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| A "no entry" red circle over a parallelogram labeled "The Blah Zone" |
When you're caught in the blah zone—the one where starting anything feels impossible, but the work just HAS to get done—it’s time for a reset.
Here are three strategies that I’ve used successfully this past week to get over the not-starting blues…
Actual anonymized excerpt from a 70 item spreadsheet from last Wednesday:
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| 1. Spreadsheet with color, text deleted; each row labeled "Thingy 1, thingy 2" etc. |
1. Make a spreadsheet.
Those of you who are spreadsheet people will get where I’m going with this: the spreadsheet itself is an accomplishment. Bonus points for prioritizing with colors. (It was a big project – still is – so the kick-off thinking was facilitated by a little fancy spreadsheet driving.)
Don’t you instantaneously feel better, seeing all that organization? I know I do!
Besides, a spreadsheet can make the next steps straightforward. Ask a question about G3. Then about G4. Then about C5. A spreadsheet can put things into an order that your blah brain just isn’t managing right at the moment. Win!
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| 2. Boots. Put 'em on. |
2. Don’t climb the mountains, put on your boots.
Seriously, who has energy for mountain climbing this time of year? (I did last year, but that was last year. This is this year. Be one with the blahs.) If the mountain (or whatever the next task is) seems insurmountable, ignore it. Focus on the next step. If I’m going to go walking, I need to put on my boots. I will now put on my boots. (Or order the interlibrary loan materials, or figure out the grocery list.)
Once the metaphorical boots are on, I’ll often get a couple of hours mileage out of things done “while I’m here.” And if not, at least I have my boots on. Little bits of progress DO add up.
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| 3. Work-in-progress list |
3. Check back on your progress.
So, you’re just going to open the file to see how much you managed to get done this week. You don’t have to work on it. Just report-out on what got done. And while you’re there, maybe write a little summary, or a reminder of things you wanted to do. Maybe bullet point something. Just a little bit of progress.
THE TAKE-AWAY:
Little by little, and it all gets done.
You don’t always have to have the “big task” in mind. Make progress in increments for a while and you’re still making progress.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
If you’re up against the writers-block-blues version of the blahs, perhaps this writing strategies post will help:
Caveat: this post is about the exhaustion blahs; more serious causes may need more serious attention. If you think you’ve gone beyond exhaustion into depression, please seek support. Here are two resources that can guide you to help.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression
https://www.helpguide.org/mental-health/depression/coping-with-depression
