Most of us know that prodigies of energy are exciting, inspiring and sometimes maddening people who get far more than their share of the world’s work and play accomplished. When we stop to think about it, in fact, almost all of us can bring to mind periods when we too, were bursting with energy, when the days seemed too short, when the boundaries between work and play blurred and linally disappeared. Remember when you could barely keep your eyes open in class, yet were totally alert during hours of after school sports practice? And how about that rush of energy at the beginning of a love affair, or during a challenging job situation, or at the approach of danger?
And yet so often we feel drained, unable to drag ourselves to the simplest task. We leave those letters unanswered, that leaky tap unrepaired, and squander our best energy on pointless tasks or in front of the television. Why?
A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. We learn in school physics lessons that kinetic energy is associated with motion. The same is true of human energy: it comes into existence through use. You can’t hoard it.
All of us possess enormous stores of potential energy. If we could tap as little as an extra ten per cent of this vast resource, our lives would be significantly altered for the better.
