I know it may come as a shock to you—but I am not always motivated to work. There are so many days when I wish that I had the kind of job where I just showed up, brought my library book, and it didn’t matter if I produced anything, used my brain or talked to a single person—I could just get paid for showing up. The reality is, for most of us with home businesses, there are plenty of days when we HAVE to try to work, whether we feel like it or not.
We cannot always be motivated and dazzling, but that does not mean we should pack in it. In fact, what I have learned about myself is that if I do not work when I am feeling sluggish, it makes it harder for me to get back in the groove than if I just keep working even when my heart, soul and brain are not in it. Continuing to do at least SOME work when I am lacking motivation is often better for me than stopping and trying to get back into it when the mood strikes. For me, I find that a good part of work is habit—as long as I keep at it, the motivation will spark again but if I stop—then I am in trouble.
Lighten up on yourself and do not expect unstoppable perfection. There is just NO WAY that everything you do will be brilliant and inspired and accepting that can help you to go through the motions when you just are not into it. I think of it this way—when major things happen in our lives—a move, divorce, a death, etc.—we still have to do ordinary things. We still have to go to the grocery store, feed the kids, do the laundry, etc. We may not feel like it, we may not particularly enjoy it, but we have to go through the motions and keep functioning and that is how it is with our home businesses too.
See Also: Working in Bursts and Batches
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