What do you do when you run out of steam?
It happens to all of us at one time or another. Sometimes it happens a LOT.
The great idea for a change initiative that seemed so clear and easy to implement from that last company retreat starts to get bogged down in the day-to-day bureaucracy. Your team isn’t seeing the big picture quite like you are and it’s wearing you out.
Or you start that new business with great passion and zeal, but several months later you feel that inner confidence wobble as the reality of running a business in a competitive marketplace sets in. It feels like everyone you meet at networking events is selling the same thing you are and you wonder where that next client is going to come from.
Sometimes there’s a definite shock to your energetic ecosystem that ripples out and affects how you view every dang thing in your life. It could be a health crisis, a divorce, a sudden loss.
I’ve been at that juncture myself in my journey of running my own business a few times. My last moment of meltdown happened when family medical emergencies, a break-up from a spiritual community I have been a part of for many years, a shoulder injury, and just that lingering question of “Who do I want to be when I grow up?” all came crashing down on me at the same time. For someone whose brand is all about brilliance, I was feeling anything but that.
The feeling that there wasn’t any solid ground left to stand on was daunting. My initial reaction was to sit on my couch, journal tearfully and pray that maybe tomorrow I would wake up from a very bad dream. Then I started to meditate again and went to yoga regularly. That helped a bit more. I spoke to a few trusted friends who lovingly held space and just listened as I babbled, cried, raged, and wondered what was next.
Thank goodness for the lessons of Mother Nature! I held on to that painful progression the caterpillar makes en route to taking flight as a butterfly. If a little caterpillar an inch long could undergo such a radical transformation, surely I could surrender and ride out this process too!
As a visionary and heart-centred leader, it’s in our DNA to be able to bring our passion and energy to our work and our teams. But when you feel your energy draining away and the self-doubt start to creep in, here are some powerful perspectives I offer that can help you plug back in to your brilliance and reboot your creative mojo.
1. Self-Care as a Way of Being, Not a Task
I know, I know, we’ve all heard the platitudes about the importance of self-care and often offered sage advice about putting the oxygen mask on yourself first and then others. When we’re unmotivated or overwhelmed or in pain, we go back to the self-care practices of things like journaling, meditation, eating right, getting to bed earlier, exercising, taking a lot of bubble baths or whatever it is that makes us feels good.
That’s all great. I’ve done that too.
But have you ever noticed that when we start feeling good again, we stop the self-care? We fall off the self-care wagon until slowly, but surely, find ourselves in a situation where we need to do more self-care things to get back to center.
I think we need to take self-care to the next level.
Too often we dole out self-care like treats to a puppy who is learning to sit or heel properly. We feel the need to justify that extra hot yoga class or bouquet of flowers based on the level of stress we have we’re trying to alleviate.
What I did that pulled me out of the bottom of the emotional barrel was to shift my perspective on self-care.
Self-care is a choice about a way of being, not a task.
Self-care is an energetic relationship you have with yourself, not a thing you do. What if in every moment of your day, you chose to be loving, compassionate and honoring of yourself and your process? The choice to care for your SELF with respect and compassion in every moment gets infused in to how you show up in the world. You resonate that compassion and centredness in your very presence.
2. Reach for the “And” instead of the “Either/Or”
When you feel like you’re running on empty it creates stress. The brain, when it is stressed out, has a hard time seeing the big picture. So when the heat is up and your mojo is down, it’s easy to see everything in absolutes. “Either I figure this out now, or I lose everything” or “I must not be cut out for this if I can’t keep up my passion for this project.”
You need to stop making yourself wrong or inadequate when your energy and passion goes on hiatus.
Seeing things in absolute terms – either this OR that; either failure OR success; either now OR never – can be a pit of quicksand. To get out of it, reach for the “And.” So instead of “I’m the leader and I need to be confident and inspiring, or else I’m not a great leader” it’s “I’m the leader AND I’m feeling uncertain right now.”
The world is complex. Our emotions are complex too. When you’re trying to access your best decision-making and work through setbacks, reaching for the “And” can help you find new perspectives and gives you some breathing room from self-judgement.
3. Claim Your Creative Reboot
One of the biggest missteps leaders can make is to try to bluff their way through things. Bravado, whitewashing the truth and bulldozing ahead with something when your energy is faltering is something everyone can pick up on quite easily.
When you feel like you’re in the midst of a transition, it’s actually very powerful to claim it. When I went through one a while back, I realized I needed to reboot my own brilliance. I continued working with my existing clients but until I worked through my incubation period I wasn’t feeling particularly “client-attractive” to finding new ones. When I made the commitment to reboot my brilliance, it was a decision to honor my heart (remember, Tip 1?) and not part of my original business plan. Giving myself permission to start an art journal opened up my creativity, which then went on full throttle after I discovered graphic recording and facilitation.
When you just try to muscle through things and drive forward you miss a lot of possibility. The decision to claim your creative reboot and give yourself time to recalibrate yourself can take you places you’ve never imagined.
