A Strategy For When You’re Feeling Incredibly Stuck
How to keep trying even when you don’t want to.
Ever feel like everything you do simply isn’t working?
On the verge of giving up?
The good news is you are exactly where you are meant to be right now. Read that again.
You are exactly where you are meant to be right now.
Whilst this may offer little or no comfort, the good news is where we are today is a starting place to get to where we need to go tomorrow.
The challenges, obstacles, and roadblocks we face are all necessary and are what will open doors to the opportunities we do not yet see or recognize.
When I left my last job I immediately started interviewing for new jobs. I declined the first offer because I felt I could get better. But after several interviews the job I really wanted slipped out of my hands. Here I was with nothing in hand after several months of job hunting. Now what?
This is when I realized that I always had entrepreneurial aspirations but never seriously gave thought to follow the voice in my head. It felt like something that would just magically manifest one day. Though in my case not getting the job was an obstacle, it proved to provide the right opportunity to pursue my own business.
Sometimes we have to trust the universe in that everything happening around is actually guiding us to where we need to be. Even if that place is uncomfortable. Little did I realize the challenges that would lie ahead in starting a business.
Every challenge was simply setting me up for the bigger challenges ahead.
So how do you find a way forward?
Here is a simple strategy to keep motivated when nothing seems to be in your favour.
1. Focus on what you can control not on what you cannot
When you are looking for a job and cannot find one or dream to be a bestselling author and can’t even get a book deal, there is not much you can do except what you can. You cannot control external outcomes but you can put in your best work. Eventually, it will get noticed.
You may get rejected by 60 jobs but the 61st one will be the perfect fit.
You may not get a deal with your dream publisher but a more lucrative deal is around the corner.
Trust that everything that happens to you is the perfect thing for you.
2. Take small actions every day
It’s easy to dismiss the many small actions it takes to receive the big rewards life has to offer. We idolize our favourite icons because of the success and fame they have. We forget the work and tough path they followed to get to where they are.
The 1,000 words you write every day will be 30,000 words a month.
The 20 pages you read every day will be 600 pages a month.
The 30-minute workout you do each day will be 900 minutes a month.
The point is to keep doing what you do every day even when you don’t get the results you want immediately. You are still moving forward.
You don’t have to feel like doing something to actually do it.
3. Measure progress by consistency not results
The most successful leaders and entrepreneurs often follow a routine religiously and do what they do every damn day. This is not because they always love living like clockwork but because consistent behaviour yields long term success.
Not eating sugar for one day won’t change your physical and mental health. But do it every day for a year and you may notice a change in your skin, weight and mental alertness.
We live in a society that often measures results by the outcome. A life well spent is a life in which you enjoy every day with intention. In the same spirit, being consistent is about living each day doing your best work without worrying about where you will land up. Success always follows consistent hard work.
So just keep doing it. Sitting around waiting for success is not part of any success story.
4. View everything you do as a connect-the-dot map of your life
As humans we are curious. We always want to know what will happen next. We love certainty. But maybe we can learn to appreciate the mystery a bit more.
Reach out to a leader you admire and see if they reply. Join a webinar that you are not sure you will be interested in. Every action you take is one of the many dots you mark on your life map, which will eventually connect to your greater purpose.
Embrace the serendipity and have fun! Not everything has to make sense in the moment.
Believe in your actions and the rest will follow.
By following this four-step strategy you will find the motivation to keep going forward even when you really don’t want to. Focusing on what you can control, taking small actions, being consistent and believing in a life plan you don’t fully understand yet will make you unstoppable.
Being stuck gives you the ammunition to change your life and get to a place you wouldn’t ever think of. Keep going.
