Sometimes a Pity Party is the Best Answer

We all have bad days.  Sometimes, we have bad weeks.  And sometimes, we have bad months.  Yup, life happens, and it can be a shit storm, or shit awesome, depending on the the planetary alignment that is your life.  We hear lots and lots about how great someone’s business is doing, but on the way to doing great, every one of those entrepreneurs had a struggle.  We just don’t always get to witness the struggle, so when we are in our own, our BULL creeps up on us….

What I find is, during those low moments, we get really stuck in how XXX (where XXX = name of the entrepreneur you are comparing yourself to) is doing waaaay better than us.  In fact, they are doing the very thing we can’t seem to figure out yet (like having a $100k month, traveling the world and getting paid, getting 5 new clients in a day…).  This horrible habit of comparing ourselves to people that aren’t even playing in the same sandbox as us can really make us feel bad.  And, sometimes, it gets used as a way to take no action, get depressed, and hole ourselves up into a ball and wait for some undefined moment to pull us out of our funk.  (Can you tell that I have these moments too?  If not, yes, I do!)

Here’s the thing – funk moments have a dual edge.  On the one hand, they totally suck.  They deplete our energy, make us beat ourselves up, give up, etc.  On the other, they represent the source of questions that lead to ideas, that lead to creation.  So, here are some ideas for when you get stuck in a funk, to step in to the idea and creation process:

1. Are you dreaming a new dream?  When everything you throw at the wall falls off the wall, and nothing seems to be working, ask yourself if maybe, just maybe, you don’t want it to work.  Maybe the truth is, it’s time for you to be moving on to another idea, another business, another way of running your business, because you’ve lost interest and motivation in continuing to do the same things the same way.
2. Compare yourself to Oprah.  My mentor told me this once when I was complaining about how XXX was doing sooo much better than me.  I was bitching and moaning in a funk, and when he said this, it popped me right out!  Because, you see, the problem with comparing ourselves to someone way more advanced than we are is that well, they are way more advanced than we are.  So, though we can wish we were at their level, or having their life, we don’t, and we’re not going to jump from where we are right this moment, over to theirs.  (And, have you ever thought that there may be people out there thinking YOU are their XXX?  Because, for all you know, you are.)
3. Is a big shift happening?  Let’s say you’ve been running a program, or writing a blog that has had lots of people attracted to it.  All of a sudden, attention tapers off.  You keep going at it, and more attention goes away.  What gives?  Well, it may be time to consider that the people that have been attracted to you and your information are now wanting something else.  Go find out what it is.  It may just be that habits and traditions and interest have changed – the way it did when social media first came about – and people’s interest has turned in a new direction.  There are lots of attitude and opinion adjustments happening right now in the world of marketing – make sure you tap into not just the “how-to” concepts, but also the bigger picture themes and behaviors related to your industry.
4. Are you bored?  Maybe the end of your funk lies in finding a new activity, a new friend, traveling to a new place….getting yourself out of repetitive habits is a great way to end a funk.
5. The way out is the way through.  I hate that expression.  But, it’s true.  Sometimes, you just have to feel whatever is there to end a funk.  Instead of avoiding what can be some hard feelings, just feeling them for a couple days can help you move into a more creative zone.