In the last few days I have been having a huge difficulty writing. From time to time, this happens: my usual inspiration gives way to laziness, a willingness to sort out everything that isn’t work-related, and a little voice in my head saying it’s okay to take a break.
I think this is very common among content creators, especially those who are self-employed and are their own bosses. Therefore, I thought it would be fair to share this difficulty and, who knows, offer encouragement to those who are going through the same situation. With the low temperatures that have hit here is the US in recent days, I’m sure I’m not the only one!
One thing I’ve learned over the years working on the internet is that it’s okay to take a break once in a while. Going a week without delivering the usual content and taking a brief disappearance of social networks won’t do that much damage. Maybe a break is what you need to avoid a more serious bout of tiredness or anxiety.
What you can’t do is settle for laziness and start producing less, gradually. When you have an online business, it’s easy to convince yourself that the time dedicated to blog posts, or Instagram, or videos on YouTube, might not be worth that much effort. And then your entire content marketing strategy goes down the drain.
[In case you didn’t know, content marketing is the name given to the strategy of creating findable content (on Google, on YouTube) to attract readers and potential customers.]But there is a time when the growth curve of your networks, which can stagnate after a time without content, starts to decline. Losing followers on the networks and, more than that, losing relevance on the internet can cause damage that is difficult to recover, causing you to lose months of work. So take your break, yes, but get ready to come back as soon as possible!
If it’s hard to find motivation to produce, try doing something new. Share a personal project that you hadn’t covered yet, or risk a new format on some social network, or write about this phase you’re going through – as I do in this text. It may be with the intention of sharing or it may be just for yourself, but the fact is that starting to write is a much more effective way to attract inspiration than standing on the couch waiting for it to come on its own.
In addition to writing this text, I also took my easy days to tweak a new social network – theme of next week’s article! – and to start a book, which is about to become a topic here too. Creative leisure, what does it call?
That way, you at least get the feeling that you’ve done something useful these days. It’s already much better than the feeling of failure you get when you don’t accomplish anything at all.
When I feel too discouraged to work, which is something I normally love to do, I already turn on an alert here. “Something wrong is not right,” as the sage says. It could be that your discouragement has a physical cause, such as hormonal imbalance or lack of nutrients.
I’m not telling you to run to a psychologist – although I believe that therapy can be of great value at any point in life. But adopting habits that are proven to promote health and well-being may be all you need to get back on track. This can include:
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that, as an entrepreneur, you can’t “afford” to have a few moments of leisure when you feel like it. On the contrary: as your work and income depend 100% on you, it is essential that you take care of your head first. Then comes everything else.
I hope that reading this text has helped you to fight discouragement, as well as writing it was a boost for me! If you have tips and considerations on the subject, write here in the comments and we’ll continue the discussion.