Day 39 - April 16: Energy comes in waves - How do I cope with my slower weeks or low energy days?

Knowing yourself when it comes to energy and motivation is important. You don't want to let a slow day where you just can't get yourself to work on your business cause a vicious cycle of self-doubt. Sometimes the right solution is to simply stop working and go do something else.

Mentioned in this episode

Transcript

Alex: Good morning future Alex. It is day 39 today it is April the
16th and today I am feeling a lack of motivation. So for me, motivation comes
in waves. I know this. I have weeks where I'm really high energy and I could
work hour after hour and just keep going and nothing will stop me. So in those
phases, of course, I really try and take advantage of it and work a lot because
I know there are other weeks  where
that's not the case. Like this week it started strong, but at the moment I'm
like, yeah, I'm not at 100%.

[00:00:34] Now I like to try and keep in mind that even in
those high energy weeks, I don't want to burn myself out. Right. So I don't
want to cause these slow or low energy weeks. So even though I'll work longer
days and maybe some of the weekend as well, I don't stop doing exercises or
healthy routines or social things just because it's a higher energy week.

[00:00:54] When those slower weeks come, I will try to
remind myself that slowing down is completely okay. You have to be okay with
taking time off. Chances are that as a bootstrap or as an entrepreneur, as a
freelancer, you've worked more in total than the average person in your social
circle anyhow. So even if it's the middle of the week, it's okay. You're almost
entitled to take a day or two or three off, whatever it takes.

[00:01:21] The advantage of being self employed, of course,
is you don't have to ask anyone. But at the same time, you're sort of in this
loop of: "Ooh, can I really take time off?" .

[00:01:31] So when I realize I'm approaching a slump, or I'm
in a slump. Usually I'll start by increasing my walks. I'll get outside more
exercise. Being active. Doing something is often enough to come back after that
hour or two or three and then tackle my task list again. But if I catch myself
then just once again, sitting there and looking at the task list and basically
going down a social media rabbit hole for me, it's usually YouTube then I have
two approaches. One is I will sort of do a bargaining with myself. I'll choose
any task from my list, and it doesn't matter if it's a short one or a low
priority one, whatever it is that I'm feeling motivated to do right now,
anything that can, that I can put a checkmark for that day next to it, I will
choose an try and get it done.

[00:02:25]And once I've done that, I'll just act as if it's
the end of the day and stop working. Right. So I've done the checkmark for the
day and then I'll just have free time. Because knowing that you've done like
one task every day. It may be a small task, but those tasks will compound over
time and you will still have something done, right. It will grow.

[00:02:49] So that helps me not to worry too much about
those days, but sometimes even that doesn't help. You're really just having a
bad day and you just can't get anything done.

[00:03:01] Now I believe there are some things you can work
on generally, so that doesn't happen. So make sure you're getting enough sleep,
eating healthy. Also be social and the aforementioned exercise, but sometimes
it's also out of your control. There are health or family issues, you've got an
ache, like a tooth ache for example, or a headache, or you have bigger issues
like global issues like the pandemic that's going on at the moment, and you
don't want to pile the stress of not being productive on top of all those
issues because it's just gonna worsen the whole thing.

[00:03:34] So if after a certain time, I really just can't
be motivated, wellthen I'll just pause work and I'll go read a book, watch a
movie. It doesn't matter. It could be the middle of the day. I know that
motivation for me will return. I don't know when. It may not be today, may not
be. Tomorrow, may not be next week. Who knows? Sometimes I have had long
periods of low energy, but it does return. 
So I just try and not worry about it. I'll give into, okay, this is now
my holiday.

[00:04:05] If you're lucky enough to have a family spend
more time with them, they'll definitely appreciate it. Just basically do
whatever feels right in your position right now.

[00:04:15] So for me, today is a prime example. I slept
really badly. I had some aches when I was falling asleep, so all in all, I just
knew the day was going to start bad and it did. There's no point in me getting
into a mindset today where I'm worrying about business.

[00:04:32] So in the morning, I just did something that was
fun. I, it was a technical task. It was like a little project I did and then
I'm going to blog about it later, but it has nothing to do with my business.
And now I've recorded the podcast and after editing it, which I hope will go
quickly, I am going to just end the day, go out for a walk and tomorrow's
another day and I'm going to try again and maybe tomorrow is going to be the
same.

[00:04:56] I don't know, but that's completely fine. Anyway,
that's all for today, I need to get out. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Probably.