16: How to Stay Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like It

This is all about being more productive. 

As entrepreneurs, we’re constantly being shoved so much information on productivity and on getting more done. But we also have to acknowledge the fact that we will have off days. One of my good friends, Monica Delgadosaid to me- being motivated in your business 24/7 is a lie. And I completely agree with that.

I think there are phases of your business, what you do have to hustle and work hard but it should be more of a sprint, you have a week or two or a period of time where you’re launching or you’re working towards a big financial goal or anything like that. That’s okay, that’s fine. But then you make sure you do take a break afterwards.

1.Be aware of your own energy.

What actions give you energy and what actions drain your energy.
And this is probably going to be different for each person. I’d love for you to actually start writing down in two columns, what are the things that give you energy and what are the things that drain your energy. So, number one is -decide is this being lazy or resistant, or do you just need a break?

2.Evaluate.

Are you currently taking breaks? Are you working evenings and weekends? When did you last go a day, or even an evening, without your phone? If I take a proper break, if I go on a restful holiday or a retreat or just like a nice weekend, I come back with so much more energy and I am so much more productive.

3.Phases.

I touched on this earlier. If you are going through a heavy work phase, I think that’s okay, like it happens. You’re doing a launch, you’re prepping for an event, you’ve got a big project coming up, or you’re planning something, sometimes you just go through a heavy work phase. But then you know it’s temporary and you can set your goals accordingly.

4.Decision fatigue.

If you’ve ever had a heavy workday and you’re standing at the fridge at like 6pm, staring at what you have in the fridge and you can’t decide what to eat for dinner- hat will be decision fatigue, and I have been there so many times. There are a couple things you can do here to make this easier for you. One is having checklists processes and systems in place, even for things that you do repetitively like a blog post. Having a checklist that you don’t have to think what comes next is going to make your life so much easier. 

5.Where’s your time going.

I’ve talked about this before in Think Like a CEO. For example, I don’t want to pay $100 to clean my bathroom. But the thing is, if I’m doing it myself and I can potentially earn $100 with an hour of my time doing something else, like getting on a sales call, doing a presentation – why am I technically paying hundred dollars an hour to clean my bathroom. So, hiring a cleaner to come in for a couple hours was just one of the best things that I could have done, because it lifts all these thoughts and decisions, away from me, so I don’t have to think about it ongoingly during the week.

Think about the ROI, the return on investment of those hours of your time.

Love + magic,

Maggie