I woke up yesterday morning feeling low on energy and overwhelmed by all the tasks needing to be done before Christmas. Some of you might have had the same feeling! Are there solutions? Yes!

First, realize how important energy is and imagine yourself as being full of the electric power of energy. Energy has been described as:

"the power and ability to be physically and mentally active."

We all know how important action is to achieving anything. Start to take action both physically and mentally on the things that need to be done and the feeling of energy and eagerness to act may well appear like the genie of the lamp.

Benjamin Franklin made the value of energy clear:

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

Secondly, get moving physically. Go for a walk or skip rope! Sitting down or sleeping are not always the best ways to gain energy. Expend some energy instead by some kind of physical movement and you will ignite the fires of the mental and physical energy that are available to all of us.

Thirdly, even if you don't feel enthusiastic about Christmas, or any similar event, pretend that you are. The pretence may well become your reality.

Frank Bettger lost his enthusiasm for baseball but decided to act as if he was enthusiastic. He soon earned the name 'Pep Bettger' and ended up playing in the major leagues. His enthusiasm for the game returned. A similar thing happened when he became a salesman.

The following quote from Norman Vincent Peale could be applied to Christmas amongst other things:

"You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."

One could, for example, get enthralled by Christmas and see the hard work that Christmas can involve as a huge opportunity to be and do more.

Sending Christmas cards can be a chore or an opportunity to get in touch once more after a year of non-communication. Even a late Christmas card is better than none! You can, at least, tell your relative or friend what you have been up to even if your news arrives in January!

Fourthly, recapture your childhood wonder at the experience of Christmas or at a similar event that thrilled you as a child. Enjoy the snow falling down in the TV advertisements, if not in the real world.

Get excited by the story of Christmas and, whether you believe the story or not, see Christmas as a chance to 'love your neighbour as yourself'. In fact, you will probably have an even better chance to love your relatives as yourself as they visit you or you visit them on Christmas day or Boxing day.

Loving relatives and neighbours can be difficult unless we look for the good in them. We all have our good and bad sides. The bad usually emerges when we are deprived of what we want. I remember, as a youngster, not being given the corner of the Yorkshire pudding which I much preferred to the soggy middle. Instead of taking this philosophically, I ate a spoonful of mustard as a public protest while my family looked on amazed. No one suffered but me!

Look on the good side of people and the resulting peace and love will generate enormous energy.

Fifthly: "Give and it will be given to you." These famous words from the Sermon on the Mount describe a universal law. You can't give without receiving something back.

Giving can have unexpected advantages. In October 2007, I gave my sword to my weapon's instructor as a present for his sixtieth birthday. Since then the UK government have decided to make Samurai swords illegal.

Samurai swords have been used in so many robberies in Britain recently that the government have turned against them. If my instructor keeps the sword, he will be arrested instead of me!

Sixthly, getting organised and using time saving tips can also help in dealing with the mountain of tasks that need doing at Christmas or at times when you seem to have too much to do. I came across a brilliant tip from Michael Rasmussen about both saving time and improving what we do. He suggests that we write down everything we do. This will help us get more done and will improve the quality of our lives as well. He writes:

"It has been shown that anything you track will improve."

If you write down everything that you eat and track your weight in detail as they do at organizations like 'Weight Watchers', you will start to make better food choices and your weight may well go down as your energy goes up!

Write down what you spend your money on daily and you will notice that you no longer throw it away on things you don't need or really want. You will also notice that you seem to have more money than before. You will be able to buy bigger and better presents for your beloved relatives at Christmas! You could, of course, save up to buy a house on a hill to avoid the effects of global warming.

Write down all the things you actually do when working on your business or some other project and you may well find that you get more done and that you get it done more quickly. The only way to find out if this works is to give it a go and see what happens. If it works you will have more time to spend with friends and relatives over the Christmas season.

Rasmussen suggests an experiment. For seven days, write down everything you do to improve your business or other type of daily work. You may be surprised at how little you actually do compared with what you think you do! Without the actual numbers, we tend to exaggerate the amount of work we do. Knowing the real numbers can help us to take more action and to get on with the job in hand.

Write down the number of press ups and sit ups you do every day. Even if you think they will make no difference to your fitness or looks, do them anyway and keep track of the numbers. You will probably find you end up by doing more exercise and becoming fitter, stronger and better looking!

Even if you think writing down everything you do is a complete waste of time, just try it for a week or two and see if it does make a difference. In my view, success is doing what you plan to do even if you think you are wasting your time and even if the results are not what you expected. Do what you plan to do and you will become a much more effective person and your charisma will increase.

Charisma has been defined as: "the ability to attract the attention and admiration of others, and to be seen as a leader."

You will also find out what works and what doesn't. Write down what you do over Christmas, or any similar type of event, and see if that helps you enjoy the event more. It should also help to actually write down what you have to do before you do it. Writing a to do list has been shown to improve effectiveness in a big way.

Seventhly, realize that whatever you do might make a real difference to yourself or someone else. That Christmas card you send could well cheer up someone up who is feeling sad and lonely. That book you gave to someone or read yourself might change lives for the better.

To sum up: Realize the importance of energy. If you feel exhausted try going for a walk or run. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a good sleep as well. Get excited by events like Christmas and the New Year.

Act with enthusiasm even if you don't feel enthusiastic. Pretend you really enjoy Christmas even if you don't! Give and it shall be given to you. Love and you will be loved and will generate enough electric energy to make your hands tingle.

Write down everything you do or as much as you have time to write down. Make your plans and follow through on them whatever the results. Carry them out even if you think they will make no difference. Follow the seven ideas in the article above and you may well recapture the magic of this festive season and start looking forward to similar events.

Remember that, before you know it, next year's Christmas 2008 will be upon us. I now keep my Christmas tree downstairs to save the hassle of climbing up into the attic to bring it down again after what seems like only a few weeks!

As my ladder to the attic collapsed under my weight a few months ago, this seems like a very wise move. I have no idea how Santa Claus manages to climb all those roofs without some kind of major injury!

Have a great Christmas and a brilliant New Year!

John Watson is an award winning teacher and 5th degree blackbelt martial arts instructor. He has written several ebooks on motivation and success topics. One of these can be found at http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

You can also find motivational ebooks by authors like Stuart Goldsmith.