Got stuck? The one question to ask yourself if you are.
Right now, ask yourself — is my life progressing or am I stuck?
As human beings, one of our most innate drivers is forward progress. Life is about forward movement — not moving in reverse and not staying idle.
Somewhere in our subconscious, we know that if we don’t keep moving we deny ourselves the energy needed to thrive. Despite that, so many of us walk through life with blinders and ignore those instincts.
Have you ever seen a baby learn to walk? Somehow these little beings without fully developed brains or muscular structure know that they must stand on two legs and put one foot in front of the other. They try and fall, and try and fall, until that moment that their balance catches and one step turns to four. Before you know it they’re running for their lives and you can hardly keep up.
For whatever reason, a setback at work, a failed relationship, a crummy home life, or maybe just from lack of inspiration — we lose that drive to move forward.
The bigger problem is not that we get in a rut but that we let it linger long enough to allow ourselves to go from stalled to stuck. If we stay there too long, depression, feelings of unworthiness and isolation can settle in making it even harder to get the engines going.
The first question you have to ask yourself is — am I stuck?
The philosopher Gurdjieff tells a story about a question he posed to his students:
“If a prisoner wants to escape from prison, what’s the first thing he needs to know?”
You need to know the guard, one student said.
You need to find the key’s, said another.
“No”, Gurdjieff said,
“The first thing that you need to know if you want to escape from prison is that you are in prison. Until you know that, no escape is possible.”
People become so disillusioned with the ideas of things, emblems, and appearances that they numb themselves to the reality of where their soul is situated among the noise. Asking yourself the five questions below will help you decide if you are in a rut and need to get the engines running again:
- Is my career fulfilling me?
- Do I want to contribute to others more but don’t know how?
- If everything ended today, would I look back with regrets?
- Is my potential greater than what I am allowing?
- Have I abandoned attention to a passion I love?
If you answered yes to even 2 out of the 5 above, chances are you are indeed stuck.
Now how do you get unstuck. It’s easier than you think. Answer the question below:
How can I let go of what is holding me back?
When you decide upon the answer. Commit to taking one action every day, map out what that step will be for the next day and schedule the time to do it.
Even the smallest steps will loosen the chains. The momentum will pick up and before you know it you are in the middle of forward progress. This is the one thing that sets successful people apart is consistent forward progress, detailed here.
From one of the best movie quotes of all time:
“It all comes down to choice. You can either get busy living, or get busy dying” — Andy Dufrense
Andy was right — it’s all about choice.
Jennie Aberle
