Has lockdown been more of a knockdown for you and your business? Are you stressed about trying to achieve all the things, but feel like a failure or a letdown somehow? And do you want to get away from these negative feelings but don’t know how?

Find your way through lockdown fatigue

Do you remember when the ripples of Coronavirus started to affect your business? It swept through mine like a swarm of locusts. One minute I was working hard for five amazing clients. 48 hours later, zero.

So what did I do? I froze of course! Proper rabbit-in-a-headlight stuff. Apparently, it’s my go-to setting when anything bonkers happens.

How about you? Did lockdown inspire you to pivot like a pro or lie around rinsing Netflix and eating chocolate? Or both?

However you’re getting through it, I wonder how much of a hard time you’re giving yourself over your lockdown choices?

I won’t put words in your mouth, but if you’re anything like me, you’ve done your fair share of negative talk.

Fatigue and fear of failure have been a common feature for us lovely business owners during Covid-19. And you can rely on social media for making it all feel so much worse.

Pivot? I could barely put on my socks. And if the message wasn’t ‘pivot, pivot, pivot’, it was ‘only good vibes here’ messages. If you were feeling properly pants about it all, where were you supposed to go for help?

I’m not a fan of the ‘good vibes only’ movement.

Let’s try the ‘good-vibes-for-a bit-and-we’ll-see-how-we-feel-tomorrow-thank-you-very-much’ movement instead…

Stop talking yourself down. Right now

I’m going to be honest here – I spent the first few weeks of lockdown feeling like a complete failure. I constantly looked around and found reasons not to feel proud of myself. By accident, I’d developed a habit of looking for proof that I was a bit shit*. I wasn’t doing Covid-19 right, that I wasn’t looking after my business, myself or my family right. Like I’d missed a memo or something.

Negative Nancy was on the rampage that’s for sure. (I have names for all of my negative characteristics…what fun!)

Thankfully, I got a grip. I don’t know what knocked my brain into gear – maybe it was just time moving on – but knock my brain it did.

Wait a minute, what’s this got to do with copywriting?

I get it. I’m a copywriter, so I’m supposed to write about tips and ideas so you can connect with your customers and sell online – right?

Fair enough, but wouldn’t that be bloody boring? I’ve got a low boredom threshold when it comes to writing, so I’ll always write about a mix of stuff that interests me. And if I can, I’ll squeeze some kind of link to my work in the process!

You will make better connections with your clients when you feel better about yourself

I don’t have to try hard to connect positive well-being and mental health to copywriting and content marketing.

“If my job is to support you do to a better job of reaching your customer base (which it is), then part of that job is to help you feel good about doing it”

When you don’t feel good about yourself or your business, then you can’t fake it in your writing.

You won’t connect with the lovely, juicy clients you dream of. In fact, you’ll find it hard to communicate with anyone. Which means you’ve got another thing to add to your ‘why I am rubbish, and nobody likes me’ negativity list.  Hooray!

Listen to me. I know what I’m talking about. It’s important to start seeing your wins.

3 things to help you get out of the fug

Here’s what I did to start feeling better. I should probably say that I don’t have all the answers. I’m a copywriter, not a sage. BUT I do know how I got myself out of the negative stuff, and I was properly in it. I’m not saying it will work for you. But I do know that it will definitely not work if you don’t give it a go. Open minds, please!

Meditate: Download a meditation app on your phone, set the alarm & get up 20 minutes earlier each day to meditate.

How this looked for me:
It turns out that 20 minutes of peace and quiet was exactly what I needed. Besides that, the guided meditations strengthened my attention and gave me techniques to deal with stress and anxiety throughout the day – even when I wasn’t meditating (my kids were very pleased about that one).

I use the Calm App which I love. Headspace is also great and there are heaps of free guided meditations on Youtube and elsewhere. Join my mailing list where I share more resources.

Grant permission: Give yourself permission to pause on the stuff stressing you out. Agree that you’ll do the things you enjoy, and leave the big stressy stuff till you can handle it better. In other words – don’t set yourself up for a fall.

How this looked for me:
I decided to pause on all business activities unless it was something I genuinely wanted to do. I kept it light and made sure I enjoyed it. In reality, I ended up doing way more in my business than I would have otherwise.  Which was a complete accident, but a happy one.

Gratitude: Did you know you can build up your positivity muscle? If you have a habit of looking to the negative (as I do), focusing on things you’re grateful for can help.

How this looked for me:
I kept a wee notebook at the side of my bed and wrote a short list of things I was grateful for each day. At first I wrote 3 – 5 things. It wasn’t all sunbeams and joy – ‘I’m so grateful for this extra time with my kids’ stuff, in case you’re worrying. I remember one really tough day where I had ‘fresh air’, ‘electricity’ and ‘the internet’ on the list. All of which I am still very grateful for. Obvs.

Once I got into the gratitude habit, I added in a wins list, which was a short list of things I achieved that day. Some days that list was ‘blow-dried my hair’, ‘tidied a drawer’ or ‘had food for tea, not just crisps’. Big wins they were not.

A win is a win, no matter how small

I look back over my wins and gratitude list all the time. Even on the good days. Sometimes they spark an idea I want to try or act as a reminder for something lapsed. Other times they are little boosts when I need them.

But the best bit is that it’s evidence. Actual living proof of not being shit, even if I feel it sometimes. Having the wins to look over stops me feeling floppy and rubbish and it changed up my mindset.

Once that happened, I started to get bigger, better wins without even trying. “Oh yeah? Like what?” I hear you cry…

I got 3 brand new clients in May

Homeschooling finally clicked into place **

I got clear on the Sea Change Creative Content messaging, ideal clients, offers and services

I said yes to being on a marketing podcast

I created a content marketing section of a branding course and started coaching on it

**Okay – re homeschooling clicking into place. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression here. What I mean is that I stopped having meltdowns brought on by the discovery that I am not an actual teacher and recognised that it’s really bloody hard to home school and work and also just live in lockdown. And accept that the kids don’t want to do anything. And agree that it’s all going to be okay. Instead, we do what we can in the mornings and then flee from each other like scattering spiders into different rooms as soon as lunch is over.  

Your wins matter – no matter how small

It’s time to remind your brain that you are bloody brilliant. Your brain needs to know that you and your business will get through this. So how to get started on that?

Here’s how to tap into the good stuff this very minute – which will set you up perfectly for starting your gratitude list tonight:

Commit to finding at least five wins from last week

Look back over last month, or even last week. Commit to seeing at least five wins to write down.

I’m talking big wins and little ones. Home wins, business wins, workout wins – wherever you’ve been focussing any kind of energy.

Write down each win as it comes to you

Get them all down. I bet you get more than five but start at that number.

Ask other people for input

Can’t think of many wins? Ask other people – partner, flatmate, kids, friends, colleagues. I bet they’ve all seen you winning at stuff even if you haven’t.

Reflect on the good stuff

What inspired you to go for it? How did you achieve it? What steps did you take? Were they planned?

Bask in your greatness

How do you feel now you’re thinking about your wins? Were there more than you thought? What surprises did you find in there? Had you forgotten about some?

See? You’re living proof that you’re doing bloody great. You’ve totally got this.

And if you don’t feel like you’ve totally got this?

You’ve got this sometimes, and that’s good enough

Sea Change Creative Content’s philosophy is to empower soulful business owners to connect with dream clients and customers in a meaningful way.

Do you want to experience growth through connection?

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*Yes, I swear, by the way. In my own stuff, obviously. You can be sure there will be no swearies when I’m writing for you.