THE WHAT IF, GUITAR GUY BLOG
The Official Blog of Mike Rayburn
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What To Do When You Feel Down and Totally Unmotivated (The “S-D” Words Defined)
We’ve all been there: One day, for whatever reason, you’re down, unmotivated, but you’ve got stuff to do. Is it the Nike answer, just do it? Force yourself even though you feel like crap? Well… no. And Yes.
I have a solution you may not have considered.
First of all and obviously, if there is an important or mandatory task, you have no choice, you have to do it. This is called self-discipline which my friend, Brian Tracy defines as:
“Doing what you need to do, when you need to do it, regardless of how you feel about it.”
This is one of the foundations of character. As the book of Roman’s says, “suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.” No human being becomes successful without self-discipline, which is by definition difficult. The important things? You just gotta do ‘em.
However, and as promised… what do you do when you just don’t feel like doing anything but there’s a lot to do?
Choose the thing that is most simple, mindless, and important, and do that. Just that.
In other words, give yourself a break but get something done. This is quite often the fourth or fifth.. or tenth item down on your to-do list.
I may have a parody I’m writing, a presentation to customize, a demo video to edit, and a few hundred books to autograph for a client who’s pre-purchased them.
If I just don’t feel like doing anything, even though the other items are more important, I’ll probably sign the books. It takes no brain effort, I can sip coffee, even watch TV while I do it, but that time is not being wasted.
What usually happens is, once I get something done I feel a bit better, and I get some momentum. Now maybe it’s time to write, take on something more important.
The worst thing about feeling like you just don’t want to do anything is… not doing anything. Then not only do you feel bad, you look back at your wasted day and feel even worse.
Don’t do that. Use this “down” time as your excuse to do the tasks that have needed doing but have never been high enough priority. Clean out your closet, run some errands, clean out your inbox, finish a book.
If you’ve made the choice to become a Life Virtuoso as I advocate in every keynote, you have an obligation to get the most of your time. This is one great way to do just that, even when you don’t feel like it.
Live Truly, Truly Live.