4 things to do when you’re feeling stuck

Have you ever felt stuck in your work?

Between new projects and old projects, the way things have been and the way you want them to be, where you’ve been and where you’re going?

Personally, we’re looking forward to some changes in one of our business, but right now, those changes are only anticipated. They haven’t actually arrived yet.

And in this season (or others we’ve been in like it), I can sometimes struggle, because it’s easy to become impatient and even apathetic.

When things are unsure… when moving forward isn’t quite clear yet… when there are questions unanswered or decisions yet unmade… what do we do now?

Have you ever been in this place in your business and work?

Perhaps you have a vision for the future, but it’s just a little bit out of reach yet. You have a plans to grow and improve your business, but first you need to accomplish X, Y and Z, and it feels like you’ll never get there.

Maybe you want to free yourself up to do more strategic tasks, but right now you’re in the midst of hiring and training the right people to make it happen (and perhaps drowning under the workload in the meantime). Or you might know deep down the big change that needs to happen, but you don’t feel like you can move forward quite yet.

There can be many reasons why we feel stuck with what we’re doing.

For me, there’s this transition that needs to occur before I pour myself wholeheartedly into a much-anticipated project.

And in this place of waiting (some days patiently; other days not so much), it’s easy to become fixed in one place. Grounded, motionless, lethargic, even stagnant.

This time of year, we often experience this in more ways than one.

In late winter, there can be that same feeling of standing still; being deadlocked by this season of dormancy and rest, when what we yearn for is the growth of spring.

Green buds that unfurl on trees, the smallest of purple and white flowers poking up through thawing ground, the sunshine that comes earlier and lingers longer and gently warms our skin with a hint of summer to come.

As we walk through “winter” seasons in any business, it’s important to posture our minds and hearts so that, as much as we anticipate the coming “spring” and what lays ahead, our current season is not wasted.

Perhaps it seems like a contradiction. We talk a lot on this blog about pursuing our dreams, not waiting for later, being determined, and not letting anything hold you back. As entrepreneurs, we absolutely agree with those sentiments.

But sometimes, we accept the necessity of waiting for what we think or hope will come next. Of getting through a season that seems slow and difficult. Or continuing to hunker down and work really hard towards what we want, even if we don’t see the fruit of it yet.

My goal? To wait patiently and make the most of this season, for however long it lasts.

Here are 4 things I can do NOW (and so can you):

• Be fully present. I may look forward to spring, but that’s not where I am right now. It’s important to be completely engaged in the present, not pining for the future.
• Give it my all. Since I don’t know exactly how long this season will last, I don’t want to stop doing excellent work. I’m determined to keep wholeheartedly throwing myself into all of my various tasks each day for as long as I need to, to the best of my ability.
• Prepare myself for my next steps. Reading, learning, asking questions, developing skills. I can still grow and develop in preparation for what is coming in the future.
• Choose gratitude and contentment. There are so many things in my current day-to-day work that are enjoyable and a blessing to myself and to others, and I want to celebrate those things and choose thankfulness for what I presently have.

Are you in a season of anticipating what is coming next? What are you doing NOW while you wait?

Top image by splitshire. Second image by Ales Krivec.