We all tend to get dragged down and overwhelmed by things that accumulate over time and end up cluttering our minds.

When we identify them - even if we're not prepared to do anything about them right now - we raise our awareness and naturally start to handle, fix, and resolve them.

Start by making a list of what you’re putting up with at work and at home to determine what might be cluttering your mind and slowing you down!

Examples could be: incomplete tasks, frustrations, problems, other people’s or your own behavior, clutter, shoulds, unmet needs, crossed boundaries, unresolved issues or guilt, lack of exercise, eating habits, being indecisive, procrastinating, lack of sleep, etc.

You can do this! You just have to believe.

For three years, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into being the best head of school I could be.

And then, one day, it all ended.

Eight years and one month ago, I was out of work and needed to start again.

Thousands of miles away from where I grew up and where all of my family and friends lived.

Entering a field that I knew little about and had no reputation to speak of.

Relocating my family to a small, grungy house that had "potential," because that was all that we could afford in our new, more expensive community.

It was a dark time in my life.

But, I had promised myself then that I would never again be beholden to others for my income.

So, I hung a shingle and got to work.

How to Break Through When You’re Stuck

It happens to all of us, and often at the most inopportune times. We know that we have work to do – a job to complete, a new project to launch, some loose ends to tie up – but we just feel stuck in place. As if everything that we try doesn’t work. We take two steps forward and one or more steps back. Or we start something and simply stop.. Or, worse yet, we don’t even know where to start. Why does this happen? There are many answers.

How to Get Your Mojo Back

As a coach, it is relatively common to be contacted by individuals who feel stuck. Often, these people are mid-late career and struggle in their current position.

Their challenges often include, but are not limited to:

Long, grueling workdays
Insufficient pay
Lack of passion for their work
Managers who mistreat them
Working in industries, such as tight-knit community businesses, in which “everyone knows everyone”, limiting their ability to make lateral career moves

Ironically, when we unpack their situations and identify pathways forward, they are often unprepared or unwilling to take the kind of action necessary to break free.

6 Tips on How to Get Unstuck

The challenge I want to talk about today is something called getting stuck.

Many of us feel it, in our personal lives, in our relationships and of course at work in business.

We think we're capable of doing more. We want to build our businesses, build our relationships, get so much more out of life.

But we just don't seem to know what to do. Many times, as a result, we do nothing.

Tips for Getting Up in the Morning

I had a VERY hard time getting up this morning. For some reason, I was just exhausted. 😫

The thought of getting my day going just wasn’t resonating. I kept trying to justify staying in bed. 🛏

But I knew that I had a lot to do before heading out of town for a mini-vacation (finally!)

So, I reminded myself about what I would miss out on by sleeping in, including the kind of prayer service that most works for me and getting my work day started on time.

A Long, Overdue Cleanup

We haven’t celebrated Pesach (Passover) at home in 4 Years

For the past 3 Passovers (and for 5 of the past 6), I have served as a scholar-in-residence at different hotel programs. As a result, our family did just a token amount of pre-holiday cleaning at our residence. We did the cars and basic surfaces, but by comparison to the amount of time spent shopping, packing and traveling, our cleaning time was but a pittance.

(For the uninitiated, the Torah demands that a home be leaven-free on Passover. This means that it must be cleaned from all items that contain leaven (foods derived from grains such as wheat and barley), a stringency that is far more involved than standard kosher requirements. The amount of effort needed to achieve this level of cleanliness is significant.)

This year, we decided that we were going to stay home for the holiday. With a son studying in Israel for the past seven months and an upcoming bar mitzvah, we felt that we would do well to enjoy the holiday together at home.

How to Break Through When You’re Stuck - Part II

In a previous post, we laid out a number of action steps that can help someone who feels stuck to break through and get things done. Here are some additional steps that can make the difference between languishing behind paralyzing inaction and crushing it with empowering achievement.

Find a mentor who is one chapter ahead of you – When you don’t know what to do next to, find someone who does. Ideally, this should be someone who just walked a mile in your shoes. They will not only be current in their thinking and approaches, but will likely be more willing to share their experiences and help you grow more quickly than you could do alone.
Get a coach – Coaches are trained to ask penetrating, elucidating questions that push aside the clutter and clear a pathway forward. Great coaches help you overcome gremlins and limiting beliefs and forge ahead with greater confidence.
Be prepared to learn – Sometimes, the difference between staying put and moving forward is the ability and willingness to learn new information or skills. Don’t assume that yesterday’s knowledge can always solve today’s problems. Figure out where your gaps are and hit the books, video, course, etc.

business, leadership, mindsetNaphtali HoffFebruary 5, 2018Impactful Coaching & Consultingbusiness, leadership, breakthrough, successComment

How to Break Through When You’re Stuck

It happens to all of us, and often at the most inopportune times.

We know that we have work to do – a job to complete, a new project to launch, some loose ends to tie up – but we just feel stuck in place. As if everything that we try doesn’t work.

We take two steps forward and one or more steps back. Or we start something and simply stop.

Or, worse yet, we don’t even know where to start.

Why does this happen?

There are many answers. One is that we get distracted. Another is that we have a loose sense of what needs to happen, but can’t figure out the specific steps to get there. Sometimes, we lose confidence in our ability to get the job done. Or, we simply don’t want it bad enough. (Of course, there are many other reasons, but these will suffice for now.)

Whatever the reason, getting stuck is a hopeless feeling. If not properly addressed, it can start to compound over time, leading to us falling farther behind and lose the trust of those around us or, worse yet, the ones that we’re charged to lead.

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