There are days or even longer seasons when you have doubts, you are not convinced by what you do and, worse still, you do not feel like doing anything. With which you are postponing things, your work accumulates and you feel even worse. Surely you know what I mean because it happened to all of us at one time or another.
The reasons why you feel this way can be several: seeing that you are not progressing or that your work is not paying off, being exhausted after working very hard for a long time (you need a vacation!), Having experienced some negative event in your life, etc..
Whatever the reason may be, the truth is that these are difficult moments from which it is better to leave as soon as possible because they do not benefit you either personally or, of course, professionally; since you do not dedicate to your work or business the desire that you should. What can you do then in this situation? It has helped me personally:
- Be patient with myself. At times like this the best thing to do is try not to be too hard on yourself, stop criticizing yourself thinking that you should be doing this or that. Accept that it is a stage that will pass and that you are not doing anything wrong. We are all human and no one can perform 100% every day of their life. Disconnect completely. Yes, even if it seems counterproductive, sometimes what you need is to disconnect to regain the desire. Whether it's because you've been working too much or something else, taking a few days off will help recharge your batteries. So don't do anything at all, throw yourself on the couch, watch a series marathon or, if you are more active, exercise, go for walks. Have fun and for a couple of days at least don't think about anything else. This does wonders, really. Remember your great why.I think I repeat this in all my articles, you have to have a reason that is your foothold when things are not going well and this is exactly the time to remember why you got into this.
Apart from that, what I want you to keep in mind is that the important thing is not only how to get out of that state of apathy and tiredness, but how to prevent it from happening again. It is clear that there are things that you cannot control, but there are many that can; so if you want to avoid going back to that point of exhaustion, discouragement and demotivation, write down:
Be clear about your strategy. From time to time, stop to define what you want professionally (and personally as well) and what actions you need to take, so that if there is another down time you don't have to consider what to do next, but rather follow your own plan. Because you're not always there to think about strategies, are you?
Rest well
The same as I mentioned before, but this time not to recover but to prevent. It's obvious, yes, but do you do it? Force yourself if necessary to disconnect often, take days off and if you already have them take advantage of them to disconnect completely. Do not do anything related to your business or work. It doesn't make sense that you spend the weekend connected to social networks or doing work, that's not resting. Just like you brush your teeth every day (or you should;), plan a disconnection time. Weekly, annual, daily and you have to respect it yourself and even put it on your agenda if necessary.
For example, every day before sitting down to work I reserve 30 minutes for myself, which I take advantage of to do things not related to my business: I take my son to school, I have breakfast quietly, I read for a while, I order the house, which be. That is how I get up eagerly because I know that before working I have my little time.
Start thinking about taking out little moments for yourself daily, weekly or annually (nobody takes my Christmas, summer and Easter holidays). Rest and disconnect is essential for your mental health.
Set limits
This I have also named countless times. On many occasions what happens is that you give too much, you give up too much, you have to know your limits and apply them. That will make everything more bearable.
As always, putting this into practice many times is not easy. Especially when you have a lot of work, a very demanding profession or when you are passionate about what you do and you find it difficult to disconnect (as it happens to me) and it seems that it gives you something if you do not check your email one more time, but the reward deserves a lot the sorrow.
So where are you going to start?
