About two years ago, I was in a place in my life where I literally felt stuck. I was unhappy in my career, I was spending way too much time at work, so much that it left me feeling as if I was neglecting my children. I hated the way I was living. I remember looking in the mirror around this time and not even recognizing myself.

In this article I will be sharing the 5 ways that helped me get unstuck. My hope is that if you find yourself feeling stuck in this life for any reason, you will be able to take and apply some, if not all of these tips, to help you move towards living the life you want and feel you deserve. Let’s jump right in!

 

1. Get a clear vision.

For starters you want to know where you are going. Get a clear vision of what you want your life to look like and write it down. To do this, I considered the main important areas in my life that I wanted to improve. For me, this included family, health and fitness, spirituality and career. I wrote down each area as a header and underneath, I scripted what each area would be like if I was living the life of my dreams. For example, under health and fitness I wrote:

• I weigh 180 lbs.
• I feel good about how my body looks.
• I have an easier time getting up the stairs.
• I have more energy to hangout with my kids.
• I eat foods that fuel my body and make me feel good about myself. At the same time, I have balance, where I can enjoy my favourite unhealthy foods once in a while.

Now the key is… write your vision down as if you are living this life presently. You see, for me, writing my dream vision down was the first step to making it real. I mean think about it. Before I wrote it down, it was just a thought in my mind. As soon as I wrote it on paper, it began to take physical form …literally! I mean yes, they were words, but I could see them! Writing down your vision helps solidifies your vision. This was the first step for me to get unstuck. After all, you gotta know where you are going in order to get there.

 

2. Decide and make change now.

The second thing I did to get unstuck was look at all the things I could change in the selected areas of my life to get them closer to my outlined dream life. I was careful to ensure that the things I chose to change were immediate and sustainable. For example, again looking at the area of health and fitness, the first goal I took on was to drink a litre of water daily. Was this the amount of water I need daily? No. I needed more, probably two litres more. But a litre was better than I was doing at that time and it was the amount I knew I could drink daily without fail, moving me closer to my dream life.

Making immediate changes, no matter how small, that moved me in the direction of my vision helped me to see that I was able to make a change and make it now. This helped me to build my confidence to the point where I was encouraged to challenge myself with making more changes that would move me closer to my dream life. Now, I will give a warning here. There is a fine balance. What I mean by this is that you have to challenge yourself enough so that you are encouraged and motivated, but not so much where the challenge is unattainable and therefore leaves you discouraged. Now, it does take time to achieve this balance, I have had many discouraging moments. What I realized was that I needed these moments to help me fine tune the balance I needed to keep me moving forward.

 

 3. Monitor your progress.

One mistake I made when trying to get unstuck was not closely monitoring my progress to ensure I was on track and continuing to move in my intended direction. There have been plenty of times where I have felt like I was going in circles and going nowhere. It wasn’t until I started to track and monitor my progress did I see that yes, I am moving forward or ‘Oh, I see what went wrong there, let me try this instead.

For me, monitoring my progress to help me get unstuck took the form of a daily journal. I journaled everything! My plans, the reason for the plan, my intended outcomes, my actual outcomes, disappointments and obstacles, my feelings, perceived wins, possible resources, resources used… I mean everything! Doing this helped me to keep my mind clear and open for new opportunities and ideas should they arise. At the same time, it allowed me to assess and analyze my plan of action to get unstuck.

I set a date each week for reflection and to assess where I was headed versus where I wanted to go. I had every little aspect of what I was doing in front of me laid out in that journal and I worked it! I studied, considered, pondered, analyzed, you name it. I worked my journal. In doing so, I was able to effectively revise (or maintain) what I was doing in order to stay on track to getting unstuck. Monitoring your progress can help you get unstuck by not only allowing you to ensure you are moving in the direction you want, but also by helping you to identify what is and isn’t working and why, in turn allowing you to make changes (or not) to keep you progressing.

 

4. Mind your mind.

I’m going to keep this one short. Perspective is everything.

In order to get myself unstuck, I had to fight to think of the cup as half full rather than half empty. I mean they are both true, however, I realized that I had a choice of which one I would focus on. I quickly realized that looking at the cup as half full moved me in the direction I wanted to go while the cup half empty paralyzed me. I’ve been working to see my cup as half full since. It’s not always easy, but it is simple. To do this, I worked to find and focus on the good in any and every situation. This was a state of mind I had to be aware of, implement and maintain to get unstuck. Even today, I can’t get caught slippin’… This is a mindset that I continue to be aware of and practice today to stay unstuck.

 

5. Be open to change.

One thing I realized on this journey to getting unstuck was that nothing is stagnant. Nothing stays the same. I found that something that worked for me one month, whether it be motivation, tips or encouragement, might not work for me in the following month. This is where reflection and revision in my journal came into play, but in order to do this effectively, I had to be open to change.

I knew I had to change, otherwise I would not have been in the position that I was in. Let’s just say, knowing and acting accordingly are two different things. I did not like the fact that my current training routine no longer got me results. I mean I was comfortable, it was a routine now, a habit and it got me results before.  It was not long before I realized in order to continue on the path of getting unstuck, I needed to change a bit more and more, each day, month, year. I mean this is what I am ultimately trying to do, get unstuck AKA change my life.

I had to learn to roll with the punches. For example, there was a time where I had to change the level of intensity of my training, then I got injured so I had to modify my training. Another time I no longer had an hour to spend on my devotions which I wanted to do to develop the spiritual area of my life. I was reluctant but I cut is down to about 15min-30min a day and took care to ensure I was intentional about what I was studying. Upon reflection in my journal, I could clearly see that these changes that I made kept me moving in the direction of getting unstuck because it allowed me to consistently make progress, even if it was slow. Change is ok.

 

So there you have it! These are the 5 ways to get unstuck that I have used to change my life and continue to use to keep me progressing in any endeavour of my choosing. This is not about changing who you are but rather about getting to know who you are and then putting a structure in place to help you move towards your goal of getting unstuck. I realize that the things outlined here may not work for everyone, this is just what worked for me. Feel free to read this like you shop at a thrift store. Take what you need and leave what you feel is junk. I won’t be offended after all, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

 

Talk Later.