I recently got back from a week-long vacation to New York.

When I got back, not only was I jetlagged.

But wow, was I unmotivated.

I had zero drive.

Let’s just say I had post-vacation brain fog.

I had absolutely no interest and no motivation to do any work.

I got back on a Tuesday.

I had jetlag, because usually when I spend a week in a different time zone, I get used to it.

My body has always found it hard to go east-west. I’m really good when I go west-east. I’ll have insomnia, but eventually I’ll fall asleep.

When I’m traveling east-west though, forget about it.

Man, I’m up at 4:00 in the morning even though I went to bed at 12:00. I’m wide awake at 4:00. I’m just racing through my entire body.

I just can’t get back on track.

I felt really unmotivated, just not in the mood for work at all.

Then along the way, I definitely wrote and podcasted and got a lot of the creative stuff done that I set an intention to do.

I worked on my book and on a lot of different things.

I did get a lot accomplished because even when I go on vacation, I’m still creating, because to me creativity is my whole business.

But when I got home, yuck. Every phone call was painful.

Everything I had to concentrate on was painful.

So what do you do when you’re in a situation where you feel unmotivated?

Well, first off, you lighten your schedule of who you have to talk to for whatever time you need to talk to them, and make sure you give them 110% of all your effort.

So, you’ve only scheduled maybe two hours for a couple of days.

That way, you can get back into the groove again.

It’s perfectly okay to feel unmotivated for a period of time.

This is the way I look at it.

You have 52 weeks a year.

Now, when I was in my early 30s to mid 40s, late 40s, I was motivated probably 51 and a half out of the 52 weeks.

I had that drive. As I got older, I don’t know. I need to take breaks now and then just to really get my mojo back.

When you’re feeling unmotivated, just realize that if the majority of time you are motivated, if the majority of time you’re kicking ass, taking names, numbers, and really doing well, then just be okay that you’re having an off-week.

Be okay with it. Don’t beat yourself up at all.

Don’t beat yourself up that you’re having an off-week. Don’t destroy your brain or your mind or get angry at yourself. Just be in that. Be in the moment of you feeling unmotivated. Be in that moment.

Because it is perfectly okay to be in that moment. If you kick ass most of the time, then just give yourself some slack. Sometimes your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit just needs a break from life and a break from everything.

So go with it. Don’t be so hard on yourself at all.

That’s what I do when I don’t feel motivated. I don’t feel like working out. I work out probably 50 out of 52 weeks a year.

Want to take some time? You take time off.

It’s all about balance. Nobody can kick ass 52 weeks a year. We all need a break.

It’s such an American way to always feel the need to kick ass 24/7, 52 weeks a year. But it’s a fantasy.