Overcome Slumps in Energy, Creativity, & Passion

Do you ever feel like your energy is constantly flowing and then ebbing flowing and then ebbing? Of course you do, because you're a human being and it happens to all of us. It's a natural phenomenon. We all have cycles of energy, of creativity, of passion that come and go. The challenge around that is if your work, if your livelihood depends upon that energetic flow.

If you are someone who is a creative entrepreneur or a leader who is in charge of inspiring others or in any way, shape, or form, your performance is dictated by the amount of energy that you can put into something. When we naturally reach those energetic slumps and you don't have that to give, how do you keep performing?

It's a real challenge for a lot of people, and believe me, you are not alone in this. That challenge is compounded when we then feel bad about it. When we beat ourselves up, have negative self-talk, or, somehow associate our inability to have energy or be creative or have passion with our, personality or our character. or are worth in some way.

So you've probably experienced this if you are someone who is, like I said, a leader or an entrepreneur or some sort of a, you know, creative, there are many of us out there and I've had a lot of conversations with people who have similar issues. And the great news is that there's an a pretty simple solution for this, and I'm gonna share it with you. so I'm trying something new with this episode, which is, short.

Succinct, actionable, and, and, and something that's really practical, in corporate terms, tactical. so that in just a few minutes I can give you a, a quick solution to a pretty challenging problem, that you might be facing. So, for this episode, this information is for you if you feel like you are caught in those circles of ebbs and flows. If you feel your energy come, and then wane, if you feel your passion rise and then fade.

If you feel that creativity come and then suddenly leave you there hanging, this information is for you. So when you find yourself in that flow state, when you find that you have a lot of energy and that you're really connected to your work and to your purpose, this is the time to lean into that, to celebrate that, and to make the most of that time. When you are in that state, there is a three step method that I want you to try the next time.

The first step in this method is to capture whatever it is that is coming out of you. If it's ideas, if it's energy, if it's positivity, if it is creativity, whatever it is that is coming out of you. If you find yourself in this flow state and you are just firing at all cylinders and you're, you're making something, Capture that. If you have ideas popping into your head whenever that is, capture it. So there's a few different ways to do that. One is through writing.

if you are, are someone who likes to write stuff down, then do that: journal, you know, grab a whiteboard. I'm looking at mine over here where I just capture ideas. Get it down, capture it in some way, shape or form. Writing has a really great- it is a really great method for this because, when you are seeing it, writing it, there's a tactile, you know, brain connection and it imprints it even deeper. So writing is great.

I, I can't always do that, especially if I'm on the go, if I'm driving, if I'm running something like that. So another way to capture is with video or audio. So sometimes I will just turn on the camera and just go and speak, or turn on my voice memos on my phone and just speak and let it flow. And sometimes it is brilliant and sometimes it is gibberish. But I've gotten it out of my head and I've captured it and I have it for later. So that's the number one step.

Capture it once you've captured it.

The second step is to extract it, is to go through what you've captured and, and pick apart the good stuff, take what you need from it. So there are a couple different ways that you can do that. If you are recording something on video or audio, then you can use a, transcription service. so I use Descript. it's a really great service. We'll link it in the show notes for you. that's what I'm recording on right now. When I do solo episodes, I use descripts.

So it's, it's great because I can record it automatically, makes a transcript of everything that I'm saying and then, I have that I can, go through and, and look. I can also, I can create captions out of it, which is really nice. But I can also find by keywords, the things that are stand out. so I now have that and it's, it's locked in somewhere. You can do that obviously with your, your writing as well, but you gotta capture it. and you gotta, look for the action there. What are the takeaways?

What can you do something with? and once you get those, then you can move on to the third step. I would caution you against, getting too many, usually three to five actions for any idea or for any, you know, work that you want to get done is enough. If it gets much beyond that, then you know, it's maybe a little nebulous and you might want to save part of that for later. So once you have your three to five action items, then you can

move on to the third step, which is to create a system out of it. Creating a system means that it lives outside of your head, outside of your body, and the system is not dependent upon you necessarily to function. So, system could include something like creating a SOP, a standard operating procedure or a playbook as some people like to call it. By doing that, by creating a methodology or, you know, a process for something, you now have, you know, captured that idea, that approach.

You have the takeaways and now you're putting it into a system that can be replicated: rinse, repeat over and over again. Another way to do that, is to create an automation, an automation using technology. this can be, again, something like a workflow. It can be an email automation, it can be, you know, SMS automation, sim something simple as, you know, creating a reminder for a certain action. there are lots of tools for this. You can, use Active Campaign. I love Active Campaign.

That's what we use, for five Bridges and no stigmas. but there are tools like wic, slack, certainly, Trello. Lots of ways to automate, you know, these processes that, that you want to get done. and I'll link some of those in the show notes as well. so, you know, Getting that system into, a tool that you can actually use is really important. and then you can, next time you want to utilize that process, simply bring up that SOP or playbook or automation. better yet, it does not depend on you.

it just happens automatically and, and you, and you're done. and then you can delegate it. Then you can actually take it completely off of your shoulders and give it to somebody else. so in that way, that period of creativity that you've had, that energy that you've captured now can live on and on and on, which is amazingly good news.

For when you're naturally going to hit an energetic slump, when you're gonna come to a time that you just can't even, you, you can't get your juices flowing and you don't have the ability to, to create something in that way, guess what? You've already done that. You have a system or multiple systems if we're doing this over and over again so that your work can continue.

Even if you can't, the last note before I wrap up here is When you are in an energetic slump, just be there and be okay with it. Don't beat yourself up about it. It is okay. It is normal and it is perfectly healthy to have that period of time. Of course, if, you know, it extends, you know, beyond a reasonable time, or if your health starts to suffer or if you start to, you know, disengage socially, then of course those are signs of something, you know, maybe more that you want to address.

But to have a period of time where you have less inspiration, less passion, less ideas, less energy. It's perfectly normal. A lot of times it syncs up with seasons or with hormones, or with life events. And that's okay. Take care of yourself and do what you can. But feel confident knowing that you've done the work already and that you can then, you know, take a little bit of rest. And let that previous work that you've done in the system that you've created work for you. All right.

That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in. Let me know how you like this format, this episode, and, if so, maybe some ideas on other things that are challenging to you and that you maybe wanna address. Thanks, and until next time, be well.