I know you've had days like this. In fact, they can last for longer than just a few days. It's those days that really test you due to some hardship in your life. It becomes so hard to get motivated and you just can't seem to get anything done.  You know you have to do these things, it's your job or you made a promise and you are a person of integrity. Of course, as luck has it, your motivation usually starts drying up right around the time something big is supposed to happen at work or in your business. Your non profit may have that big capital campaign coming up, or you are launching a new program in your business, you have a brand new marketing campaign to develop for the new product you created...but, life is happening too. Your child is sick at home, things aren't going so well at home, you were in a car accident, something major needs to be fixed in the house, or a family member is ill. These stressors can lead to poor sleep quality or in many cases you are not sleeping at all.  And, I've learned that a lack of motivation in one area of my life stems from neglecting other things like exercise, eating well, and sleeping well.  But it doesn't need to get to that. And if it does get to that, you can get out of it. Further, I'm here to tell you that you can stay motivated and be productive with your work and career tasks when you are going through something tough personally.

Do the important things first? In my last post, I told you not to worry about the most important things. I just want you to start doing ANYTHING and start crossing things off of your list. Working on feeling accomplished and creating momentum is key to getting things done. But, there are some IMPORTANT things you should do first, but let me define important. 

Important is NOT that project you'be been putting off, and it's not checking your email to make sure you don't have any fires to put out today. Important is any activity or task that creates energy for you rather than drain energy. Energy creating activities including drinking water, stretching, exercising, meditation, creative work, journaling, brainstorming, or anything that energizes you. Meeting a colleague or friend for coffee might energize you. Going for a challenging hike could be what energizes you. Taking a long hot shower could be it too. Whatever those things are, these are the most IMPORTANT things to do first thing in your day. In order to start doing these important activities first in your day, it takes a simple mind-set shift and tweak.

When we plan, whether it's a personal plan, a business marketing plan, or a non profit development plan, we assume we are going to be successful. We work hard to make sure the plan will lead us to success. But, there are many things that can cause delays and even derail us from our end goals and outcomes. But, most plans do not have a crisis component built into it. That is a mistake because ANYTHING could go wrong, I've seen some of the best laid plans fail miserably because something went wrong.

When a crisis occurs you might be able to maintain it internally without news leaking to the public, but more often than not the public finds out. So, plan for the plan failing, plan for a crisis and plan that the news will go public. Here are 3 things you must do when managing this kind of crisis.

Breakdowns. It can happen. In fact, it happened to me, or shall I say, it happened to my car. But, it feels like a personal breakdown too. So why did this breakdown occur and what can I learn from it? Well to start, a key gauge in the car made it look like everything was fine. No lights were flashing, no check engine alerts. From where I was sitting, all seemed fine. Then yesterday, I heard this horrible knocking sound coming from the engine. Today, it broke down.

Personal breakdowns are similar to this. From the outside, everything looks good, or at least this is how you present yourself to others. That you've got it all under control. In fact people always say how in control you always are.  You are smiling at everyone you meet, no one knows that secretly things are being neglected in your life and you are approaching or are on the brink of a breakdown. Are you eating well? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you getting enough time to yourself and some r and r? Are you working out and are you taking your vitamins...the list can go on. But, these are some of the essential areas to keep your attention on in order to avoid break downs, personal ones at least. Also, everyone's essentials list is a little different. For instance, for me specifically, I would add to this list drinking enough water because I tend not to. I get dried out very easily and this depletes my energy. In order to do all the things I do in my life, keeping my energy is essential, so staying hydrated is a must.

Businesses can have breakdowns also. Again, there are essential functions that cannot be neglected or overlooked. Are you looking at your projected cash flows? What expenses are coming up? What leads do you have in the pipeline? What marketing actions are you taking everyday, weekly, monthly and yearly? Do you have a strategy on growing your business or you just winging it? Here again, the list can go on, but these are some of the essential ingredients for avoiding a business breakdown.

In all of these instances the cost of a break down is huge. So note my mistake and heed my advice. Make a list today of the essential things you need in your daily life, or at least regularly in your life for all areas, in order to stay at the top of your game and avoid having a breakdown of any kind.