What do you do when the passion for your work isn’t there? What do you do when you don’t like working on any of your ideas? When designing a website or writing an article is drudgery and the last thing in the world you want to do?

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Recently I was listening to David Smith’s Developing Perspective podcast. If you don’t know David Smith, he’s an iOS developer. While I’m not an iOS developer, I find David has good insights into design and development as well as what it’s like to work for yourself. More than a few of his thoughts have inspired content here over the years.

In this particular episode, David explained why he hadn’t recorded in about a month and how he’s lost passion for Developing Perspective. He talked about the ups and downs of recording regularly and how he’s been through it before. This time it sounds like David is going to end the podcast and move on to something else he feels more passionate about. I think his plan is to wind down Developing Perspective and perhaps start a new podcast.

Regardless of his decision, David offered some thoughts about what you can do when you’re in a down cycle to keep you moving forward and regain the passion for what you were doing. Since I have some experience with the ups and downs of creating I thought I would offer some thoughts as well.

Waning Passion

I’m pretty sure this happens with just about anything you feel passion about. I know it’s happened to me with both writing and design.

It’s easier for me to talk about in terms of writing (specifically for this site) as I’ve been writing regularly and consistently for years and have experienced the ups and downs more often with writing than design.

While I may approach the topic from the perspective of writing I’ll offer some design and development examples and know that most everything I say here applies beyond writing or design or development. I think you can apply what’s here to life in general and anything that inspires you.

Sometimes everything you create and produce feels good. You’re in a flow of sorts that can last for days, weeks, even months. You feel good about the process of creating and the result of the process. You feel confident others will like what you’ve written or designed.

Then there are times when you don’t like your ideas and can’t turn any into something worthwhile. Every part of the process is a struggle and no matter how much work you do and how much effort you give, you aren’t happy with the finished product.

These are the up and down cycles. The first time you’re in a down cycle you might you’re think your done. You feel you no longer have anything to say or contribute and it’s time to find something else to do.

If you stick with it longer though, you’ll find it’s a natural pattern that everyone goes through. You’ll experience the ups and you’ll experience the downs at various levels of intensity.

Some days are better than others. Some days are worse. The good or the bad can last weeks or longer. Hopefully the up cycles last longer than the down cycles, but you’ll experience both.

The downs can be hard to deal with at any point whether you’re experiencing them for the first time or the hundredth time. What can you do to get out of the down cycle and back into an up cycle?

While listening to David’s podcast I listed the things I do when the passion for my work is below it’s usual levels. Later when seeing them all together, I realized they fall into three general groups.

I wait it out.
I fill myself with new possibilities.
I work differently, shake up routines, and break out of comfort zones.

Wait it Out

Once you’ve been through the up and down cycle a few times you know that each gives way to the other if you let it. If you simply wait it out you’ll likely feel the passion aga