I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Mark Twain.
As Mark Twain suggests, having a job that you love is an amazing thing. It can make you feel alive, make work seem effortless, and be the source of contentment.
And if that is you, then that is great! I am happy for you! Congratulations!
But what happens when you feel like what was your passion is now just starting to feel like dreary work?
The downside to having a job we love, or monetizing our passion, is that the line between personal and professional is significantly blurred. Our lives are not neatly compartmentalized. And a lot of times, if we are in an emotional rut, it is likely our work will suffer.
Not only that, because our work is so close to our hearts, it is hard to get anything done when we are feeling uninspired. This is especially true for business owners, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, photographers, etc. – essentially people who work for themselves.
It is easier if you are a doctor, you get up and go heal people. Or a lawyer can go fight someone else’s issues. Or an accountant can go crunch numbers. No matter what they are doing at home or how they are doing mentally, they just need the initial motivation to get up, and get to work, and then a completely different part of their brain is used for their work.
But for people who have a business, bloggers, photographers, artists, writers, etc, when we feel low and uninspired in life, it is much harder to ‘suck it up’ and get to work. Because our work is also a huge part of who we are and comes from our soul.
And that is the problem.
So what can you do when your motivation wanes? How can you get back on track?
To be honest, I don’t know. I am in the same position myself. I don’t have a perfect road map figured out.
But here is what I do know…
Don’t have time right now to read? Save it for later! 🙂
My Why – What Made Me Passionate
For me to get back my motivation, I need to think back about my “why”. Why did I start this in the first place? Why did I begin producing content and create a blog? What inspired me then?
I began a blog because I wanted to share my honest, raw thoughts, so that they could HELP you.
I didn’t care about SEO or perfectly optimized images, etc. All those were extra things.
At the end of the day, I wanted to connect and uplift.
Now, it is true, that great SEO, perfect images, etc, all might help more people receive my message and get the help they need.
But if that sucks away the joy from my writing, then what is the point?
1. Sending of the Message
My ultimate purpose is eroded because I am no longer focusing on my real passion.
2. The Receiving of the Message
When people do come to my website, through Pinterest or SEO or whatever great strategy I use, they won’t find anything meaningful. It will be fluff they can find somewhere else.
So go back to your WHY. That might give you some clarity on what was actually important to you, and why you began. It will remind you of your passion. And that will help you realign your focus, so that you work on something that is more fulfilling for both YOU and your AUDIENCE (a win-win situation!)
Forget About Numbers, Focus on Passion
Once you figure out your why, you can get back to working on what lights you up. Forget about numbers and analytics for some time. It will bring both YOU and your readers more joy when you work on something you are truly passionate about.
Is it better to have 1000 readers who skip through your article, or 5 people who genuinely love it and subscribe?
The latter might be SCARY… because, money? Analytics, views are all an easy metric of success.
But, if you are honest with yourself, all that is irrelevant. And external. You would probably honestly rather (if no one was judging you, asking what your views were etc) have a small, committed audience who is excited about your passion!
Do you get anxious with your to-do list? I do too, and here are three questions to ask yourself.
Surround Yourself With Inspiration
Surround yourself with things you wanted to create to reignite passion. For example, I go on a self-growth, personal development content binge. Or, I start scrolling through beautiful quotes or gorgeous artwork that I can do. That automatically pumps me up, I get so many ideas, and I feel amazing!
If you are a blogger, read amazing blogs! If you are a photographer, go through some kickass photos.
That should spark some inspiration and motivation 🙂
Raise Your Vibrations AKA Feel GOOD
This might sound silly, and I wouldn’t have even mentioned it unless I actually knew personally how much it helps!
When I am lacking inspiration, and my work seems like dreary work again, I work on raising my vibe. So what does that mean?
Everything has a vibration, and so do your thoughts and emotions. All happy, good feelings have a high vibration. So raise your vibration, and not only will you feel better but also help you attract positivity and better work outcomes!
Here is a helpful list of how to raise your vibrations!
Make yourself feel good – brew yummy coffee, or make some delicious iced tea. Switch on music you love. Dance for a few minutes, or just groove /sing/hum along. Make your space super cute. Light a candle, put out flowers, get cute fairylights, etc.
Personally I find these type of fairy lights really cute:
If you are working from home, then put on a cue top or make your hair into a pretty bun/braid. Wear accessories. Put on your favourite lipstick. Etc. do anything or all of the above to feel amazing.
Also, I find washing my face helps reset me. Water is a great source of good energy (we are also 70% made of water). So yeah, it makes sense water has a huge impact on us.
Make yourself feel special so that you feel good and can channel that energy into your passion.
Give Yourself a Break to Realign
If you still feel like you aren’t fully inspired, then stop trying. I know that is probably a sentence you have never read on any self-growth website, but yeah, I am telling you that. Take a break. That is the best way to get back in the game. If you are unable to work or get inspired, there is a constant push-pull of trying to work and not getting anything done. As a result, you might waste 10 hours not being able to focus or create anything of value, while also not realigning, centering yourself, and pausing. This makes the whole thing a WASTE.
SO that is why, if you can, it might be better to try taking a break. This could be five minutes or 2 days. If you get back to your 90-100% after even a 48 hour break, that is better than wasting 10 hours every day, and getting MORE uninspired (because the constant failure to actually produce something you like will demotivate you), ending up worse than you started.
Read this article on burnout (what it is and how to tackle it).
Conclusion
See, I came back to my WHY. I thought about why i began this blog, and i wrote honestly what will help me in this moment, and everything I did to get to finishing this blog post 😀 And it worked! I got this blog post done! Instead of struggling to write some click-baity article that sounds fancy, I just went back to the basics.
So I hope you enjoy this because these are all tips that are from my heart that actually help me.
Save for Later! 🙂
This is such a helpful post. Passion in what we do cannot be stressed upon enough and it’s good to remind ourselves once in a while why we chose our work in the first place. I loved it 🙂
Bookish Ayushi recently posted…ARC – Book Review: Virtue by John Moot
So glad it could help you! Yay 🙂 keep up your passion!
Pingback: 4 Delightfully Simple Steps To Embrace Slow Living Even If You Are Busy | WeWearWellness