Read time: 4 minutes • A quiet moment for you

Hi Reader,

Welcome to my weekly newsletter, designed to help you Rise on Purpose.

Last week, I wrote about travel interruptions. If you missed it, you can read that, and all previous articles, here.

And because a few good words can change the direction of your whole day, I wrote a FREE PDF guide: 7 Things to Tell Yourself Every Day. If you'd like to receive it, hit reply and I'll send it straight to your inbox.

On Conjuring Energy

I had a bunch of introductory calls last week for talks I'm giving this quarter in London.

Meeting new people and preparing a tailored session for each keynote is a challenge I love.

It made me think about where our energy comes from throughout the day and why some days can feel a bit flat, while others leave us buzzing with excitement.

When you're doing something that you are interested in and want to learn more about, energy seems to magically appear.

You can spend an entire morning working through your to-do list, feeling like you're running on empty. Then, as soon as someone mentions something you've been curious about, you're suddenly wide awake.

Questions are filling your mind, you want to know more and you're not watching the clock. It's a great feeling.

It also made me wonder whether we're always as tired as we think we are.

Of course, sometimes we really are exhausted. And no amount of curiosity can replace proper rest. But other times, perhaps what we're experiencing isn't a lack of energy. It's a lack of interest.

We spend so much of our time thinking about what we have to do that we forget to ask ourselves what we want to discover. And perhaps that's where some of our energy is hiding.

Make a little room for more of what makes us feel alive.

This week’s tool: Follow Your Curiosity

If you've been feeling a little deflated or uninspired, try this:

→ Notice what gives you energy
Pay attention to the conversations, ideas and activities that leave you feeling more energised than when you started. What do they have in common?

→ Ask yourself what you're excited to learn
Not what would be useful for your career or what you think you should know. What are you deeply interested in understanding, exploring or trying?

→ Give your curiosity some space
You don't need to sign up for a course or take on another big commitment. Start by reading an article or listening to a podcast on your way to work. Give yourself twenty minutes to explore something simply because it interests you.

→ Notice how you feel afterwards
Did you feel more alert? More engaged? Did twenty minutes turn into forty without you noticing? Sometimes the things that restore our energy aren't the things we expect.

Why this works

When we're genuinely interested in something, paying attention feels less like work. Curiosity gives our minds something to move towards, rather than another obligation to push through.

And when we're engaged in something meaningful or interesting, we can become so absorbed that we temporarily forget how much effort we're making.

Take note: that doesn't mean curiosity is a cure for exhaustion. Rest still matters and so does knowing when to stop.

But it's worth remembering that we often assume we need more energy before we can do the things that excite us. Perhaps sometimes it's the other way around.

Doing something that excites us is what gives us the energy in the first place. It's additive, not reductive.

So this week, rather than asking yourself how you can get more done, try asking a different question.

What am I excited to learn?

And give yourself permission to follow the answer.

Keep rising,
Lauren

P.S. What's something you're curious about at the moment? I'd love to know. I read every reply.​​