Trust me, I know the feeling well. Sunday afternoon rolls around and all motivation seems to have vanished. You have a to-do list that’s three miles long, yet you can’t bring yourself to open up your laptop, let alone cross off a single item. Lack of motivation turns into self-doubt and you find yourself at a complete halt.

The good news is that even the most passionate of entrepreneurs experience similar moments of discouragement. Another piece of good news is that overcoming these moments is beyond simple if you know what to do.

I’ve identified my four go-to techniques in the hopes that they will help you:

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR MILESTONES

Moving from day to day, it’s easy to feel like your progress is slow or like your work isn’t paying off. It’s easy to feel like you just aren’t getting anywhere sometimes. In order to get back on track during these moments of frustration, I started writing down the dates of various milestones in the back of my notebook. For example, “reaching 10,000 Instagram followers,” “going on my first sponsored trip,” and “getting my first client.”

What I’ve found is that looking back at this list of all that I have achieved over time lets me see how far I’ve come and how much I have indeed accomplished. Most of the time, that’s all the motivation I need to push on.

For you, the milestones might be different, but the source of motivation will be the same! Break out that journal and get writing about all the ways you’re killing it 🙂

GET INSPIRED

Feeling down on your dreams often goes hand in hand with feeling uninspired. So… create a personal place of inspiration!

For me, this came in the form of covering the wall in front of my desk with a variety of travel photos and motivational quotes. It’s a mood board of sorts and looking at it when I’m feeling unmotivated reinforces exactly what I’m working toward and why.

For you, it could be a wall of fashion or food photos. Maybe it’s a notebook filled with inspirational photos from magazines or quotes from your favorite books. Whatever motivates you, whatever gets your mind and your blood racing, let that be your source of inspiration.

WRITE A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN

I find that oftentimes, when I’m feeling unmotivated, it’s because I am simply overwhelmed. The enormity of my goal seems so large and unreachable that I talk myself into a corner, telling myself mean things like “You’ll never get this done” or “What are you thinking? This is a job for an expert.”

Take 20 to 30 minutes and break your goal down into action items. For example, maybe your goal is to create an online store in the next week. I don’t know how online stores work to be honest, but I would imagine that first, you’ll do research and decide on the platform that will host your store. Next, you’ll compile the images together. Then, you’ll assign prices for all of the items, etc etc until one day, you’ve crossed off all of these little action items and you’ve reached your larger goal of creating an online store.

By reframing the way you think about getting things done, by thinking of projects as a bunch of little things to do instead of one giant intimidating project, you’ll not only get organized but feel motivated and confident again!

WORK OUT

Scientifically speaking, working out is the number one way to get your blood flowing and your mind working. Whether it’s a mile run, walk or weight lifting, some of the best ideas come to me after a loooong session of endorphin release. Working out is also a wonderful stress-reliever and getting rid of all of that stress clears the way for wonderful new ideas.

CONNECT WITH LIKE-MINDED ENTREPRENEURS

Entrepreneurs’ energy and drive is nothing short of contagious. Invite one of your entrepreneur friends out for coffee or lunch. Talk ideas and get their insight.

Or reach out to an entrepreneur you don’t know personally, but admire and would like to know. Either way, the electric motivation of a fellow innovator is sure to get you right back on track.

I would love to hear from you – what do you when you’re in a motivational slump or feeling discouraged?

xo,

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