. To turn it on you only need to ask a question. My favorite two prompts for instant energy;

1. Spin a globe and point to a spot and ask myself what is my contemporary doing at that location right now?
2. Ask myself, what would my day look like a few hundred years ago?
   

Five minutes meandering around my mind - wondering, imagining, jotting a few thoughts down - releasing myself from the weight of the energy draining tasks and loops where I spend most of my time, acts like a leavening agent.

Feeling tired or sluggish? Go ahead & cultivate the limitless dynamic of the powerful resource always at your disposal; your imagination! Don't worry, it doesn't age, wear out or rust. You'll know it when you find that child-like exuberance wrapped around the dust covered discards of your youth. Enjoy!

However arranged, words convey and illuminate. They are tools. Arranged poorly (as readers of the 1st & 15th are keenly familiar) they can be more confusing, at first pass, than illuminating but grammar and sentence construction are for another post. This writer tends towards the poetic and firmly places faith in the reader's power of discernment.

Details of syntax and construction aside the power is in the story itself. If the confusion conveys a spark of an idea then no matter the author's intent, potential resides within the inspiration. Therein lies the chaos, serendipity and power of creation.

To create is often the goal of organizational enterprise. For-Profit, Non-Profit, Civic, Familial...collections of individuals usually seek to create...something. Be it tangible or not we collect/gather, explore, consider, keep or discard and begin anew with our lessons.

The challenge for organizational leaders (elders, coaches, supervisors, mentors, parents, etc.) is prompting participants to cultivate and provide energy to the shared enterprise. This task is endless and is the leading cause for indecipherable instruction sets, boring meetings, meaningless training and boundless vessels of wasted time. Not due to misdirected intention mind you, quite the opposite in fact; remember it's good intentions that pave the way to Hades!

The power of story is well documented. If you seek additional confirmation, look at the face of a captivated child as they listen to a story. The question though is why? From where does the power of story arise? We offer that the answer lies in the opportunity for each listener to hear themselves through the story. The story, created from the lines & curves that combine to create letters which when combined create words offer each person an endless opportunity to discern their unique views of the world around them and how they connect to it. Story allows the individual to see their strengths, potential and possibility. A prism that unleashes the resourceful nature of each person. For employers and leaders a simple, highly effective tool with the added benefit of being readily available.