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staying focused is key for any business to thrive, but peace of mind is essential if we want this to last.
Some days are good… others, not that good, because when every cell in your body hurts (from last night boxing class on the gym), your eyes are tired from working without cease, and your head is about to explode after the third snooze on the alarm; it is very, very and I mean VERY easy to say to yourself… “the good things of not having a boss, ill sleep in today…” but in REALITY you need to find motivation from where there isn’t because EVERY DAY COUNTSon the journey you are walking, and if you embraced the compromise of starting your own business you can’t fancy yourself to find silly excuses to stay in bed or be late to the office (or your desk in your room from where you work).
When feeling unmotivated there are a few things I like to re-run on my mind so I don’t fall in the trap of staying in bed and wasting an amazing day full of opportunities and new business goals waiting to be achieved.
1 — Have your goals well defined and written, somewhere that you can see them on a daily basis; that way, every day you will wake up to remind yourself why you are doing this, why you are going against every odd to pull through and MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Helps you visualize where you want to be. Counting my blessings ALWAYS helps me to keep going. When you are grateful, motivation comes effortlessly. Always remember YOU ARE ENOUGH and I know you’ve got this but it all depends on how bad do you want it.
2 — Get yourself a schedule whether you are a freelance entrepreneur or an artist that works from home, whatever you do for a living TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. Have a schedule and if that means that you work from 9:00am- 12:30 and then from 2:30–5:00 pm (for example) stick to it, know that during those hours YOU ARE WORKING and all of your impulses and efforts should work towards your business goals on that time. And the times that are NOT on your schedule assigned to work, literally (unless you are a workaholic like me and decide to work at night before going to bed to have less things to do the next day) use them for yourself, and strictly for yourself, do the things that make you happy.
3 — HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF it is very easy to feel overwhelmed when you just work, work and work a little more. It is completely necessary to have times for yourself and yourself only, whether you enjoy walking in the park, getting your nails done, going to the beach or any big prize you can give yourself once a week to treat yourself. But it is also important to have a little time for yourself on a daily basis, attending yoga class, working out, reading, watching an episode of that one tv show you love, whatever it is that makes you happy be sure you do it once a day.
This will give you a sense of freedom, space for you to clear your mind and even think about something else rather than thinking only in work and more work that eventually saturates our creativity and mind.
We are in this world to be HAPPY and because you decided to follow a dream and see that business pull through you should not forget to LIVE along the way by doing the things that make YOU happy.
Life comes first, always.
A few minutes ago while I was writing this article a magnitude 5.3 earthquake around 250 km from where I am, happened. That moment my life went through my eyes, every single mirror and painting and the wall moved and some even fell to the floor.We are fine thank goodness it was just a little shake, but it was a shake that kept me thinking…
We are so OBSESSED with making things happen, or finishing writing that article, that client presentation, that we sometimes FORGET TO LIVE, we are immersed by the belief that all we were sent to do on earth was to work and make things happen, and guess what? It is NOT like that. When we only focus on work and forget to live, we slowly start to get depressed because we deep down know we should be doing so much more, like spending quality time with our families, hanging out with friends, learning how to play guitar (or any other instrument) traveling, meeting new people… and the list goes on.
We were sent to earth to be happy, to pursue that that makes us truly smile. If you want to change the world, so be it… if you want to break the swimming world record, so be it… if you want to travel the world, so be it… WHATEVER you want to achieve in life, I promise you it is possible you just need to find a way to MAKE IT HAPPEN.
4 — DRESS UP! The days you are feeling down or unmotivated are the BEST days to take that amazing new dress you bought a few weeks ago and hadn’t had the chance to wear it, out of the closet! YES, the days that you most unmotivated feel are the days where you should dress up the prettiest, take those high heels (if you are into high heels) out for a walk, that red lipstick and use that new perfume you’ve been saving intact on its box, because it is proven that when you feel pretty your subconscious feels pretty too. It is some sort of je ne sais quoi that boosts your self-esteem and gets you ready to go out and eat the world.5 — Good music For the SOUL!! Why start the day with boring “morning” music when you can wake yo jamming to The Red Hot Chili Peppers or Maroon 5?
Start your day listening to the mood you want for the rest of the day.
6 — and last but not least… STOP COMPARING YOURSELF to what others do, and how others do it. I PROMISE you that whatever other people are doing does NOT directly affect you in any way, so PLEASE stop watching the way others do things and start focusing on your own thing. Your path is not designed by anyone except than for yourself.7 — Ask yourself these questions, have you’ve been eating nutritious good food for you that will help you stand those long hours of hard brain work? Are you drinking enough water on a DAILY basis because trust me that chugging 3 detox green juices, kale as the only solid food and 10 glasses of water in one day will certainly NOT make you healthy from one day to another, you need to adapt to the routine of DAILY eating well and giving your body what it needs for it to function properly.
We are responsible for ourselves, we are responsible of making the short time we have here on earth so amazing that when you get to that age where you have to look back and see what have you lived, and how much you have achieved, that all you can do is laugh because deep down you know that you made everything that once made you happy, that you made it happen and most importantly that even though you made it happen, you didn’t forget to live along the way because you enjoyed every second of it… and still do.
Having days where your bed will hug you, not letting you get to work are the worst, but we need to know how to fight back because in the future we will thank ourselves first for having started in the first place, but most importantly because we didn’t give up, we pulled through and made it happen.
-xo, yami