Can being stuck be a good thing for your business?
YES! Here’s How.
One of the hardest experiences when you start pursuing a dream is realizing that as you set out towards it, it isn’t just smooth sailing all the way.
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You have an idea or dream already in motion OR you are thinking about finally taking a step to pursue your dream BUT…and it’s the biggest but, BUT YOU’RE STUCK.
The feeling of stuck is icky, heavy, bleak. When you start to feel stuck, moving forward mentally to push yourself to the next step feels something like attempting to run through quicksand. You simply can’t make progress towards your goal—whether that is to write or finish a book, building your business or creating whatever other ‘masterpiece’ you have dreamed about.
I decided to write on this topic this morning because ‘stuck’ is an experience that I have had TOO MANY TIMES TO COUNT as I build my business. The challenge with being stuck is that it can be blinding, its like someone turned out the lights in your mind and the creative energy and thought that was moving you along up until this point disappeared. When you’re stuck—really mentally stuck—like I’m describing, it is more than discouraging, it’s a little scary.
You might feel like it will last forever. Like something is wrong with your brain. Like the stuckness is a permanent state of being.
These things are NOT TRUE.
I’m writing this, while drinking coffee, on a beautiful summer morning where I opened my eyes and almost as instantly as I did so, felt stuck, for no good reason at all. All of the passion and creative energy that I rely on to work and to write felt like it had been vacuumed up. I was tempted to panic but, the thing is, I’ve been through stuck before and the good news is that it didn’t last forever and it did not result in failure.
I don’t like being stuck or feeling stuck or thinking about my stuckness anymore than you do but I’ve learned that as you pursue a dream getting stuck from time to time it is more than just a common experience, it is actually a critical part of the journey.
That might sound crazy, but let me explain because I believe that it is 100% true.
So here are the good things about being stuck:
- Being stuck is a part of the journey that you on. Its confirmation of a trajectory. You’re going somewhere with your idea/dream/new business and ‘stuck’ happened along the way. That’s okay! Nothing moves forward at a perfect pace. Your mind doesn’t work that way. So don’t panic because stuck is a part of the journey.
- Being stuck forces you to assess where you are at. Well, you’re stuck here. So take the time to take a look at where you are at. Take in your surroundings. Are you at the very beginning of your pursuit? Where you are at in pursuit of your dream matters. If you are stuck at the beginning and don’t know what to do next maybe you need to think about your goal a little bit. You might be stuck because you don’t know what step to take next. Brainstorming can you do you a world of good and make the next steps you need to take clear. Stuck in the middle? You might be drained. Building a new business is exhausting and you may have depleted your creative resources. Look for ways to renew and inspire yourself. This will help you get UNSTUCK.
That is what this Dreamer’s Diary and the Playbook are all about. Both have been developed to keep you dreaming AND doing.
- Being stuck gives you time. Before you beat yourself up and get frustrated with the stuckness, take a deep breath and calm down. Stuck—unlike many of the other steps in building your business—doesn’t move quickly. Stuck is slow as molasses. Consdier that you might be stuck for a reason. You now have time to gather your thoughts. Don’t get depressed. Take ‘stuck’ as free time. In the lives of the women I know there are so many things vying for time, attention and energy. Sometimes all of the needs around you rise up at once and it can impact what you are trying to accomplish because the needs of others and demands of your life are not looking out for your dream. This is important to understand. Take the time you are given while stuck. You might find that you are overwhelmed by something else in your life—like a friendship, relationship or just the daily responsibilities of family life—and the business you are building requires a kind of energy that you don’t have a lot of at the moment. This is okay. Stuck time can be a time to recharge and reassess.
BEING STUCK ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, SOMETIMES ITS JUST ABOUT YOU. PERIOD.
Comment