When stuck, reinvent yourself!

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude!” – Maya Angelou

            Did you ever feel so stuck in a project that you just stop? That feeling you get, that whatever you do, no matter how much you think and try you will not get any further. You feel like you are inside of a glass box that is shrinking. You can see outside, it looks like you can almost reach out and grab the solution you need but you’re stuck. And this is not about a specific project or task, it expands and becomes general. You have those moments when nothing seems to work. So what do you do? You give up, put down your gloves and just get down and wait for the storm to pass or maybe you learn to dance in the rain?

            The place where everything good happens is just outside your comfort zone. The first step you take beyond that border, all of the sudden, everything kind of feels right. You can move, you are not a plant. It might just feel that where you are and grew is still a good place to be but you know deep down you are stuck. Sometimes is better to lose and get worse than being stuck. And you don’t get different results if you do the same things every time; that is madness. Escape the routine. Reinvent yourself!

And the most frustrating thing is that most of the time we don’t see we are stuck. It is hard to see from inside the situation. Friends, coworkers, partners and everyone standing by your side are actually going to see that before you do. No matter the field of work, sometimes you get stuck. It is more obvious in creative industries but none is spared. So how do we know we are stuck, it’s not like some big epiphany, you need to see it and acknowledge it. Here are some signs that help you understand you are stuck.

           1.      Your days look the same. I watched and loved “Groundhog day”, a movie in which a man wakes up every morning to relive the same day. After a while he starts to go insane. Yes you have a great scheduled day, but you have the risk to become a robot.

           2.      You have the perfect excuse not to change a thing. You have to change what you do to get different results. If every time you are faced with a decision with find an excuse to avoid change, you are just being complacent.

           3.      The future scares you. Well it should. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough” says Mr Branson. Fear shouldn’t stop you from trying; it should help you improve in order to succeed.

           4.      You feel like living someone else’s life. Remember all your plans and dreams form when you were young? Does your life have any of them?

All of the above and others are symptoms of being stuck. Try and get out of that state of mind as soon as possible. When you are stuck you just feel like going on but it’s just an illusion. Like using the stationary bike in a gym, you move your feet, you sweat, but you don’t get anywhere. Get off that bike and move on.

           Remember who you are, go back to the basics. What are your principles, what are your strengths that can help you succeed? Identify them and anchor yourself to that. And don’t keep that statistically, you have also to enjoy those things. You need to get sync between feelings, emotions and logic. Most of the time you are fighting against your gut feelings and an inner war, no matter who wins, will leave scars. Once you anchored yourself to your strengths and experiences you must focus on what you want different. “The best way to predict your future is to invent it”, so visualize it and go for it. Make a game plan, simple and easy to follow steps and maybe just get others to do it to. An old African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” It’s your choice, your plan, your life.

           Most important in this new journey of yours, stay motivated, stay the course you design. Of course the resistance to change anything in your life is big, and there are also obstacles in your path, but if you don’t believe in yourself who would? Decide you need to change, make a plan about how to change and follow it until you get to the place you feel comfortable again with what you do and with yourself. Work on it until you make what you do every day the things you would do even if you knew it were the last day of your life.

*Mihai Chiratcu is an opportunity creator, trainer and free man. After 10 years experience in sales and business development, he is using the knowledge gathered trying to bring a new approach in training and business consultancy. He brings you every Thursday special information and gives advices through the section “Business Opinions”. For more information, you can find Mihai at chiratcumihai@gmail.com.