Want to know something? I’ve been recently punishing myself and feeling guilty about not working on my book. In fact, I am still doing this! And that guilt transforms into lack of inspiration. It drags on and spoils my work, too – I feel guilty when not working; when browsing the net and reading blogs; when looking through pictures on Facebook and basically – while doing anything that is not related to writing my book or working. I constantly put pressure on myself for doing or not doing something… and then it hit me –
Why force it? Why not enjoy the ride?
Since I relocated to Spain, I have been enjoying some pretty great weather here (nothing like the winter at home which I have been used to for years). So every day when I go out on the terrace, I admire the view and wonder, “How can everything be so good?!”
I really feel like I’m living the dream. So why spoil it with a feeling of guilt?
When the weather is nice, I don’t feel like working (right, as if writing my book is working). I want to ride my bike, I want to walk on the beach, I want to travel the world, I want to day dream. Basically, I want to go do things outdoors and away from my computer.
So I asked myself – how does a freelancer, living the dream, cope with the lack of inspiration?
It’s simple, really simple – and I don’t know why I was so blind to it!
A humongous advantage of being a freelancer is the fact I can be in harmony with my work and clients – with or without the inspiration.
If I feel like working, I work. If I don’t feel like working, I’m not going to force myself to – and neither should you. This is what I think you should do, if you’re able to:
Clean up your schedule for the next few days, weeks or (why not?) months and relax!
Keep active your long-term clients and contracts – just so you have some money to pay the bills, but don’t take on new clients and projects. Give yourself some time to figure out exactly what you want to do .
After all, the million-dollar question is – what do you want to do?
Why do you work? What would you do if you didn’t have to work?
If you force yourself to work when you absolutely don’t want to, it will show. If your heart is not in your work – your work will be crappy. I promise you – everyone will see the lack of inspiration in it.
On the other hand, if you leave yourself some room to breathe and some time to relax and enjoy whatever you are doing when not working – the inspiration will hit you, and hard!
You will be ready for new clients and projects in no time. You will be ready to work on your book. You will have inspiration again.
R-r-r-right, I was talking about myself – so, I am ready for new clients and projects. I am ready to work on my book.
In the meantime, I did chase a stream of inspiration and finished a long-overdue white paper, which I am giving away!
My brand new white paper – How to Make Your Blog Posts SEO and Readers Friendly
I give it for free – but (there’s always a ‘but’!) – to get the white paper for free, you need to subscribe to my newsletter or “pay with a tweet.”
Check out more details about it at the special page I made for the newsletter subscription.
I completely agree that if you really don’t feel up for it, and you have spare time, or enough time to stay away from work, by all means go do other things that will help you enjoy your life more. Living life will likely bring inspiration to you anyway. And I agree that you shouldn’t feel guilty about something if it’s not bringing ruin upon yourself or your family or your client, etc. We need to enjoy our life, not work it away. The whole point of working is to #1 survive and #2 enjoy life. So sometimes we need to do #2! 🙂
So true, Lisha – this is exactly the realization i reached – that living my life will anyway bring me inspiration LOL – thanks for adding to the conversation!
Hi Dianna; I find this a refreshing approach. for me i have been told that i have and express a real passion for my work and subject matter. as an amusement equipment reseller my eventual goal is to use the commissions and ad revenues to travel the world. I don’t want to be running this thing from my bedroom living room or garage forever. I look forward to the challenges of poor internet service, strange beds, unfamiliar food, etc. but i have met so many great people online and I am also looking forward to meeting them in person and trying to help them. I like to read and split my time between novels for fun and inspirational works read mostly during my exercise time. I listen to old time radio shows. nothing simpler than the days of the 30’s through the early 50’s. and the theatre of the mind is great for distracting me and allowing my mind to clear and get ready to go back to work on a given project or task. You also have to eat right get your rest and get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. and if you are really having trouble getting motivated it might be time to ask your doctor to see if there might be a physical reason for it. my life changed a lot after finding out i had sleep apnea. thanks for the great post and i am so jealous of you in warm sunny spain right now. take care, max
Like you, Max – i too can’t wait to throw the work away, start earning passively and travel the world more! 🙂
You said something which made me think – you say to ask my doctor for advice if i have trouble feeling motivated – but this is something else. I am talking about lack of inspiration – not lack of motivation. Sometimes these two overlap but i was finding myself not being able to do things right and well because i was doing other things in my mind.
Nevertheless – your tips are great and i will make sure i eat better and i exercise more regularly! Just wanted to make sure i differentiate the motivation from inspiration. Thanks fro your addition! 🙂
As a retiree, I don’t feel guilty about my idle time. 🙂 I know where you’re coming from. Before retiring, I felt guilty when ever I would take two hrs. off, from my busy schedule. I had to change my way of thinking quick. Steady plotting without any time for your self, will muddle your thought process.So, take a leisure drive, with a distance of an hour or two from your home base, go a to an area where no one will bother you, and enjoy the solitude. Once you have re-charged your batteries, you are ready for most anything. That’s what I do. Blessings.
Funny thing – i never quite feel guilty about taking time off – hahaha, i am pretty good at that! The whole purpose of being a freelancer is to do with my time whatever i want to and feel like.
It is my super high demands and goals that pressure me into feeling guilty – almost as if i fail myself. But you are right, Johnny. This week i am going to take those 2 hours drive away from my usual environment and let’s see what it does with my batteries. For more busy days, i will enjoy the solitude of my terrace 🙂
This post really hits home for me. I’m particularly gifted when it comes to being hard on myself and not enjoying the ride I’m on. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve really been looking how ways to RELAX and work smarter and not harder. My inspiration issues come with working on my novel. I’m always much more motivated to do blog posts and look for ways to get editing projects. Only I’ve started to realize the way I feel toward my novel kind of rubs off on the rest of the work I do. So little by little, I need to work on replacing bad habits with better ones.
Hah, Jeri – one more time i see how alike we are for some things 😀 Here’s a tactic which i just recently discovered as helpful:
I am trying to write my book for a few months now and have not even started. What is the biggest obstacle is that i want to write the book but i don’t want to deal with the plan first. But we all know that without a plan, i won’t write a good book. So i postpone the planning and don’t write the book.
When i looked back – if i had written just a point per day on that plan, i would have finished the plan by now and i would have started (and maybe even finished!) writing the book as well.
So, i decided to try some new approach – when i catch myself postponing something, i talk myself into doing it just for 5 minutes. So even if i stop doing it after 5 minutes (although it rarely happens!) – in a few days and weeks, i will have done MORE than if i had not spent those 5 mins. doing it in the first place.
And when i look back and see how much i have done for so many days, 5 minutes each day – i feel the urge to do more. With time, it accumulate work that otherwise doesn’t get done – AND it builds up that new habit you said you want to develop 😉
Hope this helps 😀
Yeah, you’re definitely onto something. I look back at my daily word count log for my novel and kick myself for all the days I just simply talked myself out of working on it at all. My new approach is to work on it first thing in the morning. Once i spend a few minutes on it, it don’t dread it. Getting started is always the hardest part.
thumbs up, Jeri – i am too using the first-thing-in-the-morning approach (not for my book though, start-up has a priority right now LOL) – it seems you and I will be exchanging some more wisdom and knowledge about what approach worked well, when, how, why or why not! 😀
Diana,
“When I am working I feel like working”. I thought it is my own feeling but glad to know there is someone at other end of the world feels the same.
The thing is we’ll need to keep up the inspiration no matter what the situation is.
Thanks for the heads up
Oh, Shahzad, i am sure there are plenty other people beside you and me, who feel the same way about inspiration. We just need to help each other through shared knowledge and become better every day. Thanks for stopping by 😀
I go get that guilty feeling too. I have, actually I still am doing it. I am living the dream (as you said) but somehow I find a way to do things that are NOT what I want to do because I think I’m punishing myself for having fun and doing what I’ve worked hard to get to this place. You have given me what I needed, a kick in the butt to go enjoy my life. I do believe I CAN have it all. 🙂
What a nice comment, Susan – thank you for it! It always feels good when i know i am helping (even if it’s through a kick in the butt LOL) – i hope you are enjoying your weekend as you deserve the dream life 😉
Well, I guess I’m at a place in my life when I schedule my leisure time during the day just as if I was scheduling a business appointment. If not now, when? I play duplicate bridge two afternoons a week and it’s a rare day when I don’t play. That’s my time. It’s a way to recharge. Don’t punish yourself by feeling guilty if you do something for yourself.
What a coincidence – i too schedule my leisure time as if it were a business appointment. Playing bridge, eh? Good for you, Jeannette! Nobody ever taught me how to do that but i sure love it how you appreciate your me-time. I am trying to do the same as much as possible, too. Thank for the reminder and support! 😀
I feel like I spend the vast majority of my time working and that may be because that’s what I’m doing. 🙂 At this stage in my life when the inspiration to take a break hits me I follow it. The alternative is that I make myself sick. All work and no play really do make me a dull girl. Today when I found myself staring blankly out of my office window, I decided to go for a walk.
I hear ya, Debra – i too sometimes stare blankly (i don;t even need a window for that!) – it is alarming how our mind can just go blank if we don;t give it enough time to play and force it to work all the time. Good point – hope you enjoyed your walk 😀