Over the past few months, fueled by lots of encouragement, early mornings and equally late nights and a solid determination to write a publish a book, I was finally done. What followed next was completely unexpected.

Writing and publishing a book is hard work, from the initial excitement of announcing to the world your grand idea, to battling deadlines, urges to quit and balancing the important responsibilities that allow us to survive, and then finally experiencing the fear as all the final edits are in and you hit publish, by the end you’re an emotional wreck.

Once the initial shock wears off, a strange feeling starts to appear, some could describe it as an emotional plateau, but I came across a word recently that sums it up well, ennui. Quite the odd little word isn’t it? It’s origin is actually French, but it is within its meaning we find just how significant this odd little word is, it means, “a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.”

This feeling is easy to get trapped in, and due to its cunning nature, sometimes quite impossible to even recognize.

Things could be way worse, there truly could be no hope, but as long as you’re breathing there is still a chance to do something amazingly epic. It doesn’t matter what you don’t have, because there will always be something you don’t have, and someone else will always have something better.

Maybe for you it could be the completion of a project that has been going for what seemed like an eternity and now, you feel a little burnt out and unsure of what to do next, or it could be an event you’ve been waiting for forever and now it doesn’t seem so exciting anymore. Whatever the cause is, there is hope for snapping out of feeling like all you’ve done was pointless. Let’s take a look at a few ways how:

Thanks and success jar

This may seem silly, but it’s a great way to put our often intangible world into some sort of tangible perspective.

Find a good ole mason jar, or a container that has a slot in the lid for you to easily slide in small strips of paper.

Next, on one side write down something you have been happy to achieve, and on the other side, write down someone you are truly thankful for that helped to inspire or encourage you along the way.

At the end of each week, or whenever you start to feel feelings of ennui, you’ll have a quick perspective pick me up to reference.

Note: you can even take it one step further by writing that person a thank you note. And if you can’t mail/email them, write an open letter of thanks on your blog or favorite social media outlet.

Give yourself a pat on the back

One area that makes me pretty uncomfortable is acknowledging my accomplishments, more times than I can even count the feeling of not doing enough rings true. It’s an area that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember.

Lately, I’ve been giving this area of life a little thought and realized that my health is equally important and if I don’t slow down and acknowledge my accomplishments I’ll burn myself out. No one is built to just keep going without taking a break.

Rest is equally important as is doing the work instead of dreaming about ones goals. By allowing ourselves to quickly acknowledge our accomplishments and give thanks to whom all blessings flow, guides us into another level and pushes us to raise our level of excellence in our next endeavor.

Rest and recharge

The most important area of them all and one in which I struggle with personally. Doing nothing frustrates me, even on trips to the beach I have to bring a book to read, but as of late I’ve realized that no matter how much I try to do everything I too am limited by 24 hours in a day, and my body.

It’s easy to resort to cups of coffee, energy drinks or flat out sugar, whatever your poison may be for pushing yourself beyond the droopy eyelids and feelings of exhaustion, taking time to rest isn’t something that should be ignored.

Allowing time for your body to heal and rejuvenate itself will work wonders for your overall productivity regardless of what industry you’re in.

Practice the 20–20–20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away. Try it, your eyes will thank you.

Invest time in getting to know who you are

One of the greatest investments you can ever make is in yourself. Maximize your life by learning new things — that is, by gaining a first-hand insight into what you like and don’t like, will allow you to discover your passion. No one is going to give you an education, so you must demand and make one for yourself. Schools and degrees will only give you an outline, to truly learn, one must do it for oneself.

Life will throw you situations of the most random variety, learn to be an observer of your experiences. Don’t allow mindless everyday pleasures distract or dull your mind and prevent you from mastering what you are good at. Just one hour every day can amount into a monumental amount of success if done consistently.

Keep on Pushing

“If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius.” — Joseph Addison

The most important part in all that we do is to not give up, and many times this is easier said than done, but if at the least all one can do is hold on, then do just that. As we build our experiences in life, let us not neglect to take notice of the things that make life worth living, and above all let us not lose sight of our goals.

At the end of the day the choice on whether we achieve our goals is up to us and just how bad we want to succeed. So start today, make the effort to stop talking about your dreams, and pour your energy in taking the first steps to accomplishing your dream.

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