Do you remember times when you’ve been positive and empowered for several days in a row and all of a sudden, one negative situation drained you of your energy and put you in a low-life state? Or you’ve been optimistic and productive all day, and the energy just dropped fast as evening approached? We all go through such phases and then it seems to take hours or even days to get back into a more positive state of mind.

The first thing to accept is that this is perfectly normal behavior. It is part of what it means to be human. Perhaps your laptop can work for weeks or months at a stretch without hiccups. The difference is, laptops don’t have choices. Humans do. It is the choices we make in a particular situation that make us slip and it will again be choices we make later on, that will spring us back into action.

And I’ve seen so often with successful people – it’s not like they don’t have a break in flow or they don’t slip into a negative state. It’s just that they bounce back really fast.

Here are some choices you can make to help yourself stay motivated or bounce back when you’re feeling a little low and nothing seems to get done.

1) Revisit your Vision Board: This is undoubtedly the Number 1 action that can restore your energy. If you don’t have a Vision Board where you’ve put in pictures and words what your goals in life are, please do them asap. All the material things, all the experiences you strongly desire in your life, when you see them on your Vision Board, you will feel a rush of blood in your brain. It will immediately bring back a sense of purpose in your life and help you feel strong and motivated in an instant.

If you want to go one step ahead, don’t wait till you’re feeling low, and then see your Vision Board. Make it a habit to glance over it everyday in the morning for a few minutes. It will jumpstart your day and put you on a high first thing in the morning. I’ve created my Vision Board on PowerPoint, I know many who prefer chart paper and some others who carry their Vision Boards on their Tablets/ Smartphones. You choose how you want to make your Board. Just make sure you have quick access to it when you need it.

2) Jump back in anyway: So you’re feeling so low that you can’t concentrate, you can’t focus? Ironically the best thing to do in this moment is not to sit back and hope that over time you will feel better. Remember, Action kills Anxiety and Action releases Energy, however small it may be. Even if all you can do is check and reply to emails, do that. Read something related to your work, go to some website, keep yourself occupied. Before you realize it, you’ll get some momentum and rhythm back into your day.

3) Mood Shifters: I picked this one up from the book ‘The Secret’ a few years back and I think it works very well. Mood Shifters are things that have the potential to shift your mood from low to high. Different things work for different people so you need to make your own list. What makes you feel happy? Listening to your favourite songs, taking a walk, playing a computer game, watching a baby play, watching a comedy show, maybe helping someone else shift their mood?

Make a list of 5 to 6 activities you can do which you know lift your mood every time you do them. Make sure some of them are things you can do while you’re in office and some when you’re at home. Now when you slip into a Lo-Life state, make sure you have the presence of mind and awareness not to allow yourself to go into a negativity spiral, but to catch yourself and change your state by taking a break and doing something from your Mood Shifters list.

4) Count your blessings: So you’re feeling low because you don’t have something you want. It helps to realize that at any time there is someone else in the world who’s happy with less than what we have!

Ask yourself, what can you feel happy about? Maybe your job sucks, but at least you have a job, when many others are struggling to get one. If your teenage son is giving you the blues, think, there are many women out there who’ve been craving for years for a child.

Always, I repeat, always, there is something we can be thankful for. Make practicing gratitude a habit. Next time you’re outdoors look at all the people out there, look at the buildings, the roads. Feel grateful you didn’t have to build them!

Just for the record, I don’t pray. Not in the convention sense that is. For me, ‘Thank You’ is the only prayer I’ll ever need. Does it pump me up? You best it does!

Get motivated, stay motivated, get more things done. Boost your productivity and get more out of life. Life is short. Make sure you pack it with action!

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