5 Creative Ways to Motivate Yourself.
Be Brilliant In Your Business Podcast, Episode 87
I used to have a really hard time getting myself out of a funk.
Running a business, networking, seeing clients…these are great fun on days when you feel totally “on” but terribly challenging when you don’t. I used to feel like my only options were to fake it (which felt awful and I’m pretty sure my vibe always gave me away) or hide from the world.
Neither option is good for business, because consistency is key. And when you’re living on an emotional rollercoaster (which we all are in business) you can’t operate a steady and sustainable business.
I see way too many brilliant business owners experiencing this up-and-down and feeling totally owned by it. They play small with their goals because they don’t trust that they can handle a bigger rollercoaster.
“What if I land that dream client and then totally sabotage myself?”
Or they commit to the “fake it ‘til you make it” persona that has her shit all together, and then feel like terrible frauds most of the time. They build people-pleasing businesses which, btw, are also not sustainable.
It’s a lose-lose, unfortunately.
There has to be a better way to manage our emotions so that we can show up the way we need to for our business, while honoring the truth of who we are.
Fortunately, there is! Today I am sharing 5 Creative Ways to Motivate Yourself when you’re just not feelin’ it.
These are simple, fun and effective ways to shift your energy using your own intrinsic motivators.
It gives me so much peace of mind to know that no matter what is going on in my life or the world, I have the ability to step up and get myself into a place where I can get my stuff done.
If you are totally rebellious, externally motivated, or somewhere in between, you have this inner desire as a major factor in your behavior.
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Tip #1: Put on your creative hat.
Literally. Having objects that we give meaning for specific activities signals our brain that it is time for that activity to occur.
Tip #2: Pay yourself a compliment.
Ideally, the compliment has something to do with the work you are stepping into. It puts you in the mindset to create more value by showing up today.
If it feels disingenuous to give yourself a compliment at the moment, let your clients do it for you. Go to your website and look at the testimonials you have gotten or reflect back on recent conversations with your clients.
Generating empowering thoughts will create an emotional vibration in your body that has positive energy behind it coming from a positive self-image.
Tip #3: Gamifying your to-dos.
Playing games stimulates your creative brain and it also makes work more fun. Set a 15-minute timer and make it a game. There is no losing in this game!
Tip #4: Give yourself the “Honey I am home” speech.
Ask your future self to share the best of today’s moments with you.
Tip #5: Give yourself a moving pep talk.
A talk that will get your blood pumping and fill you with this “I got this” energy. Moving your body can break up the stagnant energy.
Make sure your mindset is focused on thinking the thoughts that you want to be thinking while your body is moving in a way that feels good.
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You are listening to Be Brilliant in your Business, the podcast for busy business owners to take charge of your time and energy to create meaning and momentum in your life. I'm your host, Linsi Brownson, certified coach and seasoned entrepreneur, and I know what it takes to run a thriving small business that works for your life. Join me for an honest look into the minds of small business owners as I share with you stories, coaching and solutions to the biggest problems that keep people from realizing their dreams. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to welcome new listeners. I'm so glad you're here. And I look forward to being part of your brilliant business. Be sure to hit the subscribe button, because we've got new episodes for you each week. Are you ready?
Let's go. Hey, Mavericks,
How you guys doing? I am excited about today's episode, because we are talking about creative ways to motivate yourself. And when I say creative, well, we're gonna talk about that in a minute. But this is a fun episode. These are some fun ideas, and I can't wait to share them with you.
So something that I've noticed about myself is over the last year and over the last couple of years, but specifically this past year, I have really seen that I have a much, much easier time, being able to shift my energy out of a negative mood into being inspired to being energized, feeling creative, and even going from like the world is falling apart to feeling grateful. And this is kind of a big deal. It doesn't mean that I never have bad days. In fact, sometimes I even choose to totally wallow and just feel like crap all day, like I want to. And other times, I'm able to shift my mood from feeling really dreadful to just being manageable enough to get into work and get things done. But it's not like I'm doing a full personality 180 and becoming my true vibrant, bubbly self, like at the drop of a hat. Sometimes I can and sometimes it can't. But I really have seen how much easier it's become for me to do that to make that shift.
And it gives me so much peace of mind to know that no matter what is going on, in my life or in the world, I have the ability to actually step up and get myself into a place that I can get my stuff done, which is a big deal because I have two jobs within my business. And one of those jobs is to create content. So creating this podcast, writing this producing it, creating the programs that I have doing my marketing, all of it, it's a highly creative endeavor, that is an ongoing thing that I do week after week. And it takes me being at my best and actually being inspired and being of service in order to be able to inspire and be of service. So it's kind of important. And then the other part of my job, of course, is coaching my clients. So it does not matter how I feel when I wake up in the morning, or how I feel even 30 minutes sometimes before I go into a session, it is my job to show up clear headed to be focused, to be open and ready to help them. So not feeling it or having an off day is just not going to work for the kind of work that I do. And it probably doesn't work for the kind of work that you do either.
So one of the super cool things about personal growth is that most of the time, it happens really gradually, right bit by bit over a period of time. It's a very organic growth process. So much so that we don't really notice how big of a change in you know who we've become, until we actually look back in hindsight or until something triggers an old memory that makes you go, Oh, yeah, I used to be a totally different person. How fun. It's so for me, learning to manage my emotions and to shift my energy has been exactly that. So of course I have noticed it to a certain extent, right. There was a period of time especially in the beginning, when it was very effortful. I was actively working on it often. And of course, I could see the progress or lack thereof in those moments, right.
But for at least this whole last year, it has become habitual for me in a way that I kind of just go to it when I need it, and I don't really think much about it. So I wanted to share with you today, five creative ways for you to get yourself into inspired and motivated, or just to shift your energy from not feeling it to being ready to go for your day. And so the reason that I say creative ways is because I want you to really focus on your intrinsic motivators. So instead of looking for inspiration or motivation out in the world, like scrolling on Instagram, or even checking your email or your calendar to get you like kickstarted into your day, I actually want you to get centered and to find this within yourself. So I'm personally more about me motivated almost entirely by intrinsic factors.
One of my favorite books is the four tendencies by Gretchen Rubin. And when I read that I identified instantly as the rebel, it was like such an aha moment for me. And rebels, of course, cannot be told what to do. In fact, external pressures, for me have the opposite effect of motivation, I go into like full on instant resistance mode. And even sometimes when I want to do the thing, I have this tendency to sometimes act outside of my best interest, if it feels like there's an external pressure or even a requirement to do so. I'm going to give you this ridiculous example. But it's so perfect, David and I once paid a personal trainer to come to our house at 7am, three days a week, and we paid her like, I think it was $160 per session. And she came to her house for six months. And I went and worked out with her twice, two times, I would wake up in the morning, and hide in the bedroom, while the trainer and David worked out in the room next door to us. This is so ridiculous on so many levels, I know. And I did this pre shift that I was just talking about, right. So I don't think I'd behave so drastically anymore. But it's such a great example of some seriously rebel behavior.
However, as you may have heard me talk about before, I should myself all the time, I put tons of internal pressure on myself. And I'm highly ambitious and motivated. I tend toward being an over worker, I set and achieve goals for myself all the time. But it's so interesting to know, what motivates me and what completely shuts me down. And like I said, part of this work is about balancing out some of those extreme tendencies that we have. But it's also really helpful to know what our baseline is. So enough about me, if you are totally rebellious, or if you're externally motivated. Or if you're somewhere in between, I think most people are somewhere in between those two, you have this inner desire or this intrinsic motivation as a major factor in your behavior either way. So these creative ways that we're going to talk about are All About going inward and sparking your own inspiration. And this will be helpful, then no matter what tendencies you lean toward.
Okay, you're ready. Let's talk about five creative ways to motivate and inspire yourself. The first way is to put on your creative hat. Literally, studies show that using objects that we associate with specific activities, like Wonder Woman puts on here tiara and then fights crime and saves the world, right, or maybe you have a favorite pen. Having objects that we give meaning for specific activities, it signals our brain that it's time for that activity to occur. So writing your weekly newsletter, or you know, saving the world either way. So I have a couple things that I do for some different activities. But the main object that I have is my computer glasses. Maybe you've seen me in a video or in a picture, my clients get to see me with my dorky glasses on every week. But as soon as I slide those on, I'm in coach mode. And they are practical, they help with eye fatigue, and they help with the blue light that messes up your circadian rhythm, all that fun stuff, right? But when I put them on, I know where I am, I know who I am, and how I want to be showing up while I'm wearing these glasses. And it's a fun thing to have. And a similar habit is getting dressed every day. Right? It makes a big difference. That's a tip that we probably hear pretty often. And for me throughout the last year with the pandemic especially and never leaving the house. I actually got dressed and like fully dressed up, did my hair, do my makeup all things more often last year than I really ever have before. I think including when I had jobs in offices. I spent a lot less energy try to look nice for other people. Then just myself see, again, intrinsic motivation. So it is a helpful thing to have this sort of costume that we put on. But these specific objects, kind of take it one step further, it helps you understand this identity and like really step into that way of being, and build that kind of rapport with yourself. That is really powerful it works.
Tip number two is to pay yourself a compliment. And ideally, the compliment has something to do with the work that you're stepping into. But it doesn't even have to, you just tell yourself something like, you know, I really love the way you always pull these random metaphors, I don't even know where they come from. But you just always have like the right story or right example, to say, you're just really good at that. How fun paying yourself a compliment reminds you of your value. And it puts you in the frame of mind then to create more value by showing up today. self love is a more effective motivator and the long term than willpower and force willpower and force mean, of course, I just said this last week, that you have to keep showing up and keep forcing yourself to do it. Whereas self love and having value and seeing what else you can bring to the table is going to inspire you to get there and inspire you to keep showing up. So if paying yourself a compliment, feels like a really big reach for you in the moment. I mean, it shouldn't be hard. In general, you should have some ideas of things that you admire about yourself. But if you're in a particularly bad mood, and it feels disingenuous to give yourself a compliment. If that is the case, then let your clients do it for you. Go to your website and look at the testimonials that you've gotten, or reflect back on a recent conversation that you had with the client where you really felt connected to them, or you felt connected to your purpose. So I guess in that case, there's a little bit of an external factor right and seeing their words, but what you're actually doing is you're generating empowering thoughts about yourself, which will create an emotional vibration in your body that has positive energy behind it coming from a positive self image. Another thing that I do randomly is when I'm in the shower, and the shower glasses all fogged up. Sometimes I'll just draw a little heart or I'll write a note to myself on the glass. And it's like this really sweet moment with just me where I'm like, Hey, I see you, I love you. You're kind of a hot mess. And I still think you're really great. It sounds silly, I highly recommend that you practice this, if you're not a being self love fan, it will make so much difference in your world in your happiness and in your productivity, I promise.
Alright, tip three is to gamify your two dues. So playing games stimulates your creative brain. And it also makes work more fun. So turn your next hour into a beat the clock game, or assign points to certain tasks and then see how many you can rack up today. or play that game. This is the game that we used to play when we were learning how to drive like 10 points, if you can hit that cone 10 points if you can knock down all the cones in your driving test. And we would just like rack up the points, the harder the thing is to do you get more points. So it's things like that, where you just start to get a little bit playful, a little bit light hearted in the way that you're approaching things, especially the things you don't want to do. If you can take the pressure off some of those things, whether it's the task itself, or just that feeling of I've been avoiding this for so long and makes me feel terrible. It can be such a relief to just dive in and get it done and to challenge yourself and see what you can do. I used to do this, like cleaning the house or picking up the house where I would just set a 15 minute timer and be like, how clean can I make this place in 15 minutes and just run around and be kind of crazy about it. And then at the end of the 15 minutes, then I got to actually reward myself by looking around and enjoying what I created. So one thing I want to say which I probably shouldn't have to. But since I know myself, and I know that you're probably like me, there's no losing in this game, the whole point of gamifying This isn't to get to the end of your day and say I only got 60 points and I wanted 100. So the day is a loss. It's to get yourself into that inspired place where it can be light and it can be fun. But there's no such thing as losing. And I think that's true for the whole of life, the whole of business, the more we can adopt this idea that everything we do is just for the purpose of seeing what is possible for ourselves of seeing what we're capable of. It's never about proving to ourselves that we can't or that we're not worth it, that we're not capable, right? So just a little mindset coach reiteration here. The whole point is to have fun, and to be playful, and to get stuff done.
Tip number four is to give yourself the Honey, I'm home speech. Do you love recounting the highlights of your day to your partner, when they get home at night, or when you get home at night? I do. I love telling David like, every single thing that I did, I don't do just the highlights I go into like way more detail than he cares about, or wants to hear. But this is something that you can do right now this little mini exercise by asking your future self to share the best of today moments with you right now. So it's like, Okay, I'm gonna take myself to 6pm. And tell me, honey, what did you do today? How was your day, and kind of go through this little quick list of Well, here's what I accomplished, here's how I felt, here's the stuff that's good. And really get yourself into that kind of like, your present and future self are a team, you guys are in this together. And so giving that future self some attention and some love right now is a great way to get you started toward being that person.
And tip number five goes right along with this, it's the Go Team cheer. Give yourself a moving pep talk, something that will get your blood pumping. And that fills you with that kind of like, I've got this energy. So something that I like to do is I have a mini trampoline, I think it's called a rebounder. And I'll go and like hop on my mini trampoline for a few minutes. And just like pep talk myself, literally. It's like, okay, we're gonna get this stuff done. All right, we're, I'm a great writer, I'm a great coach. So things that I need to say to myself, it is kind of affirmation, but it's more like feeling my body move is sometimes just breaking up that stagnant energy, and that kind of inertia that has set in and the movement helps that plus the, the positive self talk helps bring those two things together. Another thing I sometimes like to do is power yoga. So some really like strong yoga poses. And kind of the same thing, making sure that my mindset is focused on thinking the thoughts that I want to be thinking while my body is moving in a way that feels good. So this is a really easy, five minute three to five minute transformation to completely shift your energy. All right, you guys, that is what I've got for you today.
I hope that those five tips have been helpful. I want to hear what you're going to try. If you've tried any of these and they have worked. If you have your own games, or pep talks that you'd like to give yourself, reach out and tell me what you do to get yourself inspired to get yourself motivated from a really powerful internal place. If you are also a rebel, I totally want to hear that as well. I want to know who my fellow rebels are out there. And yeah, I would really love to hear from you. So once again, if you love this episode, please share it out on social media or share it with a friend, you can take a screenshot, and then tag me at Linsibrownson. And or tag me at the Be Brilliant Podcast, our new Instagram account and shoot me a message over there as well. Or better yet, come and join us inside the Maverick HQ. And then send me a message to the AMA and let me know what you thought about this episode, what you're going to try where you're getting stuck all of those things. So I can't wait to hear how this goes for you get inspired and get to work. I'll see you next week.
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