Are you just avoiding something? Or do you really need the rest?
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Sometimes, you need to be honest with yourself that you’re resting and don’t need to be.
Especially if you’re telling yourself that “you should wait until you’re in the flow,” “you’re just not that inspired,” “you don’t really know what to do,” “nothing is working,” or “you don’t want to be too much.”
You need the awareness that rest is one way you avoid doing things that make you uncomfortable. You need to be onto yourself. It will be the difference between months going by with no progress and doing what you love, today. Or tomorrow.
You’ll need to get to work on both your thoughts and the actions you’re taking. You may need to practice discipline. To do the things, even when you don’t want to. To write, even when you’re not inspired.
But here’s where it gets tricky.
Sometimes, you need to be honest with yourself that you’re working and you really need to rest.
Especially if you’re working because you “haven’t done enough,” “you don’t have enough clients,” “you need more money,” “you don’t have enough time,” or “you’re really not that sick or exhausted.” Especially if you’re trying to convince yourself that it’s “just your thoughts” and you should really be able to “push through.”
Overworking is just as destructive as over-resting.
Sometimes you are working really, really hard and it is because you’re working so hard, that things aren’t working. When you’re doing all of the things and still haven’t done enough, things just seem to stop working. Posts stop getting likes. People start saying ‘no’ to you on calls. Nobody responds to your emails about collaborations or referrals. And because it stops working, you work harder.
You’ll be able to tell which camp you’re in by looking honestly at how much you’re doing and why you’re doing what you’re doing. No dramatics, no explanations, no justifications – just take a look.
When you take a look, here’s what you are NOT trying to do.
You are NOT trying to manipulate yourself into being the MOST productive version of you so that you can make the MOST money.
You’re trying to gain this awareness so that you can know, befriend, and love yourself in a much more honest way. That’s the purpose. If you want to do what you love and you keep avoiding your work, you want to know that. And if you’re overworking yourself because nothing you ever do is enough, you want to know that, too. That’s a brutal (and unsustainable) way to treat yourself.
Over-resting is how we avoid. Overworking (and over-thinking) is how we try to earn being good enough.
Not sure if you need to rest or work? Take a guess, trust your answer, and test it out. The most important thing is not that you get it right. The important thing is that whatever you do, you do it today. Test your theory out today. Gain more awareness, today.