We all can experience moments, days, or periods in our lives when we feel stuck. So, what does it mean to feel stuck? When you feel stuck, you might feel directionless, uninspired, and confused. This likely leaves you feeling depleted of energy and dis-empowered because you can't seem to find and experience traction, whether you feel stuck in your current job, career, business, relationships, or social life. A couple weeks ago, I was feeling utterly stuck with my business. This left me questioning what I was doing and where my business was going. So, I had to remind myself to take the advice and guidance I give my own leadership and career coaching clients. Here is what I did and what you can do too to get yourself unstuck. Get your pen and paper and start to get unstuck!
1) Consider what does and doesn't give you energy, inspiration, and traction.
- First, write out what gives you energy, inspiration, and traction in both your work life and personal life. For example, my list included: writing Huffington Post articles, facilitating workshops, giving presentations, 1:1 coaching delivery, designing and creating a new program or product, cooking, skiing, working-out, making connections with awesome people, selling in real time, and collaborating with others.
3) Look at your lists and then consider the question: What can I do differently?
I wrote down: work-out in the mornings, when I am not with clients get into the world and work at the library or in coffee shops instead of being alone in my office, and make a point to make plans with friends. Lastly, I wrote: surrender and learn to not just tolerate the unknown, but be comfortable in it.
4) What will you do differently?
I examined my lists and decided to start with 3 actions: I will work outside of my office 2x/week, try exercising in the mornings instead of evenings 3x/week, and reach out to a colleague and talk about how we can potentially collaborate on a project. While not exactly an action, I am also going to really examine this notion of surrender too.
After I did this, I felt immediately unstuck. I thrive on plans and now I had a plan on how to get unstuck. I was mixing-it up and trying something different. This was going to be fun and exciting. It felt like an experiment on my own day-to-day life. I was suddenly back to feeling inspired and empowered. Now that it has been a couple weeks since I completed this exercise, I am back to experiencing traction in my business and life. The best part of getting unstuck is feeling empowered again. When I feel empowered I feel like a badass, like I really can change the world, and that nothing and nobody stands in my way. And best of all, I have an easier time surrendering to the unknown and enjoying the ride.
To find out more about the author, Dr. Adrienne Partridge: www.adriennepartridge.com