9 Reasons Why You’re Stuck – Part 3

For our last installment of the “9 Reasons Why You’re Stuck” series, I want to talk about the difference between being “mini-stuck” and “major-stuck”.

Mini-stuck was me yesterday. I had every intention of posting this blog, but got completely derailed by a technology blunder I made on Facebook.

I belong to a group of national speakers who share information, ask questions, and provide resources on Facebook. For someone who tries to resist social media, I actually find this group quite helpful and even participate on occasion.

For some reason I was feeling bold and tried to post my picture on the group’s home page along with the other speakers. Of course it didn’t work, and my gigantic face was posted in all the wrong places.

I appreciate the fact that this group has strict rules about postings and promotions, and they took swift action in response to my technical error and kicked me out. It only took a split second before I was completely erased and deleted…like I never even existed.

While I was being deleted, I was scrambling to undo what I had done.

Don’t worry, this story has a happy ending. I was able to remedy the situation with some good old-fashioned emailing and plenty of groveling.

The moral of the story is that I should refrain from posting unless I’m 100% sure about where it’s being posted…and, I was temporarily mini-stuck.

Being stuck doesn’t have to be a long-term, seemingly indefinite, ultimately insurmountable state of paralysis for it to disrupt your day. It never feels good to have a goal and not accomplish it regardless if it’s major or mini.

Let’s get back on track and finish our “9 Reasons You’re Stuck”…let’s accomplish this goal!

As a reminder, here are the first 6 reasons we’ve already discussed…

1) Denial and delusion

2) Comfort zone

3) No plan

4) Fear of success/failure

5) Pride

6) Panic and impulse

Here are the final three reasons:

7) Financial and life responsibilities

Sometimes money and life get in the way and keep us stuck. As adults we have responsibilities, we have families, and we’re supposed to make reasonable and stable decisions. If paying for college or saving for retirement is at the top of your priority list, then making a drastic career change may not be the wisest decision.

It can feel like you’re stuck and trapped with nowhere to go, but the reality is that life is all about decisions. Just be able to distinguish between a real-life decision and using real life as an excuse to stay stuck.

8) Loyalty

Whether it’s a bad relationship, a toxic friendship, or a job that has seen better days, we often stay far too long out of a sense of loyalty. We feel that we owe someone something and feel guilty about the mere thought of leaving.

On the professional front, I have coached so many people who want to make a move but feel stuck out of loyalty. They have co-workers that depend on them, they have a boss who gave them a job when no one else would, or they have raving clients that can’t live without them.

Loyalty is a strong motivator to stay stuck.

9) Too Hard

The last reason why people are stuck is because what they want to do is just too darn hard. We have a tendency to gravitate towards what’s easy and to resist what’s hard…then we get stuck.

I’m the queen of “too hard”. My to-do list consisted of blogging and writing a book for what seems like forever, but I was stuck. I was very clear about the goals, but had the hardest time getting started, because it all seemed so hard.

Why would I do “hard” when I could easily do “easy”? That is the classic question from someone’s who’s stuck.

If you want to get unstuck, the trick is to acknowledge that you’re stuck and then identify why. I knew I was stuck, but I also knew that I didn’t want to stay stuck. Achieving the goals of blogging and book writing were more important than staying stuck.

The truth is, everyone gets stuck at some point…mini or major. But just like Dorothy and her ruby slippers, you already have everything you need to get unstuck.