How to Stay Consistent When You Are Running on Empty
You know the feeling.
Not tired in the way a good night of sleep fixes. Not the satisfying soreness after a hard workout. Something deeper. The kind of exhaustion where getting out of bed feels like a genuine act of will. Where your obligations are still there, your work still expects you, the people in your life still need you, and you have absolutely nothing left to give any of it.
That is running on empty. And I think more people are finding themselves there every day.
This post is for those people. And honestly, it is a little bit for me too.
What Getting Moving Actually Looks Like
What gets me moving when I am running on empty?
Cocaine.
Only kidding.
The honest answer is it changes depending on the day. But the thing that works most consistently for me is this. I think about the person who is running on empty right now and feels like there is no point in trying again. That person who needs to hear that it is okay, that they are not alone, that the rope is still there if they are willing to reach for it.
That person is why I write this blog. Why we post on social media. Why I keep working late nights after my day job even when every part of me wants to stop.
Everything we build at Bait Dogs is a way of getting in front of that person. And knowing they are out there, waiting for something that might help, is usually enough to get me moving one more time.
Rest Is Not Giving Up
Here is something I had to learn the hard way.
Taking your hands off the wheel for a day or a week does not make everything fall apart.
I have done it a few times with Bait Dogs. Taken a week or two to rest up or deal with personal things. We did not crumble. It did not move forward either, but it did not collapse. When I came back, it was still there.
My business partner said something to me recently when I was getting a little obsessive about the pace of everything. He said, "best case it takes ten years."
He was right. And that reframe changed something for me.
If the realistic timeline is ten years, one week of rest is not going to matter. Burning yourself out trying to force it to happen faster is going to matter a lot more. The ability to sustain effort over a long period of time is worth more than any short burst of intensity. Rest is not giving up. Rest is what makes it possible to keep going.
I will say I usually need someone to point this out to me about four times before I finally go, okay fine, I will give it a rest for a bit. But I get there eventually.
How to Keep Functioning When You Are Depleted
Here are the things that actually help me when I am genuinely running low.
Take a night off. Not to work on a project. Not to catch up on email. Just to feel human for a few hours. Read a book. Watch a movie. Sit on the couch and do nothing productive. It is not a huge relief but giving yourself permission to exist without being useful for one evening makes a real difference.
Do a grooming routine. This one sounds silly but I mean it. When I am really exhausted, the small physical maintenance stuff is usually the first thing to get ignored. Showering properly, shaving, clipping nails, the things that get skipped when you are constantly rushing. Taking thirty minutes to do those things when you have no energy for anything else gives you a small but real sense of order. It does not require much but it makes you feel like less of a disaster.
Know your sleep threshold. For me it is six hours. Anything less and I am genuinely not okay. If I get six or more I go to the gym and it helps. If I get less than six I try to get more sleep instead. Learn your number and respect it.
And remember the difference between mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion. If you have been sitting at a desk all day and you feel like you cannot possibly go to the gym, you are probably mentally tired not physically tired. Those feel the same but they are not. Getting your body moving when your mind is drained often helps more than resting does.
It Is Okay to Pull Back
Some of you reading this are running on empty because you are chasing something meaningful. You have a goal, a dream, a project you care about. And you are terrified that if you stop for even a day you will lose momentum or talk yourself out of continuing.
I understand that fear. I have it too.
But here is what I know from experience. The goal will still be there when you come back. The work will still be there. The mission will still matter. Taking a few days to recover does not erase what you have built or reset the progress you have made.
What burns people out and actually kills the thing they are building is refusing to rest until they have nothing left to give it.
For the People Who Are Stuck
Some of you are running on empty not because you are chasing something but because you are trapped in something.
A job that drains you. A situation you did not choose. A life that does not feel like yours.
I feel for you genuinely. That is a harder kind of empty because there is no meaningful goal pulling you forward. You are just surviving.
I was in that spot when I started Bait Dogs. Lost, aimless, no real vision for what I wanted. I felt like I was in a deep dark pit.
Starting this brand was the rope I decided I was going to try to pull myself out with.
Find your rope. It does not have to fix everything right away. It does not have to be a business or a big ambitious project. It just has to be something you want to move toward. Something that makes the direction feel like forward instead of just sideways.
Move toward it. Even slowly. Even on the days you have nothing left.
If You Are Really Struggling
If you are reading this and running on empty is an understatement, if it has gone darker than just tired and stuck, please reach out to someone.
A friend. A family member. A therapist. Anyone who will listen.
I know it is hard to ask for help. I know the fear of seeming like a burden or being seen as someone who cannot handle things. I still struggle with it myself.
But talking about what you are carrying out loud almost always makes it feel smaller than it does stuck inside your head. That is not a platitude. That is just what happens when you take something out of the echo chamber of your own mind and give it somewhere to go.
You do not have to white knuckle everything alone. Most of the time that is not strength. It is just stubbornness.
What Biting Back Looks Like When You Are Empty
Bite Back does not always look like a surge of energy and a triumphant comeback.
Sometimes Bite Back is just finding the rope and holding on.
It is saying I am not going to take this anymore, even when you are barely able to say it out loud. It is deciding to move toward something even when you do not have the energy to run toward it. Even when you can only crawl.
In the casino of life it is always worth one more roll of the dice.
The Only Thing I Want You to Remember
Do not give up.
Just rest.
Take a breath. Take a day. Take a week if you need it. Let yourself recover so you can keep going.
The goal is still there. The dream is still worth it. And you are allowed to be tired without it meaning you are done.
We are the underdogs. We don't stay down, we bite back.
If you are struggling with more than just exhaustion, please know that support is available. Reaching out to someone you trust is always a good first step. If you need additional help, the SAMHSA helpline is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day at 1-800-662-4357.