It’s bound to happen sooner or later. You run out of gas and can’t seem to get that “eye of the tiger” back. Apathy injects itself into your life rendering any form of progress in the areas of your life inept.

This usually happens when you achieve that worthwhile goal you’ve been striving so hard for. You spent all that time climbing uphill, battling the elements and all the odds stacked against you and then you reached the summit. You reached the pinnacle of your achievement. You got to the top.

But now what? You’re on flat ground now. There’s no mountain to climb. You feel like you’re floating around with no direction, no drive to do anything at all. What do you do then?

First off, it’s just to relax. Just relax. We’ve been conditioned to always be striving for something so it feels “out of place” to not do anything. There’s a term in bodybuilding that somewhat describes this and it’s called a plateau and it happens when you can’t seem to make any more gains. You can’t seem to lift anymore weight and make progress and the solution to that is to just rest. Don’t lift for a week or two and when you go back to the gym to tackle the weights, you’ll be able to break the barrier in time.

With that in mind, after you take some time to relax, go back to the basics by focusing on the body. Forget about any sort of mental exercise for now. Just watch your eating habits. Try to get those fruits, vegetables, and essential vitamins and minerals back into your body. No more fast food. No more soda. Drink the water. Eat the oatmeal. Nourish the body. And watch your calorie intake as well. Too low of a calorie intake can help contribute to depression and lead you into a deep rut.

Then whip your body back into shape. Get some jogging going. Lift those weights. Get the blood pumping and flowing. Spar. Wrestle. Play competitive sports. Get that physical drive back into gear.

So now that you’ve nourished your body and whipped it back into shape to give you that physical drive and energy, the question is - what do you do now?

You’ll find yourself asking that question when you’ve completed your current mission and when you find yourself in this position, it serves as a great opportunity for you because each time you complete your current mission, you come closer to that ultimate mission that each one of us has.

That mission will be different for all of us, in one way or another, with us acting in different roles and fulfilling different activities, but the key point to remember here is that you can’t get there unless you fulfill your current missions. The ones that you have before you right now. The more missions you complete, the closer you get to that ultimate mission. Each mission prepares you for the next – the skills learned and developed, the people you meet, the ideas you have, etc.

And in between missions, there WILL be that “lull” period, where it seems like you can’t get any traction gong on in your life. Don’t worry about it. That’s normal. It’s not a sign of failure, but a sign of growth. In every major transition in life, you inevitably find yourself shocked out of your routine, but you will eventually adapt and get bored of the new routine and feel like your energy gets slowly sapped in the process. It’s just a sign stating that now is the time to grow with the next mission.

But what is that next mission going to be?

In most cases, it’s not going to be laid out step by step for you. You have to be open to your next mission and be willing to accept the fact that you may have to change things drastically in your life to pursue it.

It may come suddenly to you while you’re doing something or it might be suggested by a close friend or neighbor or it might be constructed from various external sources and combined in your mind to form a new vision.

What you’re ultimately looking for is that natural “kick” that was evident in your previous mission that fueled your pursuit of it, only this time, this “kick” will come in another form, powering another mission and when it does come, you’ll know it.

You’ll feel it. You’ll get excited. You’ll get that hunger back. You’ll get that drive back - that eye of the tiger. And that becomes the source of energy for your next mission.

Your next mission may not be crystal clear at first and 9 times out of 10, it won’t be. You won’t get a complete step by step guide to it. Only a rough sketch but if the inkling is there attached to it, go for it. Follow it. Complete the mission. And when you do this, it will feel as if you’re peeling back the layers, one by one, slowly getting to that inner core where you will eventually find the ultimate mission for you and find the ultimate drive along with it that will power you to pursue it.