Taking Action – What To Do When You Feel Stuck

Taking Action – What To Do When You Feel Stuck

You feel stuck. It’s a terrible feeling. It’s not the way you pictured things unfolding. Now it’s time to get unstuck.

I’ll give you a quick 3 step process to help. It’s worked for me. It’s worked for others you know. The hardest part is recognizing that you can work yourself out of stuck.

As Dr Stephen R Covey suggests, let’s begin with the end in mind. Do you have an idea of what unstuck looks like? Is it a new job? A book outline? A new prospect to work with? A change in scenery? More income? I realize that sometimes that vision of the “end game” can be what causes you to feel stuck, but bear with me. In order for this process to do its magic, there needs to be something specific to work towards.

This process requires that you have this specific “end” in mind because we need to start breaking that down into smaller parts. If it’s a new job, we need to start identifying the components of that job. Hours, location, responsibilities, compensation, co-workers, direct reports, immediate supervisors, any perks and what the benefits package looks like. Once you get started, it’s fun.

The reason for getting specific is because those items are going to lead us to the next step in the process. Consider other options related to each specific smaller element of your end target. Back to the job example, start with the hours. What other options will work in lieu of those particular hours? What’s the second best location? If the responsibilities were halved, would that work?

The second part of the process is all about waking your problem solving side of the brain. Questions that are open ended, action focused and self directed, “What other hours would work for me?” or “How could I make another location work?” tend to get our brains firing. Closed questions that are passive and rely on others, “Why can’t they give me more responsibility?” tend to shut our brains down. You’re looking for a way out. MacGyver style. Open to possibilities.

Now that our brain is firing and looking at other alternatives, it’s time to see who else we can enlist to help us. Bringing others in is easy when you’re armed with open ended, action focused, self directed questions. People have opinions. They want to give them. Given half a chance, they’ll try to implement them. Just know that this third step is the toughest to work with because, contrary to what you might think, a part of us likes to get stuck. To wallow in the self-pity here and there, now and then.

Don’t worry about that now. You need to start by defining your target with specificity. Start writing!

Good stuff.