The full title of this article should really be – “How To Keep Going, When What You Really Want To Do Is Sit On The Damn Couch With A 6 Pack of Beer And A Bag Of Cheetos.” But, I thought that title might be a bit wordy. So I opted for brevity. The truth of the matter is that on your journey to create your EPIC LIFE, there will be many times that you will not want to move forward. I want to help you deal with this inevitable stumbling block.
The first thing a lot of people will do when they feel unmotivated, is feel guilty. Even that is understandable, but it’s not useful. Guilt will make you defensive, even when there’s nothing to defend against. Anytime you’re feeling guilty over brief periods of waning motivation, is a perfect time to simply acknowledge your feelings, and then move past them. Beating yourself up about feeling guilty will only make you feel more guilty, creating a nasty vicious cycle.
I would imagine that there are some extreme Type-A personalities that rarely if ever experience a lack of motivation. Those people are NEVER satisfied, rarely happy, and impossible to work with. Outside of those miserable people most of us from time to time just don’t feel like moving forward. This is totally normal. Being normal, you should cut yourself a break.
Now, cutting yourself a break does not mean throwing in the towel or being lazy. There will be plenty of times you’re going to need to work through your lack of motivation. The key to your long term success will be balance, knowing when to tough it out, and when to grab a Bud-Light and turn on Sports Center. Something else that will be valuable to you is the ability to be honest with yourself. You may need to ask yourself – “Am I legitimately exhausted to the point of complete ineffectiveness, or am I bullshitting myself because I want to see the game?”
When To Chill
So as I’ve mentioned there are times when the best choice is to chill out, and walk away from your work. I’m going to get into a couple of these “chill passes”. When you know you’ve been putting in your best effort, but you’re getting lousy results, this may be a time to chill. No one is always operating at peak effectiveness and efficiency. Knowing yourself, and being honest with yourself, you can make an informed decision about whether or not you should take a break. So, when you’re just not 100%, take a break. The work will be waiting for you…it ain’t going anywhere.
Inefficiency can present itself because of a number of factors. Physical or mental exhaustion can be a cause. Sometimes you may be distracted because there is something else that legitimately requires your attention. Entrepreneurs and especially men can easily become so laser focused on building their businesses that they neglect other things that may be just as important or even more so. If you know that some household task, or event, or occasion needs to be attended to, please make sure it gets the effort and energy it deserves. Don’t let your quest for business success, ruin the rest of your life. I promise you it won’t be worth it.
Another time you may want to walk away from your work is when you are stuck. I’m not saying that every time you encounter a difficult situation you should resort to the couch. If you did this you would never become successful. Every new venture of any substance will take you to the edge mentally from time to time. There will be problems that you can’t seem to solve no matter how hard you try. When you hit a wall like that, steeping away for a bit may help you gain the clarity you need to look at the challenge in a more useful way. Giving yourself a reset by taking a break, can spark new creativity, and lead you to powerful solutions.
When to Power Through It
I said earlier that balance was important. I’d say it’s even critical, that you really know yourself and what your capacity for difficult work is. There will be plenty of times when you will need to hang in there and power through the challenges that you are experiencing. If you are in pursuit of really significant goals, you will feel resistance. In fact if you don’t feel resistance, I’d say your goals are not very important at all. This resistance comes because the pursuit of big goals takes us outside our comfort zone. You may feel emotional in ways that are new to you, and this can be confusing, making you feel that perhaps you should walk away, maybe even indefinitely.
When you feel this unwarranted resistance or upset, toughing it out may be a good choice. The benefit in keeping at it, can lead to really exciting breakthroughs. When you overcome a really hard challenge you will grow, and the next challenge will be a little bit easier. Kind of like working through the pain you feel when you just start out exercising in the gym, you will benefit greatly from fighting through resistance and even upset. I say again, it’s super important to know yourself. If you truly have nothing left mentally or emotionally, take a break, otherwise break through that damn wall!
Remember Why
Something that can be very powerful, in helping you to stay the course is to remember WHY you are building this new business, taking the training, or going after a new job. In fact if you clearly articulate WHY you are on this new quest, it will inspire you to do things you may have never thought you could do. Your Why is the vision you have for yourself and your customers, if it’s a business you’re building. I’ll tell you this, if money is the only thing you’re after, then your WHY isn’t big enough and deep enough. I have a tip for you…Grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write down a statement of why you are pursuing this new goal. Write down all the things that come to mind, the things that inspire you to do this new awesome thing. After you’ve done that, boil it down to 3 or 4 sentences. Then, type it on your computer, use a nice font that is appealing to you and print it out large enough to see easily. Put this WHY statement in a page protector, or maybe even a picture frame and place it where you can see it whenever you need inspiration.
Here’s the deal, you have to know yourself. There will be times that you won’t want to do anymore work. Sometimes you should walk away, and chill out. Other times you really need to power through the challenge that you’re facing, and experience the victory. Not wanting to do the necessary work from time to time is completely normal. How fast, and how powerfully you succeed, will have a lot to do with making the choice that is right for you. I have one question for you – Will it be Cheetos and beer or 5 more pages in your new book? Oh…and please don’t spill the beer on your laptop.
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Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH