Speaker 1: This is me, a couple of years ago during my world trip, enjoying some well-deserved time off. This was also right after a business failure. The business my partner and I had built wasn't able to cope with the financial crisis. We had to work 24 seven in order to prevent bankruptcy, but eventually we managed to get everything sorted. We were able to close the company without leaving anybody in debt, except for a huge debt to myself. Physically and emotionally, I was completely drained, but I was not alone. Work stress seems to become a silent killer in modern day society. Did you know that in the Netherlands alone, over 13% of the workforce suffers of burnout symptoms? That is one out of every eight colleagues in your workplace. Now, burnout symptoms can be anything ranging from chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, bad concentration, up to insomnia and depression. To add to this, in the States, this number is even significantly higher. Any thoughts? Several researches indicate a staggering 53% of the American workforce feeling overworked and burned out. With this high number, you must recognize some of the following too. People who wake up snoozing, skip breakfast, arrive at an overloaded agenda that they multitask throughout the day, have lunch at their desk because it's always too busy. And then at night, or in the evening when they come home, they have dinner on the couch in front of the TV with Facebook and email in their lap. And then at the very last moment, just before they go to sleep, they scroll through their mobile phone and read all about the latest disasters and annoying replies. To be honest, that was me. And you know what I did? I fled. I left the Netherlands and went on a trip around the world. And after a while, I realized that there must be a way to be ambitious, yet to remain in control of your life. So I went out and visited meditation monasteries, met up with nutritionists, practiced yoga, and learned all about mindfulness and stress management. And there's a lot out there that we already know, but why haven't we been able yet to find a way to effectively deal with work stress? Eventually, what I found, what I believe, and what has been proven, is that if you want to perform at your best, you have to balance three things, energy, focus, and happiness. Decide on one thing that makes you happy and make that your goal. Put all your focus to that goal and create the energy to become successful. If you fail to balance your energy, focus, and happiness, you'll probably spend a lot of time with people you don't like, a lot of time doing work you don't like, and you'll probably lose yourself completely along the way. If you do manage to balance your energy, focus, and happiness, that's when the magic starts. So how to go about balancing your energy, focus, and happiness? This is how it works for me. I wake up in the morning before the alarm bell goes off, and that means going to bed when you need to. Not when the latest episode of Netflix has finished. Extra time I use to have a healthy breakfast and some quick yoga exercises, both to get your metabolism and body going. Then healthy nutrition aids your metabolism and supports a long-lasting and continuous energy flow throughout the day. Then during your day, try to take a break once in a while, and trust me, it won't kill you. And then in the evening when you come home, before 9 p.m., switch off all your devices, your TV, your laptop, even your mobile phone. This will ensure the natural production of melatonin, your natural sleeping hormone, and it will also prepare your body for a great night's sleep. Now this good deep sleep will be rewarded the next day to you in the form of more energy, which you further increase the same way you did the day before. So you can already see the positive spiral going up. Then for focus, use the extra energy to focus on one thing at a time. Try the following, stick out your right hand and circle that to the right. Now stick out your right foot and circle that to the left. See, face it, we cannot multitask. Multiple researchers have shown that multitasking not only slows us down, it also reduces our outcome. So by focusing on one task at a time will not only improve our performance, but will also make us faster. And then for happiness, what's the one thing that makes you happy? What is your goal? Are you just working to look busy or to get food on the table? Or are you actually achieving something? Are you working towards your dream, your passion? Because if you do something you love, you'll be better at it, faster, and you'll have a lot more fun doing it. And as an added bonus, people will appreciate you for it and share it with others, thus spreading the word, opening up new opportunities for you. You can already see how these three elements complement each other, right? So whether you want to become a great athlete, a loving partner, or a business tycoon, if you put your focus and energy to it, you're bound to become successful. As for me, I have to admit, I'm still a downright workaholic. But by balancing my energy focus and happiness, I'm now able to enjoy all of it. And I achieve a lot more than I used to. And surely, I still work long hours, but I also happily close my laptop even when work is not finished. And this is something I've never done before. So is this all new? No. We're all somewhat familiar with all the individual elements I just described. But how about if you try to balance your energy focus and happiness, decide on one thing that you want to achieve, focus completely on that one goal, and create the energy to become successful. Try it. I bet you can make magic. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.