I find myself thinking often about doing the things I actually like to do. I’m sure that many of you can relate to this feeling. You love the feeling when you finish a workout and love the side effects of feeling and looking great, but struggle to make that tiny effort to get started.
I also enjoy writing. I enjoy writing in forums, posting reviews, writing for this website and working on stories, yet it’s very easy to find distractions or talk myself out of doing something that I know I love doing and has only had positive impacts on my life.
Sure occasionally there are legitimate reasons. Maybe you don’t actually have the time today or it’s not something you can prioritize today. And sometimes we need a day of rest to recover and ensure we don’t burn out. These are all valid reasons to not do something that you genuinely enjoy doing, but generally we are prone to make excuses.
So what can you do when you really want to do something you know is great for you but struggle to take that next step?
Plan for those times when you need a break or have some flexibility with your schedule. Running is something I do almost everyday. But as I push myself to bigger goals, I know that my body needs time to adapt and sometimes my schedule isn’t accommodating. I’m not always going to force myself to run when I’m either too busy or my body is begging for recovery.
Recently, I just got sick for the first time in months. About a week ago I felt absolutely exhausted and had no energy to run or do any type of exercise. Unsurprisingly I got a cold the very next day. In a nutshell, I had to take some time off of running and instead focus on getting rest and allowed myself to do some light walking.
During those times, I push myself a little extra on other days. I run a bit more distance after a couple of rest days, incorporate hill sprints or focus on other exercises that are easy to fit into my schedule.
The same goes for other passions in my life. I’ve recently been working on trying to make sure that I volunteer at least once a month. Volunteering is something I really enjoy doing, but I know I don’t have the time to always fit it into my schedule. Instead of forcing myself to doing volunteer work on a weekly basis, I’ve made sure I focus on doing it at least once a month and give my full commitment during that time.
Who says taking a break is a bad thing? Taking time off is sometimes necessary to achieve your goals. Doing something great doesn’t always go according to plan. Think about some of the things you are really proud of in your life. Chances are the journey towards that accomplishment wasn’t perfect.
You might need a break to free up room for creativity. A break always makes you reassess if you value or truly enjoy doing something. Sometimes we get stuck in a routine and lose sight of why we are still doing something that doesn’t add value anymore.
And also you may need to break the routine to reach that next milestone. Shaking things up and exploring something new may be exactly what you need to move forward. Taking a break gives you the time to reassess if you are going about your goal the right way.
When struggling to find time to prioritize working out, taking a break helped me realize that running home would simultaneously give me time to exercise everyday without adding more time to my schedule. Fortunately, I work about a 40 minute run from my home and taking the train home takes just about the same amount of time. Now I get home around the same time and already have a workout done for the day.
Work to avoid burn out but also don’t let a break become too long. Try to focus on taking a day or two off. Maybe a week at the most, and then get back into it.
Acknowledge it’s a struggle. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with admitting to yourself that you love something, but don’t always want to do it. There are going to be times where you may break the routine or go on hiatus. Nobody is perfect, and it’s completely okay to accept that doing something you love may be a struggle. Personally, I find it harder to do the things I love when I place high expectations on myself. Having goals to accomplish is a great motivator but try not to kick yourself when you miss your morning run, take a week off from writing or decide to lay in bed and sleep in a bit longer than normal.
Remember that the important things in life are a journey. Creating a masterpiece doesn’t happen overnight and involves struggles, failures and hard work. You might be amazed that a person could run an ultra-marathon or become a black belt in martial arts and focus on the hours of training, persistence and dedication that person has. However, you still have to remember that every person who has made a huge achievement has had setbacks, failures and times where they simply didn’t feel like doing it.
Make time for the things you love. It’s very easy to create distractions that prevent you from doing something you love. Sure, you probably have a full-time job, maybe are in a committed relationship and have children too. All these other people and commitments in your life are important, but there is probably time that you can free up for hobbies and other passions in your life without sacrificing the time you spend with loved ones or developing your career. There might also be things you can decline to do to focus on other activities that add value to your life.
Ask if you are being too hard on yourself. Everybody is imperfect, makes mistakes and will have some failures along the way. Doing something you love can be a little scary and intimidating. You might have a very creative mind and love writing, but realize your writing isn’t good and needs much improvement. Or maybe you have a fitness goal but seemed to have stopped making progress after weeks or even months of trying to diet and exercise. Failure is part of the journey and to make improvement, you have to start somewhere and continue perfecting your craft along the way. It’s okay if you aren’t very good right now. Keep practicing, focusing, learning, trying new things and making an effort and you’ll start seeing improvement soon.
Maybe it is time for something new. Sometimes you fall out of love with something you were once passionate about. Other times you might have found something you enjoy even more. Always check in with yourself and ensure that the thing you enjoy doing is something you truly enjoy doing.
A fear that you won’t measure up or you that you do. Sometimes we can’t cope with the possibility that maybe we aren’t ever going to get that promotion, become a famous movie director or ever be able to compete in a sport that we love. Sometimes it’s more tempting to not give it a full effort and never find out, and blame it on other commitments, lack of time or the many other excuses we create to avoid doing the things we love. Alternatively, you may know that you are talented, a hard worker and truly believe that if you gave it your all you would be successful, but are afraid of what that success may involve. Maybe you don’t want to deal with marketing yourself, creating more time to do this activity or are worried about making further sacrifices with your career and other commitments to really grow in your passion. If that’s the case, take time out to really ask yourself if it’s worth it to see this passion through.
I have a friend who recently quit his job to focus completely on his podcast. He’s fairly famous in his niche and is doing very well. However, he had to make the difficult decision to quit his job completely for these positive changes to occur.
Doing things we love isn’t always going to be easy, no matter where you are in your journey. Just starting out can feel intimidating and like there’s a long road ahead. Even when you’ve had a few years experience under your belt, you may be at that crossroads where you need to invest more time and commitment to progress to the next step. Where ever you are, stay honest with yourself about what you value and make sure that you fill up your life with things you actually love doing.