The dip, the valley, the resistance, the crash, the wall…it goes by many names, but the symptoms are the same. You have been going hard on your project, dream, vision and suddenly it hits you. You can be deep in the middle or even at the end of your venture, but it will hit just the same. Suddenly you feel deflated and your motivation falters. You want to tap out. What was exciting, fun and fulfilling becomes hard, boring, and dissatisfying. It can feel like its crushing you, a heavy weight that you didn’t even realize you were carrying. This happened for me when we were 3/4 in to our project of opening our 4th location. The lease negotiations had dragged on and cost us a lot of our budget, and the remodel of the 20 year old building was uncovering a Pandora’s box of unexpected repairs that we needed to make. Fortunately (or unfortunately-) we were vested and on the hook to complete this and get it open as soon as possible so we could change the flow of funds from flooding outwards to trickling in. I am also facing it again now as I push to complete the current projects I am leading in our organization.
What to do? It helps to admit it. To face it, and to recognize that it is a normal progression and it has happened before, and will again!
-I am going to pause and take a moment to reflect.
-I am going to ask who can I enlist to help me with these projects?
-I am going to prioritize the projects and take one at a time.
-I am going to remember that there is no tapping out for the leader.
-I am going to look at my life as a whole and see what areas I am neglecting that are pulling me into this dip.
-I am going to be grateful for the opportunity to be able to work on these projects.
-I am going to focus on someone else instead of me.
-I am going to remember that its a journey not a destination- an experience not a goal.
-I am going to have someone hold me accountable.
-I am going to complete the projects while starting new ones.
-I am going to admit I’d rather have too much going on than the alternative, and embrace the valley, without which there would be no peak.