Summary

• Sometimes when I don't feel 100%, I realize that the answer to improving my mood is often doing nothing. As an entrepreneur or CEO, the instinct might be to problem-solve, but accepting the emotions without fear is freeing.

• I remind myself to do my best despite not feeling great, and I stick to my plans instead of changing them because of my mood. Changing plans every time I feel off would halt progress in my life.

• Cancelling plans or indulging in comfort activities whenever I'm feeling down is not sustainable as it would affect 50% of my life. While finding immediate fixes like new routines or spa treatments might seem helpful, they aren't always necessary.

• Accepting not feeling great is a normal part of life and it's unrealistic to expect to always feel positive. Putting pressure on oneself as a leader to never have off days isn't fair or realistic.

• Resistance to feeling bad often makes the feeling linger longer. I prefer to acknowledge the feeling, let it process through my body, and not compensate by overeating or distracting myself excessively.

• I have three personal mental management strategies for days when I'm not at my best:

  • I allocate time specifically to address and accept my emotions, and allow myself to feel them, even if it means scheduling time to feel bad.
  • Writing down my feelings helps me be objective. It provides clarity and often reveals the positives within the negatives.
  • I remind myself that thoughts and emotions are transient. They come and go, so they shouldn't dictate my actions or cause me to overreact.

• I focus on upholding my values rather than being swayed by fluctuating emotions. Emotions are often irrational and don't always require deep analysis or immediate solutions.

• Acknowledging that strings of bad days are as normal as strings of good days is important. There is no silver bullet to always feeling good. Learning to continue with daily activities despite feeling off is crucial.

• I continue to get things done even on bad days, and I encourage others to do the same, demonstrating that it's possible to be highly productive despite not feeling your best.

Video

How To Take Action

Action Plan for Overcoming Bad Days

A good way of dealing with rough days is to remember not to change your plans just because you feel off. Stick to your schedule. This helps with not letting your mood control your life's progress.

When things feel tough, I would suggest allocating time to feel and accept your emotions rather than pushing them away. It could be during a walk or a quiet moment at home. Tell yourself it's okay to feel bad for a bit.

Writing down your feelings can make a big difference. It's a simple activity with no cost. It could be as easy as noting them on your phone. This can show you the good points even when everything feels negative.

Remind yourself that your thoughts and feelings will pass. They don't have to direct what you do. Remember, having a bad day is natural, and it's okay to accept it without looking for quick fixes or new routines.

Uphold your values over your emotions. Just because you're having a bad day doesn't mean your values have to change. Working through the tough times often proves you are stronger than you think.

Acknowledging that we have strings of bad days just like we have good ones, and that's normal, is important. Don't seek a magical fix to always be happy. Learn how to keep moving forward, even on the days when you don't feel 100%.

And lastly, keep doing things, even if you are not feeling your best, it shows that it's possible to be productive despite not being in the best mood.

Remember, bad days are as normal as good ones, and you can still do great things, even when you don't feel like it.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"The answer to what do I do when I'm not feeling 100 is often nothing"

– Leila Hormozi

"You know I try best to live by my values and not by my emotions"

– Leila Hormozi

"I'm going to do my best today and I'm not going to change what the plan was"

– Leila Hormozi

"Feelings are normal and natural and if your brain knows that you hear the feeling… then your brain probably will stop sending the feeling"

– Leila Hormozi

"Thoughts and emotions come and go so the one thing I can rely on is knowing that they are unreliable"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

what is up in this video today what i want to share with you is what i do when i'm not feeling 100 and how i handle having um bad days or being in a bad mood and this came from a question that um someone a few different people asked which is kind of along the lines of like what do i do when i'm not feeling a hundred percent and it's interesting because today for example i'm pretty stressed about stuff that's happening both at work and personally um i haven't slept well for a few days i'm in a new apartment um that we just got and i'm not settled at all yet um and i'm kind of overstimulated and i feel a little uh stressed and anxious and i don't like that feeling at all and so i felt like it was appropriate to make this video on the day where i'm not feeling well what i have come to realize is that the answer to what do i do when i'm not feeling 100 is often nothing i think that's very unsettling but at the same time i find it very freeing because i think that as entrepreneurs and ceos we're so good at problem solving and so when we don't feel 100 we want to problem solve and a lot of the times this is actually what perpetuates the problem because almost what you're doing is you're telling your brain there's something wrong with feeling anxious with feeling overwhelmed with feeling sad instead of just accepting that emotion and not being frightened that you have it because in some way shape or form i think anxiety comes from you know it arises from different things but i think a lot of the times it comes we almost make it worse because we get anxiety about our anxiety we get stressed about our stress we're like why am i feeling this way i shouldn't be feeling this way like i'm the ceo i'm the leader i can't have a bad day and that's just not true but what i have come to realize is that oftentimes doing nothing is the best approach instead do your best that's really what i like saying like i'm going to do my best today i don't feel great i don't know when it's i don't know when i'm going to feel better right but i'm going to do my best today and i'm not going to change what the plan was and the reason for that is because like i said i think that then we train ourselves either we train ourselves into um not upholding our values because if we say every time i feel tired every time i didn't sleep well every time i feel sick every time i am overwhelmed i cancel meetings i don't work out i eat bad food well that's 50 of life so your life's not really gonna get where it needs to go if you just do that every time you don't feel good right and you know i think that that's um one end of the spectrum the other end of the spectrum is that we say i don't feel good i'm overwhelmed i'm anxious i need to fix this right now you know i need a new routine i need an infrared sauna i need a cold bath i needed this i need that and like to an extent things help right writing things down can help talking to your friend can help but when you have to completely overhaul your life because you know maybe you've been feeling super anxious maybe you've had stomachaches maybe you haven't slept for a few nights like whatever it may be i don't really think that means that you need to overhaul your life i think that maybe there's things going on and you're just feeling overwhelmed and that's just a natural part of life and it's okay not to feel 100 and so the answer to that question is really nothing you know i try best to live by my values and not by my emotions or how i feel because how i feel changes all the time and odds are next week or the week after i will feel 10 times better than i feel right now and then if i cancel everything i don't work out and i eat badly because i'm not feeling well now i'm gonna look back later and be like dang i really wish i hadn't done that because i kind of set myself back a little bit and that's okay that happens we all set ourselves back at times but if i can catch myself and be aware of it and not do it then i would rather do that than the opposite i think that just understanding and accepting that not feeling good is a part of life it's a fact of life like and i think that a lot of the times if we are leaders and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves for some reason you know we think that we should also be the ones who never feel badly right and that's why that so many people make money off of like high performance this high performance that you know all these things and i have fallen into that trap as well but what i've come to realize full circle is that you just have to accept that sometimes you feel shitty and sometimes you get sick and sometimes you can't sleep and sometimes you have things in your mind and sometimes you know you have stomachaches because you're so stressed and all these things happen to people and they're completely normal and oftentimes our resistance of them our unwillingness to feel bad is what perpetuates feeling bad and so i like to think of it like i have a feeling it's in my body i need to let it move through my body and out and the way not to do that is by over compensating for how i feel right now by eating a ton of food by canceling all my meetings by watching netflix by buffering with something like that or by you know going the opposite direction and just making myself so busy that i can't think about anything can't feel the feeling and the reality is that feelings are normal and natural and if your brain knows that you hear the feeling the signal that is being told and you allow it to just be there then your brain probably will stop sending the feeling to your brain right to you and that's what i've come to see is to be true and sometimes it takes a day sometimes it takes two days three days four days whatever but it gets through and eventually you feel differently and so now when i say that you know i do nothing and i accept feeling shitty and i'm like i'm gonna do what i said i was going to do regardless of how i feel because if i give myself an out every time i feel a bad way that's quite a lot of time i'm losing so instead i have three things that are kind of like my go-to's when i'm not feeling too great and it doesn't involve changing any external circumstances but it's kind of just like mental management and so the first thing i usually do is i just set aside time to feel shitty and think about how i feel um usually i tell myself like i'll go through my day like today for example i had six meetings before i filmed this and i have a break right now i'm gonna film this and then after this i have like an hour and so i'm gonna go on a walk and i'm gonna feel like for like an hour i'm going to let that happen then your brain knows it's almost like okay you have a designated time where you're going to let yourself feel these feelings and for some reason that helps me get through when i know that like i'm going to have a time where i can address this right and so i set aside like 30 minutes just to think about it allow myself to feel it or do whatever i need to do like if you need to cry cry if you need to scream screams you need to go on a run go and run whatever it is um i think setting aside the time to be present with how you feel and to remember that it's okay to feel this way it's completely normal is the first thing the second thing is that sometimes um i write it down and so this could be i'm writing it to a friend like i'm texting friends being like oh i feel like today this could be that i'm writing it down to myself in a note on my phone this could be i'm writing in a journal this could be i'm writing it to a coach you know whatever it is i'm writing it down and it helps me to be more objective right and a lot of times i notice that when i start writing down why i'm feeling shitty i also start to find the silver lining because i'm proud of how i'm handling the situation i'm like i'm feeling shitty but i'm still doing everything i said i was going to do and i'm handling this way better than i might have a year or two years ago right and so that's finding the positivity in the negativity um and then the third thing is that i always remind myself i'm like thoughts and emotions come and go so the one thing i can rely on is knowing that they are unreliable and so they will come they will go and eventually i'll feel something else and i don't need to try and do things to feel differently right um i just need to let the emotion pass and it will pass and i don't need to be scared of it i don't want to be worried about i don't need to be anxious about it like we all have these terrible emotions that make us feel like a bear is about to eat us and just because we have those doesn't mean we need to alter our lives it's completely normal that is how i show up when i'm not feeling 100 i think that for me again this goes back to living in accordance with your values rather than obeying your emotions emotions are often not rational they're often not um i don't look into them i'm not like oh there's some giant deeper meaning here i need to solve through trauma therapy like i'm like we all are humans we all have trauma we all crap it's happened like just feeling poopy today is what it is like i don't need to look into it um because oftentimes us over analyzing ourselves and our feelings and emotions uh perpetuates the cycle of not feeling well rather than just getting on with your day and remembering that you can have a day where you don't feel well and you're probably actually still going to have some times where you do feel good um and then you'll have times that day where you feel even worse and eventually it will change it will pass and you'll have a good day um and you'll have a string of good days just like you have strings and bad days and they're normal and i think that if i can give you one thing it is that you have to stop searching for the silver bullet to feeling good and you just have to learn how to do things when you don't feel good and i think that oftentimes i know myself in the past and i'm sure many people now it's like you just think well there's no way that if they felt how i feel they would be able to get that much stuff done and i challenge you on that thought and i would actually say that they have just trained themselves to feel absolutely horrible and still get it done so if you like this video i will talk more on how to get things done when you are not feeling great um and my guess is that by the next video i make i will feel much better than this video um so i hope that this was enlightening and if so go ahead hit subscribe i will see you in the next one