Passion!

After a lovely bank holiday weekend it's back to work with a vengeance and I feel lucky enough that I have plenty to do. However about a month ago I had just finished a few larger projects and was a bit quieter than I usually am for a couple of weeks. I wasn't really worried about the business as I knew I had a few good things in the pipeline, it was just a timing issue more than anything.

During this quieter time, I noticed that I became a bit listless, and some may even say a bit grumpy (just ask my husband!!) I certainly wasn't my usual happy self. It was easy to keep myself busy as I had lots of things I needed the time to catch up on in my business, and of course I had plenty of marketing activities to focus my time on. But I was aware that without lots of interesting projects on the go I didn't feel fulfilled and this made me really think.

It can't be right to only be really happy when working hard can it? I think as business owners this is deep down how many of us feel. If we are busy then we know we are successful and we know the money will come in. If we are not busy -for me I know I start to feel as though I am failing. What nonsense I talk myself into though! Two quieter weeks do not make me a failure!!

We must really learn not to beat ourselves up about things that crop up with business. During difficult times it is really important to look back at all our achievements that have got us to where we are today in the first place. I am a great believer that in telling ourselves that we are successful will help us to find momentum to get out there and find even more success.

The other side to this feeling of being down though really reinforced to me why I do what I do for a living. I really really love designing and am so passionate about it that I cant wait to get started on the next great project. Passion is something else we all need to feel toward our work -its the reason we get up in the mornings and go to our offices. It's the reason we pick up the phone when it rings and its the reason we keep coming up with the goods time after time.

To help balance out this feeling of despondence when things are less hectic, I am trying to take time to enjoy some other things in life that I used to have time for. Playing the piano(badly), growing a few veggies in the garden, and just listening to music and reading. Finding guilt free time to do a few of these other things means I return to my work refreshed and raring to go. So on that note...back to the drawing board :)