I remember a few years back, I was working on my business, but I didn’t feel any real motivation.
I was easily distracted (I mean more than usual!)
I honestly felt like just quitting for the day…and watching Westworld.
This wouldn’t have been an issue if I had gotten a lot done for the day, but I barely did anything to that point.
The reason for this laziness was that I took a couple of L’s earlier in the day, so my mind was focused on the wrong thing (the L’s and not what needed to be done).
Oh, for those of you who don’t know, an ‘ L’ is a loss…and for me in particular, an expected outcome did not happen.
I had to deal with some people who had nothing better to do with their time but to spread their unhappiness with me.
Also, some of my “oh-so clever” advertising for fell flat!
Anyway, while I wasn’t super upset, I was upset enough to get in a bit of a funk.
Combine that with a lazy Saturday, and you are starting to get the picture.
But, here’s the thing, sometimes when things don’t go your way, or you are focused on other things (like the NBA finals!) you want to stop working and be like the avg person.
I’m not talking about giving up on the business, but, just stop working for the day.
You think “man, this sucks, I don’t feel like doing this… I’ll get back to it tomorrow”
This is what I call the micro-quit.
But the problem with enough of these micro-quits, you end up with a big a final quit.
The big, final quit that ends your business…One that sneaks up on you.
You don’t realize it, but next thing you know, you haven’t done any meaningful work in your business in weeks.
There cash flow has stopped and whatever you would do to get cash flow is gone.
Your momentum is gone!
If you chose to keep going, you are starting from scratch all over again.
Its why many people at this point just say “forget it”
This is how people quit.
Its not always some grand declaration announcing the end of their business because of some unforeseen mishap.
It’s often excuses and lies that sound like
“I just got to busy”
or
“Life got in the way”
or some other BS.
In the end, you need to fight the urge to micro-quit. What you gotta do is either buckle down and get something done (which i admit is hard to do)
Or, find a different area in the business to focus on while you get yourself back into the zone.
Give yourself a lil bit of time to do this other task, and then get back to the main, daily, money making task ASAP.
The other task can be admin stuff, as in making sure all bills are paid and properly recorded.
Making sure that any money that is owed to you is on it’s way, and if not, send the email or whatever to nag the dead beat.
Make sure all paper work is up to date and clean your inbox and desktop.
Clean your equipment, your work area or anything that you have been putting off because its not super important for the day to day work.
Anything that will help get you get back into the game.
Once that’s done, get up, get some air. Stretch or do a light workout. Eat a healthy snack or meal. Then get back to the problem at hand!
Congratulations, not only did you not micro-quit, but you also got in EXTRA work done!
That admin stuff probably wasn’t on the agenda for today, but you got it done as well as the main task!
Feel good about this W, and use it to build momentum!
That’s what I call snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!