There will be days where any effort feels like too much. Currently, it’s raining heavier than it has in months, it’s humid as hell and it’s Monday. This is one of those mornings.
It would be remiss of me to pretend that you will kicking goals every day. At times like this it can be helpful to think, what’s the least I need to do to get what I want? Minimum effort for maximum results given the circumstances.
Essentially, this is about being efficient. Doing the work and getting out. There are days when you’ll need more recuperation and rest (physical and mental) than others. Figure out what is the minimum you need to do on these days to achieve your career, physical, creative, family goals then let your mind rest guilt free for the remainder of the day. On these days you aren’t going to be working through your lunch or staying back to hammer out extra accessory sets after your workout. It might only be practicing the piano for 15 minutes instead of your usual hour but in that time you’ll focus purely on one difficult passage in a piece you’re working on or exercises that focus on your pinky strength and co-ordination if that’s your weakness.
Maybe doing the minimum will fire you up and get you into the groove but if it doesn’t, at least you can rest easy knowing you’ve done the minimum required. You’ve done something worthwhile. When in this headspace it can be easy to spend an entire day half-assing everything or doing nothing whilst being consumed by guilt. Neither are useful
You can also use this method of thinking to become more time efficient when you are working at maximum capacity. When working on multiple goals at once and time is scarce, work out what activities are excessive. Those that aren’t producing equivalent results for the time invested. Think of the expression stepping over hundred dollar bills to pick up pennies. What is going to give you the most bang for buck. Considering this will help free up time you could use elsewhere.