We could all use some energy management strategies!
Hailing from Halifax and well versed in multi-sport coaching, wellness training, public speaking, and much more, Jill Payne released her book Be a Dime: Unleash Your Inherent Energy and Live Life More Joyfully, on Tuesday, January 2nd.
It’s available at numerous bookstores in and around Victoria, including Bolen Books, Indigo, and Munro’s books.
Aimed at providing accessible tools for everyone, the book focuses on strategies to manage our energy levels in a realistic way, all the while striving for a 10/10 life, which Payne calls “diming.”
The idea behind the 10/10 stems from a high level of energy or capacity—the capacity to interact with others, the capacity to get things done, and the ability to accept and feel negative emotions while knowing what can be done to direct ourselves back towards the positive.
Be a Dime is a comprehensive look at her programs that she’s been developing and reshaping throughout her 15 years of experience to reflect what she’s learned and how others can apply it to their everyday lives.
Using her background in kinesiology, education, as well as a Masters in Employee Engagement & Workplace Performance, her book has been designed as a “first step” for people who want to begin their energy journey.
She has worked with celebrities, sports teams such as the Canadian Olympic Women’s 7’s rugby team, schools, and large corporate businesses, to name a few.
In an interview with Victoria Buzz, we asked Payne if there was a specific moment of inspiration or perspective shift that fueled the idea of turning her principles into a novel.
And although there wasn’t an exact pivotal moment, she said becoming pregnant with her daughter while in New York, quickly having to upend her life and move to Victoria, followed by the pandemic definitely inspired the shift to paper.
“All of a sudden I was locked down, pregnant, and trying to run a business during those times of uncertainty,” Payne expressed.
“I really had to hunker down and figure out how to practice my own principles under pressure…it was super intense. I was sleep deprived and unable to do the things I would usually do to manage my energy levels.”
“I had to say, ‘Okay, I created these principles for a reason, can they be stress tested and work while you’re under pressure?’ And that’s a lot of what I talk about in the book.”
She highlighted that the point of her book is not to convince everyone they need to be a 10/10 every day, it’s to promote a scale of self-awareness and understand what can be done in a low moment.
This way, you can ensure you’re focusing energy on what can be controlled as opposed to external forces, that more often than not, cannot be controlled.
“We want to allow ourselves to feel a range of emotions, but our scale is a way of being self-aware…and to self-regulate,” she said.
“That’s the power of this whole thing, is it doesn’t require anyone else to behave in a different way because you can’t control other people, but I can always control what I do with my body, what I decide to focus on, and the dialogue I use with myself.”
Payne touched a lot on parenthood as well, and how applying these tactics to raising children ensures we’re putting in the effort to be a stable, safe space for your little ones—even in moments of frustration or uncertainty.
“If we can handle our energy, our energy will handle a lot of things…this is not about the pressure to be one hundred percent all the time,” she said.
“Our energy is going to allow us to be in more elevated emotions, and one of those might be positive. But we’re not evaluating positivity, it’s about being self-aware when it comes to energy and capacity…Resting is also a part of energy management.”
From people in their early 20s to parents raising their kids, she has worked hard to ensure there are realistic approaches to energy and mood management for everyone, and is thrilled that so many people are getting a lot out of the book so far.
To get you started on your energy management journey, Payne has included a workbook at the back of the book as well as a QR code that takes you right to her website.
From her website you can find more about what she offers!
Payne mentioned that she’s hoping to host a book signing event in and around Victoria, so stay tuned for that too!
