I wanted to spend some time this week talking about what to do when things feel hard.

I know—not the most joyful of topics. But several conversations with my coaching clients in the past couple weeks has shown me that lots of small business owners are having a tough time at the moment.

Our conversations have sounded a lot like this:

Me: What’s going on? Tell me what’s happening. 

My clients: It just feels really hard to get out of bed right now. 

I thought if there were enough people talking about this with me face to face, then there were probably people thinking and feeling it right here on my email list as well.

As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved… so we’re going to tackle these feelings together. 

First up, there’s something I want you to remember: Your team wants to see that you’re human and that you have hard days just like them. 

That’s one of the biggest challenges when it comes to leadership; finding that fine line between being vulnerable and letting people know what’s really going on, what tough decisions you’re needing to make and so on, but also being inspiring and creating a workplace that people want to be a part of and that makes people want to bring the best versions of themselves to. 

In short: It’s okay to be real. 

We need to find a way out of the slump though, because ultimately there’s kids to be cared for, a business that needs to keep running, and bills that need to be paid. 

The way out of bed starts with ourselves. 

• What is going to light you up? 

• What are the things you can do for yourself in order to feel you have the energy to be of best service to others?

For me, it always starts with making time to slow myself down a little. I find whenever I get that “hard to get out of bed” feeling, it’s usually because I’m out of routine. I’ve let my routine slide and so I’m all over the place with my organisation and most probably with my meal planning, so I’m not eating well either which is always a trigger for me not feeling great. 

Get to know what your triggers are. What behaviours make you feel energised and in control, and what behaviours make you feel like rubbish when they slip? 

• Is it that you used to exercise every day and in the last week or two you haven’t had a chance to do that? 

• Is it that you used to get out in nature each day, but you’ve lacked that stimulus lately?

• Is it that you usually come home via the scenic route to give yourself a few minutes of white space in your day, but lately you’ve been taking the quickest route home and straight into the evening chaos? 

• Is it that you usually get your energy from being around friends but you’ve had to cancel some of those catch ups lately? 

• Do you usually have 10 minutes alone to take a bath (instead of a shower) one night a week, but lately that’s felt too indulgent and you’ve skipped it?

You probably don’t think much of it at the time, but the accumulative effect these little slips in routine have on us is what leads to us being in a place of not feeling great. 

What can you do to infuse your life with a little more energy in the next 48 hours that will get you closer to feeling like yourself again?

I’d love to know! (I’ll be running myself a bath and taking the 5-minute-longer scenic route to town each day this week!)