5 steps to overcome feeling stuck at work!

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Madhulika Verma, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

At some point in our lives, we all experience the feeling of being stuck. Nothing seems to move as fast as you want it to, the promotion you so want, the dream job that you have been interviewing for, the ideal project you want keeps getting assigned to somebody else, the money you want to make or simply the visibility you want isn’t coming your way as fast you expect it to. You are not alone, the best of us experience the stagnation and frustration at some point in our professional lives.

So while I was going through the “being stuck” phase, I paid close attention to where my focus was and how it was affecting my energy and ultimately the outcomes I want for myself. As soon as I became aware of my focus, and the impact it had on my energy to move forward – something drastically shifted! Here are things that have worked for me and others I have coached. I highly recommend you try it with complete conviction to breakthrough!

AWARENESS: Watch your thoughts carefully. Thoughts induce feelings, what you feel will either keep you away from your goal or move you forward. So how you feel about your temporary situation will affect your energy to take action or not. When we experience down times, we tend to be harsh to ourselves and we slip into self doubt. Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself, be your own best friend and be nice to yourself. How you feel about yourself will determine your actions and actions will help you get the results you want!
SUCCESS HISTORY: Surely, you have had success in the past with somethings but because of short period of rejection or failures, you may have forgotten about them. List down your success track record. All the successes you have had in the past will help you think and feel different about yourself, you will be able to see that if you were able to do it in the past you can certainly do it again!
IDENTIFY GAPS: Now that you know you can do it and positive energy is starting to flow, it is important to identify the areas you need to improve. Do some introspection on what skills, art or knowledge can you upgrade to package yourself better and provide better value to stakeholders. Is it your mindset, your technical knowledge, your executive presence, your ability to network thats keeping you just a little away from reaching your outcomes?
GAME PLAN: When I say game plan, I mean both internal game plan and external. Internal game plan means how are you going to motivate yourself and keep yourself away from any negative thoughts from holding you back? A ritual that works like magic for most people is gratitude time first thing in the morning. Set aside 15 minutes every morning to list down everything you have achieved so far and be grateful for your successes and may be even people who have contributed to your success so far. This will change your thoughts and put you in motion to focus on the goodness in your life. This is the most critical part of moving forward; then comes the external game plan which may involve logical business strategies such as a networking plan, a marketing plan, learning new skill plan, time management plan etc.
MOVE FORWARD: Its time to UNSTUCK! Moving forward should be a PULL as opposed to a PUSH. What it means is that, if you are forcing yourself to move towards something then I suggest you re-look at your goal. The goal of a goal is to inspire you to move forward! Here are somethings you can do to energise and motivate yourself to move forward – Create a crystal clear vision and imagine all the things it would change in your life once you have achieved it. This is enough fuel to pull you towards the future !
Be aware of your thoughts, remind yourself of past successes, identify the gaps, set a game plan, and move forward!