Experiments With Hope - Episode 30: Fleeting Depression

NOTE: This episode was recorded on January 21rst, 2019 and moved from YouTube on January 21rst, 2021.

Working at home, by yourself, can create frequent fluctuations between depression and motivation. Sometimes, you're a whirlwind of activity and motivation. Other times, you just don't have the energy to do anything but sit there and stare at your to-do list. How can you cut out these "slumps" and be motivated and productive all the time?

If you're asking this question, I want to challenge you to rethink your periods of "depression." Are you genuinely feeling depressed, hopeless, and sad? If so, check out my podcast on Dealing With Despair and see if you're creating these periods of depression DURING your periods of motivation.

But, your "depression," might simply be your mind telling you to take a few days, or even a week, off. I know this sounds like a grave sin to an ambitious person. But, having spent 10,000+ hours coaching entrepreneurs, and having been one myself since 2009, I'm convinced that the typical eight-hour workday and five day work week model is completely unnatural. It's also the by-product of the industrial age work model, which is no longer viable in the new knowledge worker economy. 

There are inevitable rhythms in nature. Tides come and go, night follows day, the moon waxes and wanes, seedtime and harvest come and go. So, why should we assume that we, in spite of living in organic bodies and being a part of nature ourselves, assume that we can defy these natural laws by living in a perpetual state of hyperactivity?

The truth is, you'll be happier AND much more productive if you work as hard as you can and as much as you can during your times of peak productivity, and use your "down periods" to rest, examine your plans and your results, and prepare yourself for the next wave of inspiration and motivation. Again, ambitious people typically think this is ridiculous the first time they hear it. I sure did. I spent years trying to defy The Principle of Rhythm, and I paid the price for it.  

But, since accepting these NATURAL fluctuations, I've become even more productive, and much, much happier, and healthier. So, if you have periods of motivation followed by periods where you just feel like stopping, don't assume you're depressed. Maybe you simply need to take a few days to relax your mind, do some meditation, examine your plans and goals, and prepare for your next wave of motivation to come.

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