It seems like I’m hearing stories of people being “stuck” everywhere right now. This unproductive state is where our dreams die. This is the place where the status quo lives.
The people who are successful are those who make plans, and then, no matter how much they don’t want to do something, do it anyway. Nike was onto something when they said “Just Do It.” Do it when you have other things to do, when you want to do other things; do it when you don’t know how or don’t have time.
It sounds so easy. But when the “stuck” hits – it’s a hard place to be.
There are lots of tips and tricks out there to get unstuck. I find it useful to get reconnected to your Big Why. If you can clearly connect to your dream, you can reconnect to a sense of purpose that overrides the stuck. It’s seeing your dream in Technicolor that lights the fires of inspiration.
Take a few minutes to sit with your dream. If you think you don’t have a big dream, go sit with that and ask yourself why.
Why do you want to achieve your dream? What does your life look like if you make that dream a reality? Keep your sights set to the big picture and then look at your “to do” list, what is really important on that list to achieve your dream?
How much of it can you just get rid of or not do right now?
Is there something you can do right now? Just one thing? Then go do that thing! (Why are you still reading this?!)
If you can’t just jump up and run out and do that one thing right now, then what has you holding back? Stuck is an excuse we use to not get what we dream of – it’s a way that we get to stay in our present situation and condition. Stuck says that where you are right now is actually BETTER than facing your fears of getting to where you want to be. If the fear is greater than the vision, or the vision is not compelling enough to get over the fear bump, then you aren’t going to get out of where you are now.
Keep your sights set to the big picture and then look at your “to do” list, what is really important on that list to achieve your dream?
If that’s depressing, then go back and really do the dream thing. Dreams are inspiring and affirming. Sometimes we don’t know how we are going to get where we want to go, but you just have to trust that it’s going to happen through your staying the course.
I’d like to share a story of dreaming with you. A woman I met recently told me the story of her non-profit. She and a friend were sitting around daydreaming about what they would do with the money if they won the lottery. They decided that if they had millions, they would help the homeless. After the conversation, they started thinking that maybe they could do something on a smaller scale without winning the mythical lottery. They just started. Today Dignity Delivers has volunteers, does fundraisers and is a non-profit that serves the homeless community by taking the essentials of life to the streets. She didn’t wait for some condition to happen before she made her dream into a reality, she just started.
Just take a step. And then take another step. And another. Pretty soon – you’ve gone the distance.