If the title of this post caught your interest, I’m willing to bet you might be feeling stuck in some area of your life. We all walk through these phases, so first, let me emphasize that it’s okay to feel stuck sometimes.
Whether you’re stuck in your career, personal growth journey, entrepreneurial journey, or anywhere else in between, what you’re feeling is normal.
Now that we’re on the same page and embracing how we feel, you want help getting unstuck, right? If you’re looking for a push outside the messy middle back into your flow state, I’ve got your back.
Here are my tried-and-true tips to get unstuck.
Take some time off.
Are you burnt out? Maybe you’re feeling tired mentally or physically or both. But look, even if you’re not burnt out and feel rested, getting unstuck will require some extra energy and effort. So I always recommend taking some time off to rejuvenate before diving headfirst into the work.
In some cases, some time off and rest may be just what you need, and you might not even need to do extra work to move out of the messy middle. Either way, it never hurts to rest and enjoy some time off, away, or alone time.
This won’t look the same for everyone. You might need time off from work, or a nap, or a two-week-long vacation. Determine what will help you feel most revitalized at this very moment and try to do it.
Find ways to incorporate “newness” back into your work.
Perhaps it’s because I’m growth-oriented or because I enjoy changing things up when life feels stagnant, but I’m a firm believer in constantly incorporating “newness” in all aspects of your work.
Have you ever started a new job and lived the first couple of weeks on cloud nine? Or perhaps, quit your corporate job and dove headfirst into freelancing or entrepreneurship?
When we are doing and trying new things, it’s inherently more interesting to us. Maybe you’re feeling stuck because you’ve become comfortable and miss the adrenaline rush associated with doing something new for the first time. Find ways to incorporate that back into your routine.
Maybe you learn a new skill or completely alter your daily routine, so it feels fresh to you. Choose change over comfort.
Spend time with someone in your outer circle for a fresh perspective.
When we’re knee-deep in our bubble, it can be easy to lose sight of our end goal and purpose. And if making an impact is essential to you, it can be challenging to take a step back and determine whether you are making an impact or if your vision is having tangible effects on others.
We are incredibly hard on ourselves sometimes, and one of my favorite ways to combat this is to have conversations with those close enough to offer feedback and input, but not so close that they won’t be truthful or honest with you. Think of individuals sitting in your outer circle and spend some time chatting through your visions and plans with them.
Ask for constructive feedback and identify areas of opportunity for growth. Sometimes a different perspective allows us to understand our own better.
Identify the activities that energize you and ignite your spark.
Listen up! This is an important one. It can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that you should love every aspect of the journey––every task, every ounce of work, every step along the way. And the truth is, it’s impossible to love every aspect of whatever journey you’re on. And it’s okay if you don’t love every activity.
The point, though, is to identify the work that energizes you. If you’re an entrepreneur, perhaps you feel energized by networking, but not by design work.
If you’re on a career path, maybe administrative tasks are bogging you down, but other specialized elements of your job you can’t get enough. And if you’re on a personal growth journey, perhaps meditation doesn’t resonate with you, but journaling does.
Whatever the case may be, identify those components that leave you feeling energized and motivated, and find ways to incorporate more of them into your schedule.
Delegate or eliminate where you can.
After you’ve identified the activities that energize you and have an idea of what you don’t enjoy, you should delegate or eliminate as many of those energy drainers as you can. You might feel stuck because you’re spending too much time on activities that drain you and not enough on ones that energize and inspire you.
This balance might be 50/50, or 80/20, or any combination, depending on where you feel stuck. The idea is to strike a balance that works for you and gets you out of the stuck zone. Delegation and elimination are your friends!
Please don’t beat yourself up for not being able to do it all or not feeling interested in every task, activity, or step that comes your way. You will likely feel more motivated when you can focus on what you most enjoy.
Most importantly, give yourself time. You won’t be stuck forever, and if you’re unable to get unstuck, there’s always another journey out there waiting for you.