Every once in a while, no matter how motivated, committed, and pulled by your goals you are, you’ll find yourself stuck.
No energy, no desire to move forward, just spinning your wheels.
A couple of years ago, I found myself working on a new marketing initiative and just feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere. Every option I explored didn’t seem to lead down a fruitful path. I felt my energy draining out of me whenever I thought of it. I was stuck.
For me, not being energized to work on marketing, letting people know the value of what I offer, is really unusual. I love what I do, and I’m delighted to share it so I can be of service!
So when this situation started to come up, I felt a little concerned. I’m not getting enough sleep, I thought. So I made a point of heading to bed early, to give myself a full night of rest.
I felt more rested, but was still dragging my heels.
You need a vacation, I told myself. Take a few days off. So I did. I arranged to have everything done that needed to get done, and I spent a few days just doing what I wanted to do. Reading, watching movies, going for walks and out for dinner. Fun, relaxing stuff!
After that, I thought, surely this will shift. Back to work. Still, the project plodded along without much progress.
At that point, I was getting worried. What if I’m on the wrong track? What if this isn’t what I need to be doing right now? What if [fill in the blank]? I questioned everything.
Then, one day, I got tired of the whole process. I decided to take a few moments away from the project whenever it felt like my energy was fading. I chose to do what moved me at the time.
And that did it! While all the other things I tried were valuable in and of themselves, what I really needed to do was shift my energy in the moment, rather than wallowing in the stuck-ness.
When you get in a stuck state, you can shift it too.
Here are 5 ways that work to move that energy right when you feel it waning, instead of waiting until you can do the big thing that looks like it will make the difference.
These little things do more than you can imagine to shift your experience from stuck to sizzling!
1. Take a total break from what you are doing. Do something completely different for a half hour. Play the guitar, walk the dog, feed your piranhas. Whatever you enjoy doing. And then come back. Chances are, something will have shifted and you’ll have a different perspective. Start again from there.
2. Read something inspiring. Listen to a motivational talk. The topic doesn’t have to be business. It can be anything uplifting. Open yourself to it, and you’ll go back to work in a new state, guaranteed.
3. Talk over your situation with a trusted someone. Sharing your dilemma and having another person, a coach, a friend, to bounce a different perspective back at you and offer new ideas can change your experience in an instant.
4. Create a power move. Having a gesture that you do to shift your energy is helpful. Mine is to clap my hands together, rub the palms, and then fling my arms up in the air. I do this before I go on stage to speak. It’s energizing! It puts me in totally new physiological state.
5. Exercise. Expending energy paradoxically creates energy. The movement of your body will stimulate the movement of your headspace, so that you can approach your project with a whole new air. Crank up the music to get you moving, if that helps.
Getting stuck isn’t unusual. The thing is to get unstuck as quickly as you can, instead of letting ‘I’m stuck’ become your new normal.
Shifting your energy in whatever way works for you in the moment will let you get back to what you really want to do, and keep the flow of energy going in yourself and your business.
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How do you shift your energy when you get stuck?
Share those ways here – we can all learn from each other!