Episode 46: SUMMER REWIND - What to do when you don't feel like it

00:43 Welcome to Unfrazzle, the podcast to help you ditch overwhelm and find focus and flow. I'm your host Louise Miller, productivity mentor and founder of Make It Happen Club, and one of the ways in which iIm creating space to enjoy my summer is by having a break from recording new episodes for a while instead iIm doing an Unfrazzle Summer Rewind sharing some of my favorite episodes from the last nine months So I've selected episodes that feel relevant for this time of year. If you're hearing them for the first time, I hope you find them helpful and if you've heard them before perhaps you'll take something different from them the second time around! Have an amazing summer and i'll be back in your ears with new episodes soon Has this ever happened to you? You promised yourself you'd write a blog today but you just don't feel like it so you sit down, you stare at the blank screen... The blank screen stares back at you accusingly

01:35 You desperately want to be creating and sharing content more consistently but it is such a struggle to get started. And so you pick up your phone and begin to scroll your social media as the guilt about what you should be doing builds So I think we've all had moments like that haven't we? Where we know what we need to do, but are just not in the mood And many of my clients are very intuitive and they don't want to force themselves to work on something when they're not feeling it. I completely understand that, we all want to enjoy our work We want to be able to listen to what we need and feel in flow and alignment as we move through our days That's the dream isn't it? But...we do need to be careful that we don't let that sabotage our progress because if we only ever act when we feel like it

02:26 There's going to be a whole lot of stuff that simply doesn't get done. I mean how many of us ever feel in the mood to do our accounts? So, of course the ideal solution would be to outsource all of the things that you find tiresome and if you are in a position to do that That's brilliant. It is an approach I wholeheartedly recommend, but sometimes even the stuff that we usually find fun or the stuff that only we can do and don't want to outsource, that can trip us up from time-to-time too because much as we love it, sometimes we might not be in the mood to engage on social media or create content or spend time working through our online course that were really excited to purchase last week

03:10 So what do we do when that happens, when we're just not in the mood? And I think we have three choices. The first two choices are pretty obvious. The first choice is to do nothing and save it for another day Second choice push through and do it anyway but I want to add a third option to the mix and that third option is to Do What You Need To Do To Get Yourself In The Mood! And I've found myself talking to clients about this third option a lot lately It's about having a ritual that will stir the pot and mix things up a bit. I call this a state-shifting ritual where it's not about forcing yourself to do something but about giving yourself what you need to gently coax yourself into a place where you DO feel like doing that thing

03:56 And I'm going to share some pointers for you now if you fancy creating your own state-shifting ritual. So here's what i invite you to do, first thing is to think about when you might need a ritual so what are the tasks or activities that require you to be in a particular mood and that sometimes you just don't feel like it? Some examples might be you know like i said earlier doing your accounts Or it might be about writing a blog. Or perhaps it's reaching out to potential clients and you know making those bold moves, to reach out to people that perhaps you don't know You might like to create a few different kinds of rituals depending on the types of tasks that you identify So the reason for that is that sitting down to do your accounts requires a very different energy to being charismatic and sparkly if you're about to do something that's a little more outward facing for example

04:48 So step one is to think about the activities that you might want to create a ritual around. And then step two is to think about what you're going to do to shift your energy and get you in the mood, so some ideas to get you started. You might want to think about your environment, so where do you want to situate yourself when you do this task or what do you want to surround yourself with? Then have a little think about music So would a certain type of music help to energize you if that's what you need or do you need a certain type of music to help to settle and calm you? Maybe it's that, you know in order to do this particular activity you need silence. In which case your ritual would involve turning the music off Then have a think about movement Do you need to shift your energy through movement so it might be that you want

05:37 Crank up some tunes and have a dance. Maybe you need to do some slow stretching, perhaps it's about getting out for a walk and I've been working with a client recently who has wanted to get herself into a more consistent rhythm with her writing and what she found really worked well for her was to go out for a walk first just for 20 minutes and then when she came back from that walk she would sit down and write and she found it so much more easeful doing it that way because that walk was giving Some inspiration, allowing her to kind of ponder what she was going to write so that when she came back she was able to get straight into it and it flowed so much more easily for her. And then you might want to think about nourishment So maybe a cup of your favourite brew would help get you in the mood or perhaps its about having a square or two of your favourite chocolate at your side as you work

06:30 And something else to ponder as you're creating your ritual is inspiration. Do you need some inspiration and if so what do you know inspires you? Is it nature, is it art, is it listening to a TED talk? For me, if ever I feel like I'm flagging and I need a bit of an energy boost, I can just watch 15-20 minutes of an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race and that will set me up for tackling the rest of my day with a little bit more energy So have a little think, you know when you feel you need inspiration how could you top that up for yourself? So you've considered all of those things. You've created a ritual and got a sense of what you're going to do to shift your energy the third but important part this is to write it down write down that new state shifting ritual and keep it handy so that its there to support you whenever you need it. Just a couple quick examples of what this looks like for me in case it helps

07:25 So I know, for example, that I can't think creatively when sitting at my desk. So when it comes time for content creation, I will always take a notebook and pen to the sofa. I'll turn off the music because I can't write while there's music playing – not music with lyrics anyway! And I make myself a cup of tea. Notice also that I said there that I take a notebook and pen to the sofa because again, I know that I can't think creatively while sitting on my laptop Also, much as I love connecting with people and engaging on LinkedIn sometimes i don't feel like it. So I turn into a bit of fun where I step away from my desk if its a nice day I might head outside and crank up some fun energising music set a timer for half an hour and just get going knowing that I only need to be there engaging commenting catching up with people until the timer goes off

08:20 So those are some examples of the rituals that I use to help me in my work and this week i encourage you to think about the activities that you sometimes struggle to get going with and to think about what state-shifting ritual you might create to help you get them done but without feeling like you're forcing yourself. This is really an opportunity for you to get creative, get playful have some fun with it and then see what a difference those rituals make to you as always! I hope this helps and i can't wait to see you again soon Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast And if you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time You'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes Thank you so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you next time