Q: “Denise, I am following your advice and not getting freaked out by the current state of affairs. I am worried about income, but I figure everyone is in the same situation. Here is my issue: I really want to work on my business structure and systems right now, but nothing is holding my attention. Any suggestions for getting me revved up to tackle some of my projects?”

A: Of course! I am a big believer in mindset in that sometimes it takes some effort to find the project that matches your current mindset. Do you ever have a task in front of you that should only take five minutes but because you are in the wrong mindset for that task, it takes an hour? Avoiding that is precisely what I am referring to. Here are some tips to help:

1. Make a list of everything you want to get done. Everything. This isn’t meant to overwhelm you but to help you get started on something.

2. Review your list and choose something you are in the mindset to do. This might not be the moment to clean up your database, but is it the moment to choose a venue for your client appreciation event? Maybe it is the moment to shop online for client closing gifts or to get on the phone with a title rep or mail company and talk about printing and mailing. Notice the tasks I proposed here are very different types of tasks – solitary working with data, planning, shopping, talking on the phone. You are more inclined at this moment in time to get more excited about one of those tasks than others.

3. What if you aren’t feeling ANY of the tasks on your list? Usually when we are faced with this situation it is because we can’t get our heads around what a project will entail. For example, let’s say you want to create a client report for your past clients, but you haven’t done one before. The project may seem more overwhelming than it is simply because you haven’t done it and you don’t know what you are up against. In this case, I recommend giving 30 minutes to the project. Just 30. 30 minutes goes by very quickly. This is usually the amount of time it takes to start to work out some of the nuts and bolts.

I also recommend that you give yourself a break and enjoy this time. We have two choices right now – fight or lean in and make the most of this time. Fighting will expend your energy with probably no different a result than had you just leaned in. This is a great time to do something creative – do a vision board project with others who are sheltering with you, plan for new artwork, repot your office plants, and do things that feed your business soul and you will come out of this healthier and energized.