Hey !

It’s Sunday and I’m having coffee at the hotel cafe early morning. We have a lot of stuff planned today so I’m going to keep this short. 

I want to tell you about a painful freelancing experience I had a few years back as a video editor, baka it will help you if you ever find yourself in a similar rut. 

I was absolutely thriving as a freelance video editor, booked solid with client projects. I was pulling late nights editing everything from social media ads to video sales letters, and cashflow was really good too. 

What’s more, the referrals kept rolling in. 

I was making more money than ever while working in boxer shorts - the freelance dream!

But then, I hit a wall. 

I woke up one morning in a fog, already dreading the full day of editing ahead of me. 

Ewan ko ba, something na di ko ma-explain just suddenly had me feeling low energy. 

I tried to assess where this was coming from, but my usual morning routine of coffee and a bit of exercise did nothing to pump me up. 

I trudged to my desk, staring blankly at the footage and docs I needed to edit. It was all a big pile of meh. 

Yung nawala yung gana bigla, tapos ang bagal na lahat ng stuff. I started falling behind sa deliverables ko. 

This went on for weeks. 

I started isolating myself, eating junk food, watching a lot of anime and standup comedy on YouTube.. Basta doing anything to avoid work. 

I even became snippy with clients and friends. I had zero passion for video editing anymore. I kept thinking, why did I ever want to freelance? I just wanted to sleep all day. 

I knew I was in a dangerous rut, but I felt powerless to change. Have you felt this din ba, ?

The tasks that used to energize me now felt impossible.

I had no momentum. Just getting through each miserable day felt like a monumental effort. I was paralyzed by frustration and despair.  

Finally, I realized the solution started with tiny actions. Funny din na galing din sa YouTube yung nakatulong na solution hehe. 

Instead of waiting for a magical motivation spark, I forced myself to open my editing software for 5 minutes. Then 10 minutes. Then 20. Momentum built slowly as I celebrated these small wins.  

I also started rewarding myself more, like taking a nap after a productive morning. My inner critic had to make peace with baby steps. Over time, I got my workload back to normal levels.  

Learned that from my fitness coach Cho Lim naman. He calls it progressive overload training, which involves gradually increasing the intensity or difficulty of workouts over time. It can promote the development of muscle mass and strength. I used it sa pagdevelop ng freelancing muscles ko naman hehe

It took patience and self-compassion, but consistent micro-actions got me out of that rut. Right now, I’m able to write one email per day na. 

Try nyo to guys! this can make you feel limitless.

I hope my story gives you faith that even the worst ruts can be overcome with time and mini-momentum boosts.

We all struggle sometimes, but small steps forward make a huge difference!

Shoden "Sunday" San

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