As I sit here, zoomed-out, uninspired, tired, sick of lockdown and just generally feeling so far from the badass entrepreneur I strive to be… It suddenly occurred to me, I’m not the only one. And it’s okay. So I wanted to share this reality of staying motivated as a freelancer or entrepreneur and some tips to help us all!
With endless streams of #bossbabe hashtags and ‘Motivational Monday’ memes, sometimes all this good-intentioned encouragement can have the opposite effect. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed (bordering on pressured!) to live up to this ‘empowered female’ level of productivity. Our brains are wired to completely work against us being multi-tasking entrepreneurs; the natural craving we have for instant pleasure, mixed with our organic commitment to procrastination, we focus on fear of failure and rejection, we feel comfortable in the safety zone which stops us taking chances…
It’s a motivational minefield… or MINDfield! (See what I did there?! )
However, as hard-working entrepreneurial freelancers, we need to try new things and be willing to fail, in order to succeed. Easier said than done, right? We’re going to share a few things that help keep us on track, but girl, we are also here to say – don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re allowed off days too, you are human!
Really??! Yep seriously. All right, we mentioned above how sometimes no matter how much you rationally know you’re capable, theres that part of your brain that plants doubt – you’re an imposter, you’re not capable, you don’t belong here. We say NA AH! A really cool and simple way to look at this is to give yourself, out loud the exact same encouragement and affirmations you would give your amazing talented BFF. Take the advice yourself. Don’t listen to the doubts and insecurities, fight your natural instinct to feel ‘not good enough’ and know you’ve got this far – you can keep going!
Keep that purpose in mind.
There’s a reason you started your business. Maybe it was financial freedom, maybe it was so you could travel, maybe it’s so you’d never have to wear a bra again between the hours of 9-5?! The nomad laptop lifestyle is usually a big draw, but whatever that reason is, remember it. Remind yourself of it – sometimes we are just where we wanted to be, but we haven’t even noticed! Anyone else done this before? Think back to 1 year ago, or 2 or 3, and look at everything that’s changed since then! Freelancers who manage to successfully stay motivated are usually people with a plan, and a purpose in mind. So maintain that purpose and remind yourself on the off days – WHY you do what you do!
Embrace failures and setbacks.
Ever had one of those weeks where everything just seems to go wrong? Yep us too. Fairly recently to be honest! On those bad days of emotional or logistical fuckary, there are 3 steps to getting through it without killing someone or throwing your laptop out the window.
1. Recognise wtf has gone wrong and acknowledge, rationally that yes while this hiccup is annoying, frustrating or even expensive af – this is what it is – a hiccup in a plan. It is fixable.
2. Take action. So the sooner this issue is addressed, the sooner you can move on and what was a disastrous issue, now becomes a story of how you overcame something, a moment of empowerment.
3. Learn from it! Take value in every mistake or failure, it’s not purely negative, there is value in learning from our mistakes and protecting our business in the future! It’s all part of the process!
Keep moving those goal posts.
As you keep building your business and hitting those goals, its super important for motivation to put new goals in place! Think about how far you’ve come, which goals you’ve already accomplished, and what the next level of success would look like for you! We all often talk about ultimate goals, but dreams, targets and aspirations are things which are constantly evolving! Doing a regular check-in on your goal list, small weeklies, monthlies, and the big annual ones; ticking them off and writing new ones can really keep you inspired! Some people journal, some people vision-board, whatever your vibe, get it down on paper, and keep those goals evolving.
