Getting Inspired
Demotivation is one of the entrepreneurs’ biggest enemies. When you’re inspired, you’re energetic. When you’re positive, you create energy, you inspire people around you, move mountains with your mind. But when you lose the passion, or the excitement, or become disillusioned, and demotivation sets in, you can stare at the walls and not want to get out of bed. Nothing happens around you because you’re not making it happen. So, what do you do when you feel down?
I asked a few people what got them through their deepest, darkest moments hoping to find some universal truth from the experiences of others, and here are some of their answers (edited and abridged). I was surprised that no-one mentioned “Shopping” or “shoes” as a cure.
Beating the Loneliness
“Friends and family that I could reach out to definitely helped me to rationalize it or suggest ways to get over the moments”.
“a full complement of supportive friends, both in person and online, who kept my spirits up”
Looking out
…that experience has allowed me to help some others who have reached out to me to help them and it felt really good to do it.
“Writing, and teaching others to write.”
“Remembering my responsibilities to others”
Looking In
The more depressed you are, the more depressed you will be. Clinical psychologists say that the neuro-network gets fatter, bigger and more well connected every time you choose to be depressed, so the longer it stays in a state of depression, the more it wants to stay there. Remember that you always have a choice to be happy or unhappy, to be depressed or inspired, so choose to be motivated rather than depressed or demotivated.
There are also tools and skills that you can use to change the way you feel. Try casting a Harry Potter Patronus from your wand. If you haven’t yet mastered the Patronus, close your eyes and think of your happiest moment, and stay there until the smile creeps onto your face.
Choose to change your perspective and see a different world.
(For more information, check out Neuro Linguistic Programming – Reframing).
Mantras
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger” (Friedrich Nietzsche), or in South African, “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you a better man”.
“No matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.” ~ Baruch Spinoza.
“This too shall pass”.
Lose Yourself to Find Yourself
“…when things go wrong, one should find the most important goal, the most important target, the unique priority and start to work hard for it, just for it… without expecting immediate results, without seeking reward and do this in a spirit of humility. Then expect miracles.”
Read Stuff
“Conscious Golf. (Gay Hendricks)
I stumbled into it some years ago and now I keep it with me all the time…. I learned something very good from there, even if I never played golf… “
“The Secret (Rhonda Byrne)”
Imaginator’s Tips
And lastly, here are my own personal favourites:
If you’re demotivated in your own home or office, get out and breathe some different energy. Put your head in a different space for long enough to get your entrepreneurial energies flowing again. Pull a group of like-minded friends together and do something constructive (this does not include creating the tallest beer-can tower).
Ask yourself why you’re demotivated. You’ll probably discover a very superficial cause, like “I’m bored at work”, or “I’m not happy with the way my business is going”. Ask yourself why, and keep asking yourself why till you get to the root of the problem. The answer probably lies in one of these: lack of money, lack of interest (or boredom), lack of vision. Then, once you’ve found the root, challenge your entrepreneurial spirit to find a way to solve the problem.
And finally, the cure-all to a thousand problems: Get a good cup of coffee.
Till next time.
The Imaginator™
Adam Rabinowitz is the Senior Lecturer at Regenesys Business School
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