“Our Souls are not so different,” said the Cat to the Tiger. “Deep down, we need the same things.”- James Norbury
One of the world’s most jarring notifications pops up on your phone: “20% battery left. Switch to Low Power Mode.”
On top of the immediate feeling of “There is no way I have used that much battery today,” this notification brings a yellow symbol and a pausing of functions like background app refresh, automatic downloads, and push notifications- some of our battery’s most prominent influencers.
Just like our smartphones, our body’s internal energy has its own key influencers. Known as SMEPSE in the Energy Coaching world, these Social, Mental, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, and Environmental influences all contribute to our changing energy levels day-to-day. From muscle strains to the temperature of light in a room, these factors all play a role in our energy make-up. These next few weeks, we will be taking a deep dive into a human’s key influencers to better understand how they individually contribute to our own vitality.
To kickstart this highlight reel, let’s first reframe and define our essential factors:
- Spiritual: Clarity of Purpose
- Mental: Mental Agility
- Emotional: Emotional Command
- Physical: Physical Capacity
- Social: Relational Leverage
- Environmental: Environmental Design
Starting with arguably one of the most foundational aspects of energy fueling, this week will spotlight the importance of having a Clarity of Purpose. If you have ever had the opportunity to hold a conversation with a person aged 2 to 5, you know that a fan-favorite conversation builder is the simple question “Why?”
Since birth, we are programmed to seek the purpose in everything around us. In essence, we are Simply Curious. A simple statement like “Tie your shoes” will fall victim to the “why” rebuttal in a heartbeat. Having a set motivation is ingrained in our DNA, and this doesn’t stop at adulthood. This goal-driven aspect inadvertently fuels the other five key factors and is tied to longevity, health, and economic success.
Depiction of “Human Battery” on a random day:
The Purpose of Purpose
Recently, a viral art installation started circling on social media titled “Can’t Help Myself” designed and fabricated by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu in 2016. Symbolic to embodying a Lack of Purpose in many respects. Check it out here.
If you are unfamiliar with the piece, this exhibition features a robot arm that is programmed to think it has to keep a dark, red liquid within a certain vicinity in order to stay alive. Sweeping the substance toward itself in repetitive motion, the machine fails to keep the liquid contained, as the task is pretty much impossible, and continues endlessly to complete its duty.
An embodiment of dedication, the robotic installation depicts the movement of an unclear purpose. Thinking the liquid is vital to its life, the robot tires itself and uses up immense energy to fulfill what it believes to be necessary.
Sound familiar?
With schedules full of daily meetings, after-school soccer games, and social interactions, it can be easy to feel like a robot arm- programmed to serve the purpose of each individual role in life rather than an underlying mission.
Purpose drives innovation. Purpose drives energy. Purpose drives life.
When starting the journey of establishing a clear, defined objective, all other energy-influencers see a shift, too. The process is gradual, deeply introspective and requires time, patience, and self-discovery, but this primal need for a driving motivation in life is embedded in our DNA. We see it in athletes like Tom Brady who feel an unexplainable pull to lead on the field even after retiring or in teachers who, despite the exhaustion of managing a classroom, still try creative alternatives for presenting information to their students in ways that will stick.
Purpose doesn’t make the workday any less tedious, but it does fuel that primal desire to maintain a passion. For example, if you believe that currently, your purpose at the office is to manage a team of various expertise, you haven’t zoomed out far enough.
- WHY is your management so beneficial to the team?
- WHY do you use your position as manager to empower the people around you?
- WHY is this the position to fuel a starting purpose?
The more you foster this purpose-driven mindset, the more you will see a shift in your vitality. Considering this aspect of our energetic make-up is so foundational for the other five influencers, starting this journey will create a chain reaction of mindset-shifting that will seep into every other aspect of your life.
Establish it!
Pinpointing a life’s purpose is a wildly deep and personal experience, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Taking small steps to find what yours might be is a solid way to start embodying this purpose-driven mindset.
While Simon Sinek encourages us to “Start With Why,” we at Vitality Leadership ask something more:
“Which influencer is dimming your energy right now — and why?”
Pinpointing your “why” is only the first spark. Sustaining energy requires knowing where it leaks, and how to shift. That’s the journey we’ll walk over the next few weeks.
Think of an area of your life that currently feels robotic or repetitive — like the robot arm from the art installation.
Ask yourself:
- Why does this task feel so draining?
- What deeper purpose might be hidden beneath it?
- What would shift if you reconnected this task to your clarity of purpose?
Want help identifying your personal energy influencer? Download the Vitality Energy Playbook to get started.