How to get your “mojo” back in your business when you’re struggling to motivate yourself
It can be really easy to lose your energy and interest in your business when you’re busy, you’re juggling marketing, finances, business development, the day-to-day, and everything in-between. It’s at times like this when you can feel burnt out, which leads to not doing anything.
The challenge can be getting yourself back on track, especially when it feels like everybody around you is loving their business lives and smashing everything out of the park.
When you’re feeling lost in your business, it is possible to pull yourself out of the rut. Let’s look at what can you do to get yourself moving toward a better place.
Before trying to dive into getting your energy back in your business…
Stop and rest
It’s really common to feel at odds with your business and lacking in interest when you’re on your way to burnout. In fact, WHO diagnose burnout with four symptoms:
Feelings of energy depletion, exhaustion and fatigue
Increased mental distance from your job
Feelings of negativism or cynicism related to your job
Reduced professional efficacy
It’s also proven that giving your brain a rest and switching off is great for ideas, so don’t keep slogging at your business trying to make it work. If you’re feeling gloomy about something (or everything) relating to your business, give yourself a break from it and don’t come back to it until you feel fully rested. Your opinion of the THING isn’t going to change if you keep slogging away at it.
It may not be possible to take time off from your business to rest, but just letting your business tick along for a bit is okay. Just because everybody’s shouting about doing this thing, or that ting on social media doesn’t mean you have to. And people don’t tend to shout so loudly about how knackered and fed up doing all of that stuff actually makes them. Stop the comparison and focus on rest.
When you’re ready to tackle your business…
When you feel rested and ready to get back into working on your business, these tips may help you to slowly get your mojo back:
Carve out regular time for your business
When you’re trying to do our marketing in-between all the day to do, or desperately trying to develop new services on an evening, it can be easy to see why the weigh of it bogged you down in the first place. Aim to carve out the same time every week to work on your business, whether it’s a Monday, every morning for an hour, or another time that suits you.
Having regular time scheduled for you to work ON your business will give you breathing room to think and will move you forwards. You may not feel hugely inspired to begin with, but making sure that time is there means it’ll become a regular habit after a while - and time you enjoy.
Start by going back to your vision
Before diving into a huge to-do list, take a little time to refocus. Revisit why you started your business in the first place and what you want to achieve for both yourself and your customers. If you have a brand strategy, this is the place to begin as it’ll remind you of your why.
Has anything changed between then and now? If so, it’s time to review.
Try an inspiration day
This is great for all of us to do on a semi-regular basis, not just those of us who have lost our mojo! Also very good if you’ve realised you need to make a few changes to your brand strategy as it’ll get your creative juices flowing.
Take yourself off somewhere you love (or somewhere new) to get away from the daily grind of work. Use this day to get your ideas down, sit and think and generally feel inspired. I always make sure my inspiration days are filled with a lot of delicious food.
If you’re thinking “I’m too busy for it to be a full day” - the reason I recommend a day is because you can spend half a day thinking, or doing something creative, exploring and generally making yourself feel good.
Get everything out of your head
The second half of your inspiration day is for getting all of your ideas down on paper. The good the bad and the downright crap ideas. If it’s not in your head anymore it can’t bog you down. And I know from experience how seeing things written down can spark ideas or make everything feel a lot more manageable. Get it all down to be able to work out where to start.
Have a plan of action
If you know me, you know I love a plan. But plans don’t have to be huge. In fact, I’m not into complex things that are there just for the sake of it. Having a plan stops you from being distracted by exciting shiny objects and never getting anything done. Put a bit of a timeline in place for when you want to be at certain milestones. It’ll help you to keep focused, and means you don’t have to remember everything.
Begin with the things you enjoy
It sounds obvious, but if you’re trying to do something that you find difficult or boring, you’re not going to find the motivation to work on it. Start with the little things you enjoy doing or are easy. For example, when it comes to promoting your business, if you find story videos easy, do them. If you love planning and organising, start there.
Find someone to support you
Whether it’s your partner, a business bud, or a coach or mentor, having someone to off-load onto and help to refocus you is what we all need, especially when we’re working on our business. Self-employment can be a very lonely place, so grabbing a brew with someone on a regular basis is oh-so important. They can also help you to work out whether your ideas and plans are exactly what you want.
My support network have been invaluable to me in the 6 years I’ve been self-employed. They’re there for me to off-load onto when I feel fed up, and they encourage me and spark new ideas. Grabbing a brew with them is the first thing I do when I’m feeling bogged down (after taking some time off of course).
When I’m feeling bogged down with my business, these things work for me. The thing to remember is it’s normal to feel apathetic about your business when you’ve been putting your all into it… it will pass. You just need to be kind to yourself and rest.
When you’re ready to get back into working on your business, doing it in a manageable way is the key, otherwise you’ll never feel motivated to do the work. And don’t forget, I’m always here for a virtual brew if you feel in need of a chat.
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