Jim Karas - The 7-Day Energy Surge

WHAT IS ENERGY?

Energythe capacity of a physical system to do work

Did you know that

How much you weigh

What you eat and drink

Whether or not you exercise

How well you breathe

The quality and quantity of your sleep

The types of thoughts you entertain

How you deal with stress

The music you listen to

And whether you have had sex recently

all affect your energy today?

Does this sound familiar? You start your day in a groggy haze as you slap the snooze button three or four times. Then, just getting out of bed (a painful thought) and ready for the day is exhausting. By the time its 10:00a.m.you are dying to take your first nap. You practically fall asleep at the wheel, experience brain fog most of the day, and find yourself dozing off during meetings or at your kids soccer practice.

Then, to make matters worse, you eat the wrong foods at the wrong time (donut anyone?), dont even consider exercise (sorry, yawning doesnt count),never drink a sip of water (unless you have a headache and pop a pill), get on the caffeine and sugar highway (Ill take a Coke, a latte, and a Red Bull), barely breathe, berate yourself (and possibly your mate) for the past (oh, if you only knew!), live in constant fear of a dreaded future (Im doomed), and then wonder, Whats wrong with me? I feel horrible and wiped out all the time.

Or you may feel like you have a lot of energy when youre at work and responding to rapid-fire requests from your manager, constant complaints from your customers, and other daily crises, but then you can barely summon the energy to pet the dog or say hello to your kids when you get home. All you can think of is shoveling some food into your mouth and getting to bed, but then once you do, your mind is racing with thoughts of all the things you didnt get done today and wont get a chance to do tomorrow.

You feel that way as a result of BAD habits that annihilate the capacity of your physicalsystem to do workalso known as your ENERGY. You know instinctively that these habits are harmful, but hey, at this point, its routine.

Over the next seven days, I am going to give you a very detailed plan to get you out of your current, downward energy death spiral and into a new, upward-surging life spiral. Its never too late. If you follow these simple steps, you will instantly be on the path to lasting energy even beyond your wildest dreamswith no corresponding crash (hintgo drink a big glass of cold, sparkling water, then come back and keep reading). Sound too good to be true? I tested this program with real clients with real, busy lives, all of whom felt that the program helped them eat healthier, exercise more, sleep better, and have more energy when they needed it. Youll hear from them directly throughout the book, giving tips on how you can make the 7-Day Energy Surge work for you.

You may be wondering, what makes me an energy expert? Well, for the past 23 years, I have been called a lot of things (many I cant mention here), such as personal fitness trainer, weight loss expert, food police, life coach, and The Commander, but none of them felt quite right (well, The Commander came close).

I started my career in the weight loss and fitness business back in 1986. Prior to that, I was working as a private portfolio manager, because I had graduated from the Wharton School of Business with a BS in economics. Every Saturday, I used to take a high-impact aerobics class to try to knock off some weight (FYIit didnt work). And yes, I was a chub-ber until I learned the smart way to lose the pounds for good (to be shared later).

One Saturday morning, the teacher no-showed for the 8:00 a.m. class, leaving about 100 of us calorically challenged members standing around. At 8:15, I surprised myself by blurting out, Look, if someone can find the music tape, Ill teach, because I had memorized the routine(just so we are clear, you should never perform a memorized exercise routine!).

After the 8:00 class, the teacher again no-showed for the 9:00, so I taught that one as well. Afterward, the manager of the club waved me over and said, Want a job?

In my best Whartonian manner, I asked, I dont know. Whats your best offer?

You get a free membership and $4 an hour, he replied.

I said, Sold!

From there, I quickly moved to a swankier, downtown club (for $18 an hour, and thats a 450 percent increase in pay in a VERY short period of timesee, I did use my economics degree) and was approached by my first client, Janet, who asked me to be her personal fitness trainer and offered me $30 an hour. Once again, my reply was, Sold!

When I taught a big class, even if I was stressed, rushed, and tired, the moment Iput on the music and was feeding on the group energy, I was pumped and ready to go. But when I used to show up to train people one-on-one, I was the sole energy source and it was exhausting.

I quickly realized that I had to crank up my energy. Starting at 4:30 a.m. and training eight to 10 clients a day, seven days aweek, in their homes, offices, or private exercise facilities was daunting. It hit me over the head that I had better get a lot of sleep, and often that meant a combination of sleep at night and naps (yes, they were plural at times) to stay at optimal energy output. Ditto with my food and drink, so I planned and packed what I would bring with me.

Breathing was a HUGE part of how I felt, and I would sometimes stand in front of a clients door and just breathe for a minute or two, which also helped clear my mind so that I would give this client my undivided attention. The music I played in my car, on my Walkman (yes, Im that old), and sometimes in the clients home helped pump me up and minimize stress, which was high, given many of my high-profile, demanding clients.

So here I was on the job, having to learn the balancing act between energy input and energy output. In the meantime, of course, life continued to throw me energy challenges. Twelve years ago, I became a fathertrust me, having a baby in the house is a MAJOR factor affecting your energyand I quickly had to learn how to manage increased demands on my time and energy. Eight years ago, I opened my second personal-fitness training firm in New York, in addition to one in Chicago, and embarked upon a worldwide speaking career that split my energy among more cities than Ican count. Then 3 years ago, Igot divorced and became Mr. Mom more than 50 percent of the time. Talk about another MAJOR demand on my energy that required me to tweak my plan once again.

Im not here to say that these changes were easy, but now Im a happier, more productive employer, friend, father, and human being. My life is in better balance, and because of that my energy is soaring; its pouring out of me like never before, and its truly one of the most intoxicating, natural experiences Ive ever had.

In addition to constantly manipulating my own energy equation, Ive frequently heard clients tell me that, sure, they liked the way they looked (which generally was terrific), but what really sold them on my plan was the noticeable cascade of energy. Diane Sawyer was one of my first clients to make this connection, which occurred while she was getting up at insane hours to host Good Morning America.

I also found that many people had soured on weight loss and fitness programs because they had tried to tackle these issues in the past without much success. I use the term the buy-in to determine what will get a potential client to ultimately make the decision to work with one of my team. The more I emphasized energy as the buy-in, the more clients became animated and excited about getting on the plan. That response is what led me to push energy more and more as the ultimate goal and let improved health, weight loss, reduced stress, more effective sleep, etc., follow. Thats how the idea for this book was born.