Hey everyone, it’s Pat Mussieux here, back with more business tips for you. Actually, these are some tips that are going to cross over from business into life and life into business.

What prompted this conversation today is a conversation I had with a client just over a week ago, and a conversation that I had with a good friend yesterday. As I thought about the common thread in those conversations, and the concerns and so on, I thought all right, I’m going to bring this to Facebook Live.

Here’s the deal. I know, those of us who get into business, and even in our personal lives, there are times when you’re going to get into a rut. You’re going to feel like you’re in a rut, and I have clients and friends who often say, “Oh my gosh, you’re motivated all the time. How do you do it?”

Here’s a newsflash. I’m not motivated all the time. Nobody is motivated all the time. I stopped to think about the Facebook Live I did about a week ago on Larry Winget’s book and core values. I was sharing some of my own personal examples on my core values and how I had gotten sloppy with them. Then when these two conversations came up about motivation and I put those two together, man, we’ve got great topic here.

Let’s talk about motivation in business, first and for most. I don’t know any entrepreneur or any business owner who’s motivated all the time or excited all the time about their business. Sure, there are great parts about being an entrepreneur and being a business owner. Absolutely, but there are also those times and those parts of the business that don’t really inspire anybody, but they have to get done. So what do you do about that?

One of the things we do in my business, in the month of July every year, is we stop and we make the time to review everything; processes, systems, procedures, team. What I mean by team is responsibilities – who has grown over the past year, who wants to move into a different area of support in the business, and so on. I look at everything; vendors, suppliers, all of that, and what’s working and what’s not.

What’s working, of course, you’re going to rinse and repeat. What’s not, I need to make some decisions and make some changes. That alone motivates me to keep going and keep busy.

One of the comments in the conversation with that client was about coming back from vacation and getting in the game again. How do you rev up for that re-entry?

One of the tips I shared and that I wanted to share with you, because this is prime vacation time, one of the things I do and I make a habit of is that when we take a break, typically we’ll schedule for a week. I never schedule a re-entry on a Monday. There’s something about that Sunday night psychology, so I don’t come back publicly on a Monday. I re-enter and make myself available on Tuesdays after a break. That’s one thing you might want to consider.

The other thing that I do, and those of you who know me, this would be no surprise, on the night before re-entry, I’ll sit down with my index card and I’ll write out three things; three reasons why I love my business, three reasons why I’m excited to get back to work, three reasons why I love my clients, three reasons why I love my colleagues or joint ventures.

These cards, three things, write them down and remember what got you excited in the first place. Then again, if you’ve been doing this over a period of time, whatever “it” is for you, it’s time for some change. Maybe it’s time for a change in where you work, and maybe it’s time for a change with whom you work. Maybe it’s time to fire some clients who are draining the life out of you, and that’s why you don’t want to get back to work and feel motivated.

Just a few small tips there on the business side of it. So am I always motivated? No, but I surround myself with great people. For re-entry on a Tuesday, for example, I have the best team in the world, so I’m excited to get back with them. That’s one way of getting motivated and getting the juices flowing again.

Let me talk about personal, for a minute. Again, I made a confession on the last Facebook Live about getting sloppy with respect to personal. Here’s one of my core beliefs. We’re not able to do good, whether in business, life or in our family, when we don’t feel good, when we don’t feel good about ourselves, or we don’t feel good physically. Again, am I motivated all the time to work out, and get out there and sweat or eat properly? No. I live my life on an 80/20 basis, but here are some of the tips, some of the things that I do. I change things up.

In the summer, I go buy new workout clothes so I’m not always wearing the same thing. I was gifted a Fitbit by one of my friends. My other Fitbit broke. Because it broke and I didn’t have it on every day, I got lazy and sloppy with respect to tracking my food, because I usually do it with the Fitbit synced with my Fitness Pal app on my phone. So she gifted me the Fitbit, which was so cool, and I went out and bought different bracelets for it. These are little things, but they make a difference.

The other thing is I believe we get lazy. We get into a rut. One of the beautiful things here in Ontario, where I live, at the liquor store, this magazine called Food & Drink comes out on a regular basis. It also gets zapped up really quickly, so I calendar when it comes out and I make a point, as I did on Saturday, to go out and get my copy because I like to mix up my meals. I get in a rut. I love salmon and asparagus in a salad, and I find myself having that over and over again.

It’s time to change it up, so guess what’s for dinner? It’s trout with fresh tomatoes, and it’s a good time of year to do that. I find new recipes that are very simple using seasonal products, and this is a good time for tomatoes, so I’m going to be having some trout this week instead of the usual salmon. Do some little things.

The other thing that I did with respect to exercise—I get bored easily. I’m sure some of you do. I had quit working out with my trainer in January and moved on into yoga, walking, meditation, some different aspects. I met up with him. I was walking in the village here and he said, “Hey, time for you to come back.” You know what? It was and it is, and I was getting sloppy with the exercise, so I signed on back with him for some weightlifting, and strength and core training. Today was training session three, and I’m motivated again because working with him drives results and it gets my adrenaline going and, while it hurts so badly, it also feels really good.

Those are some tips for you. Are we motivated all of the time? No, nobody is, but it’s personal responsibility. What am I going to do?

I mentioned the conversation with my good friend yesterday. The other thing you need to do when you’re feeling in a slump is reach out and ask for help, which is what both of them did, my client and my friend. Reach out for help, and reach to somebody who inspires you and who encourages you, and who’s doing what you want to be doing, and say, “I’m in a rut. Can you help me? Can you share a few tips?” That’s one of the reasons for this Facebook Live today. I wanted to share some of my tips because, no, I’m not motivated all of the time. Yes, we can get in a rut, but thirdly, it’s your job to get yourself out of the rut.

Personally and in business, yes, it happens, but take charge and know that when you make one small change in the way you think and, therefore, the way you act, then it all feels good again, for a while. You know that old Wonder Bra commercial, “When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good.” It’s kind of as simple as that, so I go back to personal health. Take charge of your health so that you’re feeling good, and then you’ll want to get back in the game.

Those are my tips for today. Leave your comments below and hit share. This is really important for a lot of people. I’d love to hear what works for you, what keeps you motivated, whether or not you’re in a rut, and what out of all this content was helpful to you.

I’ll be back again another time with more business tips. Stay tuned.