Well, here we are…

Fast approaching the end of 2020 and things aren’t much better than they were back in February.

Continued lockdowns and restrictions….

Job losses and business closures….

And still so much uncertainty about the future!

Even with a vaccine rolling out, it feels like we’re still nowhere near the end of this pandemic nightmare, and the repercussions are set to continue for many months.

Years, even.

This is not to add to your worries, by the way!

It’s just to say that things haven’t really got that much easier, have they?

So I completely understand if you haven’t done everything you set out to do this year.

Maybe you haven’t got ANYTHING off the ground since the first lockdown.

Or maybe you tried but kept getting tripped up by events.

Just when you think things are easing up and you’re ready to make plans – BAM! – you end up in Tier 3, or isolation, or looking after children at home…

And, suddenly, everything is on hold. Or cancelled.

Believe me, I know how you feel.

I’ve become frustrated with myself over projects that have had to be held back for reasons absolutely beyond my control.

In fact, it puts me in mind of an email I wrote to you back in May of this year.

It was all about ‘lockdown demotivation’ and you can read it in full by clicking here.

I admitted to you at the time that my worries about the pandemic were beginning to have an impact on my concentration and energy.

Now, I often get comments about the messages I send to you but that email in May, above all others, really hit a note with many of you.

Comments such as

“Do you know, I really needed to read this today. I’ve been thinking it was just me feeling this way & that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this lifestyle after all…”

“…I won’t feel a big fat failure and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for these words. I’m saving them to read again and again”

Sometimes knowing it’s not just you is very important.

I think it was because all these online gurus and experts were telling you to bake gourmet bread, read War and Peace, learn how to play jazz flute and start a new businesses in the ‘extra time’ you had.

However, I suggested that their advice was totally unrealistic, and that you shouldn’t put yourself under so much pressure.

It was okay to feel tired and de-motivated.

Really, it was.

Now, over seven months later, I would still maintain that this is the case.

Things are just as difficult – if not, more so.

And we really should be a littler gentler on ourselves…

So when I read back through my email from May, I was reminded that I should follow my own advice!

In fact, today I thought I’d remind you of my strategies for moving forward under these strange and worrying circumstances.

How to GENTLY reach your goals

Just because it’s okay to feel ‘not okay’ in this pandemic, we still need to think about our ultimate goals.

There’s a balance to be struck.

I believe that we all (myself included) tend to seek reasons and excuses not to do things outside of our comfort zone.

And in these challenging times a comfort zone is a great place to be.

So it’s very easy to say “I simply cannot do anything until this is pandemic over”.

But you could be waiting a long time for that, by which point you might have missed your opportunity to create your own income, and take more control of your life.

What you can do instead is gently take small steps forward towards your goal.

By that, I mean doing something that takes maybe 10 or 20 minutes tops every day,

It could mean watching a video, downloading a report, reading an article, or looking through a book chapter.

This small goal is achievable even if you’re anxious… even if you’re busy with work… even if you’ve got noisy family in the house.

Just do that one, tiny thing toward your goal.

That’s all.

Then you can relax as best you can and try another small task the next day, and the day after that.

Nothing intimidating.

Nothing exhausting.

Nothing major.

But by doing this one small thing each day you will start to head in the direction of your bigger goal.

The more of these small tasks you do, the more you will begin to feel motivated as you see your own progress.

This is known as the Kaizen technique which you may have heard me talk about before.

It’s what I use to get projects done outside of my usual workload – especially when I’m tired and low in motivation.

Here’s another thing you can do…

Switch off the media

The news is relentlessly worrying,

Not just the pandemic and its economic devastation, but all the uncertainty over the impact of Brexit as we crash out of the EU.

Of course, it’s important to understand what is going on.

I’m not suggesting you stick your head in the sand.

But our minds didn’t evolve to cope with a constant stream of real-time global news.

Thanks to smartphones, TV, radio and social media, we’re bombarded with uncomfortable ideas, facts, events and images all day long, wherever we go.

It’s not healthy.

The media drip-feed of anxiety-inducing information becomes a drip feed of cortisol (the stress hormone) in your bloodstream.

Cortisol disrupts sleep patterns, causes fatigue and impairs your brain function, leading to poor memory and concentration.

These are precisely the symptoms many people have been complaining about during this troubled year.

They’re also what could be making it difficult for you to stay motivated.

So try and switch off the news feed for a day or two (or more) each week and focus on your goals instead.

If you cannot do that, then limit your exposure to the media for long periods of the day.

Think instead about how you can take control of your own life, and make things better, despite what’s happening in the world.

I really hope this helps – and as ever I’d love to hear whether you managed to implement any of those techniques back in May? I had some lovely feedback and always love receiving more!