How to do today more right things even if you´re exhausted

Hello, my friend,

I hope you had a wonderful week.
Mine was full and I am super exhausted writing this post. I am writing this although the only thing I want is to go to bed and sleep. How do I do this? Do I have superpowers? Can I perform magic? Am I “special”?

No, no and no. (Sadly) I am exactly as you are. I am a human. It´s many times difficult and I fail often at doing the right things.  But I found a small trick for myself that helps me many times when I feel down, empty, exhausted or tempted to do nothing. It´s the closest I came to magic. Stay with me some seconds and I will share it with you. First, a warning this is not the magic pill that will solve all your problems. However, if you want a tool that can help you a lot on those days or moments when you are in doubt then continue reading.

I am excited to share this tool with you.
It´s simple but extremely effective.

The trick is getting the ball going again.

Just start with the next, tiniest right thing that you can do. Maybe clean your table a bit. Or stretch a bit. Take a shower. Get tea and prepare yourself for the next step of your plan. Organize your plan. If you are strong listen to a short motivational video or better an audio (be careful, especially YouTube can be very dangerous in such moments, I speak of experience…).

Many expressions evolve around this and maybe one of those can help you in a doubting moment.
“To get back on track”, a.k.a. jump back on the train.
“To pull your socks up”, go and improve yourself.
“Get your shit together” or “man up” or maybe as some special forces say, “Not dead, can´t quit!”.

My personal favorite is German “Seinen inneren Schweinehund besiegen” and it means “To conquer one´s weaker self”. Schweinehund literally means “swine-dog” its totally strange but I like this expression a lot. I often say that I have to get my “Schweinehund” back on the leash. Imagining how I take this dog inside of me on the leash many times helps me to get going on the next step. And the first step is so important!

No matter which of those inspires you to get going again, take it and go on the next step. From there keep on moving and later reward yourself. Pet yourself on the back and enjoy your well-earned rest, plan calmly the next steps and look forward to the next achievements.

As a tiny example here are the small steps I took today before starting to write this post:

1. I started with a tiny, dirty workout. Some burpees, lunges, lateral squats, a bit rowing, and curls. Nothing special, just to do something. It took maximum 15-20 minutes. I started with this because my new promise to myself is to do at least every second day something physical for myself.
2. That made me go to shower which I enjoyed tremendously, and it relaxed me.
3. After that, I could enjoy the dinner calmly, followed by some board games together.
4. Next, I sorted the papers with notes on my table.
5. Finally, I started calmly with this post although it was already late at night.

And it all started with the first step! I could give countless examples but by now you get the idea.
So, only one thing left. Yeah, I know it´s hard. All those excuses and “good reasons” to not do anything. We all know them, but I hope that you now can use this tool “to get the ball going again”.

Let me know your thoughts about this tool or how you used it or what´s the next thing you will do after this post.

Lots of success and all the best,
Alexander