What do you do when you’ve had a crap day?
If you work from home, it’s easy not see any one for several days. Especially if you work with clients by email or phone.
There is no coffee room talk or quick catch-ups by the photocopying machine that you used to have in PAYE world. And sometimes it can feel just darn lonely being your own boss.
So what happens to your motivation when you have a bad day?
We all get them, don’t we? A client who cancels a meeting at the last minute. 5 rejections on your follow up phone calls, one after another. A laptop that decides to stop working when you have a proposal that needs doing.
If you are lucky enough to have a supportive partner or a good friend who understands what it is you are trying to achieve, then it makes it easier. But many of you don’t. There may even be people around you who don’t really believe that you will succeed in your plans and possibly don’t even want you to, for what ever reason.
This is why it is good to have a couple of simple strategies up your sleeve that will allow you to pick yourself after a bad day and get back on the straight and narrow. Here are some of my favourites:
Know when to stop. One bad thing seems to attract another and when you are feeling this way, it is far better to move away from what you are doing. Stop forcing yourself to follow up those phone calls, for example, when you are beginning to believe that you are only going to get “no’s”. Because that is exactly what you will get at that time.
Take a break. Go out for a walk, tweet away on Twitter, do some household chores, go out and buy a newspaper – it doesn’t really matter what it is a long as you are able to distance yourself from the stuff that doesn’t seem to be going your way.
Have a business buddy. A friend may not understand what you are going through if you phone up for a moan (and can quite often encourage you to moan even more if they are being sympathetic to your needs!) Having one or two business buddies – people you feel you can be honest with and yet can encourage each other to move forward with projects and ideas – can be a lifesaver on a bad day. Having someone who understands but keeps you on track with a little kick on your behind!
Play your favourite tune. Cheesey I know, but playing your favourite upbeat music and having a little dance around the office can do wonders for a mind shift. No one is watching after all!
Make a daily list of achievements. A great habit to get in to is to write down the 3 things you have been most proud of each day in a journal, diary or on your PC. It could be as amazing as winning a huge contract or as small as making a call to someone you have been putting off for weeks. Whenever you feel like the business is against you, read through your lists and realise how much you have achieved already.
Remember not every day is going to be a great day. There will be days that clients cancel, work goes wrong. You can’t control other people’s (and technology!) actions. But the one thing you can control is the way you deal with those actions when they happen.
What do you do to get over your crap days?
I like that last one Karen. I work on what I call my “Super 7” – a list of 7 ( yes the clue is in the title) things to do each day. I write this on the right hand page of the little book I use. The left hand page is for “highlight of the day ” – this can range from catching up with an old friend, an interesting comment on my blog, winning a contract, the sun shining….at the end of a year there will be 365 highlights and looking back through these invariably make me smile.
Great post
That’s a really great idea Jackie – thanks for sharing!
I simply remind myself that nothing stays the same, change is inevitable, and that tomorrow will be different.
Just written that on a post-it note and stuck it up behind my PC screen 🙂
We talked about this Karen when I did my first coaching session with you over 4 years ago, – at that time I wrote a note which I stuck on the board above my desk. – it said – Feeling down? go out in the garden.
Still works every time.
Wow, can’t believe that was 4 years ago! Your comment reminds me of my garden in my old house in the summer – used to have loads of annuals so my down time at the end of a hard corporate day (generally lots of crap days!!) was to go and dead-head all my flowers. Something about pinching the heads off, made me relax. He He!
When things aren’t going quite so smoothly, I notice that my shoulders usually start creeping up towards my ears like rather large earmuffs worn upside down! I make a conscious effort to straighten my back and pull my shoulders back down. That usually emits a loud sigh which reminds me that it’s time to do some proper breathing!
Even though I’ve been doing what I was taught as ‘Ha Breathing’ for 4 years now, it never ceases to amaze me how immediately I feel calmer, and less tired.
Great point Jackie and we need to look after ourselves, especially in the shoulder department. It’s where all the crap goes, when we have a crap day, doesn’t it?! My shoulders came down 3 inches as soon as I read your comment!
Lots of things work for me. I’m with you on not pushing things that aren’t working, taking a break, doing something different – a change of perspective is sometimes all you need to see things aren’t as black as you thought. And I love meditation, so that usually sorts me out!! And tomorrow is always another day and brings new things with it.
One of two things – I either put on a DVD of something like QI that’s guaranteed to make me laugh out loud, or I get on the trampoline 🙂 They both work, for most bad days!
I definitely like to get out and walk whenever I feel down or tense. Fresh air, fresh thoughts, and I usually bring home a new perspective.
Would it be wrong to say hit the Sauvignon?!
Also walking/ running/ getting out in the garden and spending time with the kids 😉
In the old days, pre children and my own business, if I’d had a rubbish day I would head for bed and stay there for as long as it took! Once children came along that was just not an option, so I would struggle on but often still felt down. Oddly, once I got my own business where everything relied on me (I know my children relied on me but they also had their Dad if things became too much) I developed a new strategy. Following a rubbish event, I usually have a bit of a panic, then a bit of a cry, then I realise that the only way it is going to change is if I do something and so get stuck into resolving the problem! I am truely amazed at this as it is just not me (bit of a cup half empty kind of person) but it does make me feel proud when I manage to turn things around!