Stop Wasting Your Energy — Here’s What to Do Instead (with Dr. Diana Hill)
New episode of The Happiness Lab: ”Stop Wasting Your Energy — Here’s What to Do Instead (with Dr. Diana Hill)”
We expect the New Year to bring fresh starts and renewed motivation. But for many of us, January brings something else: that stuck feeling. We're working hard, staying busy, checking off to-do lists—yet somehow going nowhere.
Why do we sometimes feel like we're flying straight at a window, hitting our heads over and over, convinced that if we just push harder, we'll finally break through?
This week on The Happiness Lab, I sit down with clinical psychologist Dr. Diana Hill, author of Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, to explore a better way forward. Diana shares evidence-based strategies for getting unstuck by redirecting our energy more wisely.
The things that matter to us are often the things that cause us the most discomfort in life. — Dr. Diana Hill
How to Use Your Energy More Wisely This Year
Align your energy with your values.
Diana defines values as the qualities of action that make us feel alive. Getting aligned with our values helps us stop spinning our wheels on tasks that don't serve us and to start investing in what makes us feel genuinely fulfilled.
Seek out variation.
Diana's brother-in-law designed a "get unstuck" button for robots that makes them try anything except what they're currently doing until they find a way out. When we’re feeling stuck, we feel threatened and our attention is narrowed—but that's exactly when we need to widen our options and try something different.
Listen to the body's wisdom.
Our bodies often know the answer before our mind figures it out. To tune into your body’s signals, try Diana's HEART check-in: Hunger, Emotion, Activity, Rest, Tension:
Hunger: Am I hungry or full?
Emotion: What do I feel in my body?
Activity: Does my body crave movement?
Rest: Do I need to rest right now?
Tension: Where am I holding stress?
Take Action This Week: Before bed tonight, instead of reviewing your worries or unfinished tasks, ask yourself: When did I feel most alive today? You might be surprised—it's often not where you're putting most of your energy. Those moments are clues pointing you toward how you want to be spending more of your time and energy in the year ahead.
Coming Up Next Week…
What if the scariest changes in your life were actually invitations to become someone new? Next week on The Happiness Lab, cognitive scientist Dr. Maya Shankar reveals why our brains are wired to resist uncertainty — and how we can train ourselves to embrace it instead.
Here's to using our energy more wisely in 2026.
Looking for more?
You can find all our companion guides from this season of The Happiness Lab on DrLaurieSantos.com/Newsletter.
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