What To Do When You Just Don’t Feel Inspired

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There are days when I sit down at my desk, I look at my workload, and I just want to quit early and go do something else because I don’t feel inspired right now.

When creativity is flowing, it is so easy for me to work. I feel like my heart and soul and mind are all working together, and that I’m accessing a part of myself that makes me Creative and Awesome and Unstoppable. I love that feeling!

But when the flow stops, whether it’s because I’m tired, or I’m having an off day, or for a reason I haven’t figured out yet, it’s SO hard to get going on anything. It took me a long time to recognize when this was happening, and to learn to work with myself to get things done on days when it feels like the only thing I really want to do is take a nap.

Accept what you are feeling right now.

It’s okay to feel this way. It’s not your fault that your brain isn’t in constant Awesome Mode.

This lack of inspiration, the feeling that you’re stuck or that your creative well is dry, happens to all of us.

Would you expect anyone else you care about to be perfect all the time? Of course not! (Although if you do, that’s a whole separate kind of problem.) Why would you expect yourself to be perfect all the time?

Accept what you are feeling, accept how you are feeling, and tell yourself it’s okay. This would be a good time to take a few deep breaths.

You can still have a successful day, but it will be a lot harder if you’re standing over your own shoulder making sarcastic remarks the whole time.

Let go of all your distractions.

Turn off your music, turn off the television, and log out of chat. Shut down your email for now. Close the door or draw your curtains.

You need to send a signal to your subconscious that you’re serious about this, and that you are willing to focus.

Now is not the time for multi-tasking.

Make a list.

Before you start, take a few minutes and write down all the steps you need to take to accomplish the work you need to do. Break it down into small, doable tasks.

Don’t make this kind of list:

1. Write five emails
2. Create new widget
3. Comment on twelve blogs

Do make this kind of list:

1. Email Sally about her favorite widget
2. Email Bib about great new widget research
3. Brainstorm widget ideas

The key to a good list is how specific it is. This can, obviously, lead to some ridiculously long lists.

A good rule of thumb to use for lists is that they should be for either a specific thing or a specific time frame. Since you are sitting down right now to work on something, just list the things you mean to do right now.

Start doing it.

Pick something off your list and just start working. No excuses, no but-I-don’t-feel-like-it attitude. You’ve worked through how you are feeling, and you’ve accepted that you aren’t perfect. Your distractions are gone and you have a working list of things you can do.

So DO IT.

Is it really that simple?

Yes, it really is!

And when you’re done, don’t forget to reward yourself with something nice, like getting up and walking away for the rest of the day, or maybe that nap. You earned it.