P!nk Photography

Do you often feel up one day and down the next? That's normal for most creative people! Once I recognised this and allowed myself to be this way I found life was much easier. Creative people simply can't be upbeat all the time - you have to recognise when you're having a down day and plan accordingly. One of the best things I learnt when I met Catherine Connor (the marketing and business guru of our training business) was to plan for my moods and emotions! This sounds crazy but it actually works!

Get out your diary and look at what's in it. If you have a big shoot planned for next Wednesday, then you need to be upbeat on that day. You will need to have all your creative juices flowing and be in a motivated and inspired zone. You can't afford to be tired - so check out what you are doing the day before and make sure it's not something that requires huge amounts of energy and thinking. I now plan my shoots like this - I don't put in a big shoot every day of the week - and I certainly don't do anything that requires a lot of thinking on a day before a wedding.

If you shoot weddings, then you will know that the next day you will be exhausted - plan your diary around this. If you do 3 weddings in a weekend, then you will burn out eventually. You need to change how you approach your weddings so you don't do 3 at once - you need to learn ways of doing less weddings for more money, so you don't become exhausted and uncreative.

Do you ever have days where you just can't motivate yourself to do anything? Don't cut yourself up about it, recognise that you are probably tired from the shoot yesterday - so today you deserve to take it easier. If you can't take the day off, then do some of those mundane tasks you've been meaning to do for ages - the sort of thing that doesn't need much thinking about - that you can do routinely. Even if it's just clearing out cupboards or doing some filing, at least you'll have achieved something and it's one less thing on the list!

If at the moment you've got too much to do, and you are starting to turn up at shoots feeling tired already, then you need to seriously look at your business. But for now, one of the simplest things to do is the "Attitude 1-10" exercise! Ask yourself how you're feeling today on a scale of 1-10. Maybe you had a row before you left for work; maybe it's pouring down. But ask yourself how your client wants you feeling? Obviously they will want you on a 10. If you are feeling less than a 10, then you need to get back up there.

Just by doing this exercise you can make yourself go there - tell yourself they need you on a 10, and just be on a 10. You can go down to a 1 on the way home when you're exhausted - but right now you have to be on that 10. It's amazing - but it works every time! It even works when your negative friend is coming round - just decide before they arrive, that you are going to be on a 10 and nothing is going to get you off that 10 - and you'll deal with things in a totally different way!