Emotions as Energy Sources: How do we Purposefully Cultivate an Emotional Tone that makes Energy more Accessible, rather than Draining it?

Graph By: David R Hawkins

In sport, we talk about energy all the time.

“Show up with energy.” “Have more energy.” “Let’s bring energy today.”

Yet in my experience, it’s less clear how energy is actually cultivated or controlled. Often, it’s left up to chance, somedays it comes easy other days it doesn't.

We understand one form of energy well: fuel. When we eat properly, our bodies have the biological resources they need to perform. But even when nutrition is dialed in, energy can still feel elusive, like trying to catch the wind.

Sleep is another source of energy that is widely talked about. When we don’t get enough sleep, we feel it immediately. With enough rest, energy becomes more predictable.

But there’s a third source of energy we use far less clearly as athletes: Emotional energy. This form of energy for some reason is not approached the same as nutrition or recovery, with its structured, scientific approach and considerable amount of time spent perfecting it.

The real question is: how do we purposefully cultivate an emotional tone that makes energy more accessible, rather than draining it? And how do we ask for what we need from the people around us as well as inhibit the thoughts and emotions that quietly exhaust us?

We’ve all experienced first hand or heard about the coach who yells and intimidates to motivate their athletes, and sometimes it works. Or the parent who applies relentless pressure, and in the short term, performance can improve. These are common examples of how emotional states being used as fuel, but not close to the most effective for long-term performance and mental health.

Another commonplace as athletes i've noticed during my career is how often we rely on pride, fear, desire, or anger to reach the energetic state we need to perform. Courage and reason are encouraged periodically. But acceptance, willingness, joy, peace, and neutrality are rarely viewed as useful, even though they consistently lead to higher productivity, clarity, and sustainability.

And I can get it. Who wants to be neutral when you are trying to out compete the opponent? I dont know many athletes who are comfortable accepting loss easily, and peace feels like the opposite of what is needed when you are priming for a fight.

From my own experience though, like nutrition, it's about when you consume certain energy states that makes all the difference. You wouldn't eat a hard to digest meal, minutes before game time would you? The same goes for cultivating emotions. Peace may be hard to digest before game time when there are nerves in your belly, and thoughts running wild. BUT we can prime ourselves for this moment days, weeks, months in advance.

Anger, pride, ego or desire are good fast explosive sources of energy, but they often burn quickly leaving us feel depleted by the final games of a long tournament.

Joy, love, reason, acceptance and the higher emotional states beyond them function more like long-lasting, stable energy. They take longer to realize, understand, and cultivate, but once accessed, they provide long-lasting, stable energy. Their impact far exceeds that of lower emotional drivers and supports sustained performance over time.

I believe we shouldn't fear or avoid any of the emotions we have access to, but especially as athletes we should not be fooled into thinking that acceptance is weak, that peace is lofty, or that joy only comes after you win. High performance isn’t just about effort or intensity. It’s about the quality of energy we rely on. Fast fuel burns hot. Sustainable fuel wins long tournaments and long careers.

This raises an important consideration: How do we cultivate these higher-energy states?

Reason is already being widely used to help athletes access their energy stores. But to reiterate, knowing your deepest WHY, is extremely important when giving your all to something. Why do you play? Why do you want to succeed as an athlete. Try asking yourself "why?" 5 consecutive times, after each answer ask again "why?".

Courage is the warrior mindset. Demonstrating courage is about identifying something that scares you and doing it anyway. It's a choice we make in the moment through intentional action. Self-talk can help prime you for moments where courage is necessary. By developing a resilient inner voice before the moment you need it, your inner dialogue becomes more predictable in moments where you need to cultivate courage.

Practices like meditation and visualization allow us to step beyond the ego and into acceptance and willingness to be vulnerable. Ultimately it helps to reduce internal resistance and free energy that was previously tied up in fear or control. In other words, when you aren’t worried about messing up or trying to control everything, your body and mind stop wasting energy on fear.

That saved energy can then be used to focus, move better, and perform your best.

The ancient Stoics practiced something similar. They would deliberately visualize worst-case scenarios, not to create anxiety, but to recognize that even after their greatest fears came true, they would still be okay. This realization produced freedom from fear and with it, a powerful reserve of energy. Much like the feeling you get when play a game with a "nothing to lose" mentality.

Neutrality and peace can look like (1) knowing that who you are matters more than how you play. You deserve love and care whether you have a great game or a bad one, and your worth as a person is not decided by your stats, wins, or mistakes. When you understand this, it becomes easier to play freely and do your best. and (2) Showing good sportsmanship when you lose or fail at something, and not getting stuck in embarrassment or anger.

Neutrality, acceptance, willingness and peace all help you develop a growth mindset - where mistakes aren’t the end, but a chance to get better. Which leads to long-term sustainability.

Joy, my personal favorite, often shows up after you’ve done the other work first. It’s not something you force and it usually comes as a result of showing courage, offering acceptance, and realizing your reason. Joy can look like happiness, laughing with teammates or joking around. But it can also look like feeling proud because you worked hard on something that really mattered to you. That kind of joy lasts longer and helps you keep going.

So what do I do?

I emotionally dose or prime my neural pathways. For example, two days before a big match I focus on acceptance through mindful mediation, one day before I focus on willingness and courage to make mistakes through visualization and self-talk, the morning of I might cultivate peace by taking a walk in nature or doing yoga, in my pre-game routine I remind yourself of my reason, in warm up I like to connect with my teammates to access joy and in the game I use the anger, pride and desire as bursts of energy. After the game I return to acceptance as quickly as possible by debriefing anything I need to improve or am holding onto from the game and returning back to who I am outside of my sport.

Your emotional energy, and what makes you not just perform your best for one game, but also be the most mentally healthy in the long-term through tournaments, training blocks, and entire olympic cycles is worth figuring out for yourself.

By: Ashley Hoffman, OLY