A large number of wellness and self-help books are criticised on the basis that they are an extension of common sense and don’t tell you anything new. Energize by Simon Alexander Ong was a victim of these complaints. But it also won the 2023 Business Book Award for Wellness and Wellbeing, so I was cautiously optimistic when I opened the pages.
The premise of the book is simple: learning how to manage your energy and channel its focus will change your life. Ong believes that our energy is the most important thing we have. It is the fuel that drives your success and it gives you the power to achieve your potential. The key question he asks is: how can you be your best self if you’re always tired, stressed and burnt out?
Before we look into his proposed answers, what about Ong? He is an award-winning personal development entrepreneur and coach. His work has seen him invited onto TV and radio, as well as being a keynote speaker for companies and conferences, including those organised by Google, the London School of Economics and the World Business & Executive Coach Summit. Interestingly, he holds qualifications from The Coaching Academy and has also completed a series of courses in neuro-linguistic programming - a communication and personal development technique which Jimmy Carr credits with his conversion to a full-time comedy career. So far so good.
Ong’s answer is that we cannot be our best selves if we are always tired, stressed and burnt out. In order to reach our best selves, we first need to get the base right. Our base level is essentially our own health. This is where I think it veers into the obvious. Ong encourages us to take care of ourselves - diet, sleep, exercise - and stop treating our health as a side hustle. But he takes it to a deeper level and says we need to use our conscious thoughts to focus on what we are doing and, conversely, what we want to be doing in the future. He encourages us to take time to think about what we want our lives to look like.
Once we have this baseline, we move onto the execution. This starts with the mind and setting our perspectives right. We need to speak less and listen more, and especially when speaking to ourselves, speak with care. We need to learn to silence our inner critic and listen to our inner guide instead. Then finally, we can design our lives around what we want and protect our new better state. Ong also encourages us, if we are unclear, to find someone we wish to emulate, then study them and copy their routines or path.
I did find this book to be highly practical and there were exercises throughout to help. This may be the right book for you if you struggle with long and difficult texts. The practical activities seem aimed at the neurodivergent. One of the most interesting I found is the “should/must” technique. When you say a sentence to yourself (e.g. I should trust my instincts more) you then replace “should” with “must” (e.g. I must trust my instincts more).
The key message is to reframe and think longer term. We need to recognise that everything impacts everything else. Our energy is finite, across both work and play. We need to make allowances for ourselves to achieve the goals in each area of our lives. The lack of focus and energy may be something that neurodivergent people struggle with. Ong encourages us to relax the reins on our social life when having a particularly busy work period and vice versa – words familiar to the neurodivergent among us. He also argues that we can progress faster towards our chosen goals by simply saying no to the activities which are holding us back.
Whilst I thought Ong didn’t necessarily have anything new to say, he has an engaging voice and presents his words in a compelling way. This book is about how you can maximise your potential by refuelling in the right way and channelling your energy into living the life you want. If you need help focusing your energy on the things you want to happen, then this is the book for you!
Book Details:
Energize: Make the Most of Every Moment by Simon Alexander Ong
https://simonalexanderong.com/book/
Winner: 2023 Business Book Award for Wellness and Wellbeing
Available from all major booksellers
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