“I Just Don’t Feel Like It!”

Today is one of those days where I lack the real fire to get the work done that I know I need to get done.

The important thing is to try and battle through that “I just don’t feel like it” phase that often overrules our thinking and affects our actual reality.

A few years ago I was renovating a property and often felt struck by this “I just don’t feel like it” ailment too regularly.

(Before and after pics of the front of the house – I even did the roof!)

The problem was; I kept focusing on how much work actually needed to be done to finish the entire renovation instead of just focusing on the work that needed to be done for each given day.

The renovation was not just a simple clean up type of job either. It was a massive project that required the whole house to be gutted inside and out.

In fact, it was so big that when I bought the house some of my friends and family thought I had simply gotten in over my head. They looked a little scared for me when they had a look around the place. They could not see how I was going to fix this house up. As far as they were concerned, the house should have been knocked down and a new house should have been built on the block.

But I had a vision. I was prepared mentally. Almost.

So to cut a long story short… I often experienced days while renovating that property where I would have rather pulled my head under the pillows and gone back to sleep.

Some days were so hard to face. I knew what I had to do but mentally argued with my self about whether I should actually do it.

“I just didn’t feel like it”

But I always forced myself to at least put in two hours. That’s how I rationalised it to myself in order to break down the enormity of the project into achievable chunks.

When I experienced that “I just don’t feel like it” moment in the morning, I would lie and tell myself that all I had to do was put in just 2 hours… that’s all. Then I could go back to bed if I wanted to. But I had to at least show up on site and put in 2 hours.

Most days I ended up doing 10 hours or more.

I adopt this (lie to myself) philosophy in my art as well. I often tell my self, “If I can just go for a no excuses 1 hour of work, then I can throw my brushes down and go play guitar”.

Sometimes I actually do only last an hour. But the real value is in the discipline and commitment rather than the time allocated to do the job.

It’s not always easy. But it is worthwhile if you can get through those “I don’t really feel like it” phases.

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