We all have bad days – sometimes we just wake up and we are not feeling it at all. So what do you do? Do you take the day off? Do you lie in a cloud of your own misery, feeling sorry for yourself, and trying to explain to the deep recesses of your mind why you should continue on?
Well, I say no. And I say you should try – and least for a little bit – to get on with your day. This is the power of pushing through.
You see, a while back I experienced an earth shattering business loss. Through a miscommunication that included a husband and wife business ownership – I had a monthly retainer client pull the rug out from under me.
They gave me no warning – nothing.
It wasn’t a performance issue, nothing like that. One spouse made a commitment to continue on with a monthly payment and service structure. A couple of months of this went by, and eventually the other spouse realized what was happening – I was under the impression all was good.
Well, this spouse declared that they simply didn’t want it anymore. I did everything that I could to remedy the situation – to keep the client. It was hopeless, and I lost the account.
Of course, I felt defeated. Of course I was hurt. But I had to do something, I had to move forward. After-all, this was a pretty sizeable chunk of my monthly income.
So I got right to work. I sorted my schedule out, got my routines on lock. Up at 6am, coffee, read, then meditate for 15 minutes. Then write in my journal for 15. After this I’ll have a small breakfast and write a Jay Ashcroft Blog as well as a four32 blog.
I finish my blogs up around 8:30, take the dog for a walk and then get back and crush out 2 – 3 hours of deep focused work. Some days it’s writing, social media posting or current client work.
At lunch I lift weights, then I’ll eat and get back to work.
Supper would come around 6pm, and then – yep. Back to work until 8 or 9.
So.
I did this for about 3 weeks now. Was it sustainable? Hell no. Did it need to be done? Yes. Yes of course it needed to be done.
You see, for the past 6 months I’ve been recovering from a broken leg – in a new city with no contacts. Now, a residual client from my home town has decided they no long want our services. I have no choice but to replace them.
So, why am I telling you all of this? I’m sharing this so you don’t feel alone when you’re struggling through the difficult times, and needing to dig down to push yourself forward.
There have certainly been days when I just felt like I couldn’t go on. And you know what? I did anyways – and the pain eventually subsides.
One of my great mentors has always been Earl Nightingale. The man was a genius, and I love listening to his audiobooks. A while back I came across a live speaking video of his I had never seen.
At the beginning of the video he said “This morning I arose in a horrible depression. I had no idea why and no idea what to do about it.”
“What??” I think to myself. “Earl Nightingale? Depressed? That’s impossible… He’s the leader of positive mindset, optimism and growth. I mean, he survived Pearl Harbour for God’s sake.”
Well – if Earl can have an off day, then so can I. And so can you. But you know what, he was having an off day and he still filmed that video – he still pushed as far as he could. So when I woke up upon writing this and was feeling just a bit off – I pushed anyways, and I surprised myself.
Everything was a little more challenging, of course. The whole routine was off. It just wasn’t as enjoyable. My lovely lady Em even asked me, a whole bunch of times “Babe, what’s wrong? You okay?” To which I had to respond that I wasn’t alright.
But here’s the thing, I didn’t put any pressure on feeling down. I accepted it and went on with my day for as long as I could bear it. Inevitably, I fully crashed around supper time, and all I could do was shrug it off.
I grabbed a bowl of ice cream and went into the bedroom at 7pm. I watched a Harrison Ford documentary, to try and gain back some inspiration and drive. I watched an episode of UK’s Top Gear and read some Think and Grow Rich, and I drifted off to sleep at 10pm.
The next morning I woke up at 8:30 – a far cry from the 6am mornings I had been doing for the 3 weeks prior. And that’s okay – it’s perfectly fine. I mean, really. Of course I hit a wall. I went from slowly healing from an injury, working for maybe 4 hours per day – to straight up 12s every single day – all the while remaining calm throughout the entire process.
Listen, it’s inevitable that we’re going to overload our minds and capabilities from time to time. We are after all, super computers. And sometimes, even the highest quality computers glitch out and need to be reset.
And this is okay. Hit reset, and rest. Be in the present moment and listen to your body and mind. If you’re in a dense fog, push ahead for as long as you can, of course. But don’t hesitate to stop and rest as the bad weather passes. Especially if you start bumping into things as you blindly push forward. There are times when this is more necessary than others.
We all need to expect a lot of ourselves, and we also need to give ourselves a lot of love and understanding.
Today, I feel great. I’m back on track with my attitude and drive, and I’m grateful that I handled the energy lull in the way that I did.
Do I recommend this same approach for you? No. I recommend that you look at my approach, and then you look at 20 others. And then, listen to yourself. Take an average of all these routines you learn and apply them to yourself. The future you will thank you for it.
To Your Success,
Jay Ashcroft
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