16 June 2009

Things to Do When You're Too Tired to Do Anything

It's being one of those days -- up too early, firefighting all day, dealing with personal pressures, yadayada. The morning's come too early and now long gone, and I still can't wrap my head around marketing.

That ever happen to you? I bet it has.

So here are my thoroughly tested, highly recommended, brain function rescue tips for solopreneurs to try the next time you're in this state.

1. Stop trying to be productive. Seriously. Give in to the energy, go take a walk, fix a better than average lunch, have another cuppa, call a friend or a colleague, catch a nap and journal any dreams afterwards -- indulge in creative avoidance.

2. Declare this a Piddle day. Piddle around with finding and fixing broken links on your website, install a Twitter icon, read some of the backlog of others' ezines you've been keeping, clear out your email inbox -- do minor marketing or business housekeeping. (Oooh, wouldn't be great if someone started a Merry Maids for business housekeeping!)

3. Take care of the guilts. Catch up on your charts or progress notes, do that Google search you've been meaning to do for that client, dust the shelves and pick up the out-of-control / gonna-get-to-this-soon piles in your office, write that thank you note, send the flowers -- do all those little nice things you've said you would, but haven't gotten around to.

4. Try a natural remedies cure. The FES flower essence remedy called Madia is wonderful for helping regain focus and concentration. DHEA and vitamin B-12 help boost and sustain energy. Eat a complex carb like an orange or apple, or a small bit of protein like a cheese stick, or 1/4 cup of walnuts or my favorite: almond M&Ms.

5. Bring your intention back to sharing yourself with your prospective ideal clients. They too have days like this. It's helpful to let them know how you deal with it. Write a blog post, engage a little on Facebook or a professional forum, find someone else's question you can answer off the top of your head. You'll be surprised how the marketing juices start flowing.

I'd love to hear your brain function rescue tips. Leave a comment to this post, won't you? :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rxcellent. Sometimes it is more productive to not try too hard and to switch gears. All good suggestions. For me, I like to give myself a half-hour to look at old family photos, or an hour to sit down with some poetry or a good novel. Those things usually restore me.

Anonymous said...

Good ideas! Sometimes we need to stop trying to be productive and that helps. I like to take a half-hour to relax and look at old family photos or to give myself the gift of an hour of enjoying a poetry book or a good novel. That helps recharge me and get on track again.