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This one question will help you get unstuck today

how to get unstuck

“How can you stay in motion?”

This is a powerful question to help you stay in action when you’re feeling stuck.

Are you searching for a new job and feeling discouraged?

Or, are you working on your business and you seem to get distracted by lack of structure or uncertainty with how to move forward?

Or, are you working on getting promoted and it’s just not happening?

No matter what your goal is, I’d love for you to create a mindset of staying in motion so you can get unstuck and keep moving forward.

As a result, you’ll save time, make more progress and take more calculated risks that lead to growth.

You will thank yourself!

Here’s a framework to help you implement this today.

Ask yourself, “Am I stuck in avoidance?”

Before you can take action, you have to check in with that “I’m stuck” feeling. What’s underneath that?

I see this with Work Bigger clients all the time. When Work Bigger clients feel stuck they’re usually avoiding some level of discomfort.

This is completely normal because your brain is designed to protect you.

A way around this is to start listing all of your action items so that you can identify what’s triggering the avoidance.

For example, if your goal is to find a new job within the next three months, make a list of all the things you need to do.

Your list may look like this:

  • Update your resume messaging to reflect your mission statement
  • Make a list of people to reach out to
  • Schedule informational interviews
  • Implement learnings from the calls

Now review your list.

Are you feeling stuck with any of the above? Where is that stuck feeling showing up for you?

I want you to do this regardless of what your goal is. Breaking your action items into smaller steps will help you identify which action is triggering discomfort.

Label your emotions

Hopefully you have some clarity on which action item from your list feels really uncomfortable.

Take some time to process that.

For example, if you’re stuck in scheduling informational interviews, ask yourself why. What emotion comes up when you think about reaching out to others for help? Is it fear of rejection or criticism?

Labeling the feeling is really powerful. Here’s a chart to help you label your emotions.

After labeling, see if you can allow yourself to experience the emotion. Resisting it will actually intensify the negative feeling, so give yourself some space to process it through journaling or taking deep breaths.

Choose to take action

After you’ve given yourself some time to process and identify what you’re feeling, go back to your list.

If you were stuck in scheduling informational interviews, you may still feel apprehensive about doing so.

But hopefully now you have some more clarity as to why.

With that awareness, you can make a different choice.

You know what they say – feel the fear and do it anyway.

Celebrate your wins and take note of the lessons

This is the most important part.

At Work Bigger we share WINS every single week no matter how small they are.

For example, you showed up to that call you were dreading? That’s a win! Or, you emailed one person today to let them know you’re exploring a new career. That counts!

Don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t do more. That will only hurt your progress.

On the contrary, celebrating successes creates more success. 

Experiencing a win triggers the release of the chemical dopamine in your brain which feels good and ultimately keeps you in action.

But we rarely do this because we’re either too busy moving from one thing to the next or we don’t feel worthy of celebrating.

I want you to celebrate. And I want you to build a habit around this because I promise you, it will dramatically improve your results.

Schedule some time to write out the following:

  • What went well as you stayed in motion?
  • What lessons did you learn?
  • What do you want to do differently next time?

It’s this recognition that will motivate you to keep going again and again.

Now I want to hear from you. What resonated with you in this article? And where can you apply the stay in motion mindset?

Work Bigger Team

Author Work Bigger Team

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