How do you recharge your battery?

One of the practical ways to relax or work on your energy balance is to make sure you pay attention to recharging your battery in a positive way. Because if your battery is full, you will make use of all your qualities and be able to handle stress better.

Psychological needs and your battery

Ok, a full battery is important but how do you keep it charged? By fulfilling your psychological needs. These are different for everyone, but boil down to:

1. Recognition for work - hearing from others or yourself that you have done a good job.
2. Time structure - planning your day, structuring (work) situations.
3. Recognition for conviction - getting or organizing space for your beliefs and vision.
4. Recognition for person - hearing and feeling as a person you are important, you matter.
5. Sensory needs - literally stimulating your senses, being outside, listening to music, a bath, walk in nature, good food.
6. Contact (playful) - variety, humor and positive contact with people are the key words here.
7. Solitude - space all to yourself to reflect, to be.
8. Incidence - feeling adrenaline, positive challenge, taking some risks. Gladly even.

Increase your resilience

Fulfilling these needs is a powerful tool to increase your resilience, keep thinking clearly and manage your own stress. It is helpful to know what works for you so you can build this into your life more.

Signs that my battery is running low

A depleted battery is reflected in our behavior and the things we say. For example, last week I let something fall out of my hands as many as eight times and I forgot my keys twice. I could tell myself I'm stupid or clumsy, but that doesn't help me at all. I know these are signals that my battery is draining. So instead of berating myself, I start taking good care of myself. Taking that bath, making that long night, snuggling up with the candles on with a good movie. Since I know that is one of my primary psychological needs.

Other signals

The signals that your battery is running low depend on your personality. Do you notice that you are critical of everything and everyone? That you are annoyed by the way people say or do something? Paying attention to what is not going well instead of what is going well, or going on a crusade time and again that your vision is the right one? These are also clear signals that you have less energy. The result? Less clear communication, and often stressful behavior from those around you.

Now what?

Here are two questions you can ask yourself when you experience stress:

1. Is my behavior helping me meet my goals?
2. What do I need right now?

This helps you to adjust, make a daily difference and move forward positively. Curious how recognizable your stress is and how the Process Communication Model can help? Feel free to contact us.

About the author
Edith Doosje is PCM master trainer and co-founder of PCM Netherlands & Belgium.