Use this 2 minute exercise to get unstuck and change your life

In the last couple of weeks several people I know both professionally or personally have confided in me about their career challenges. While each had their own unique situation and circumstances, the common thread was that they were all looking for a way to move forward with their career paths and live their dreams. In the present moment, they were feeling stuck.

I write a lot here on taking steps to move forward. It’s no easy task and it takes time. I’m not by nature a very patient person when it comes to reaching my goals. So I can empathize when I hear people wanting things to change for the better right away. Success does not happen overnight, it takes both patience and persistence. You can look at any industry and see clear evidence of this. LeBron James honed his craft for 15 years before playing a single NBA game even though may people perceived him as someone who just showed up on the scene. Mozart had to plug away for 10 years before releasing something noteworthy and popular. Reid Hoffman didn’t co-found LinkedIn until 15 years after completing his undergraduate degree. Great things take time. I remind myself of that everyday by watching this video by Gary Vaynerchuk, another example of someone who found success after putting in a lot of work over many years.

It’s easy to intellectually understand that patience + persistence = success. It’s a lot more difficult to accept in the present moment. The climb to the top of your career mountain looks daunting. You may question if reaching that apex is even possible. It’s especially difficult when you feel stuck and don’t know all the steps you need to take to get there.  

Thankfully, there are ways to get unstuck. To do so, all you need is a positive mindset and an action plan. With these things in place, I’ve found the rest starts to unfold and I start the climb up that mountain I’ve set my sights on conquering. Unlike success, getting unstuck doesn’t have to be a long process. Because our brains are malleable, we have the wonderful ability to run mental exercises that can drastically change our mindset and mood for the better very quickly.

So without further ado, here is my two-step, two minute process to get unstuck:

Express gratitude

Am I asking you to express gratitude for a situation you are not happy with? Yes, I am – hear me out. There is plenty of scientific evidence that shows gratitude is a key to success. It’s no surprise that gratitude also leads to a happier life. Even Oprah has gotten on the gratitude bandwagon and has spoken about how expressing gratitude has had a positive impact on her own life.

Expressing gratitude is not waving the white flag of surrender. Far from it. It’s also not denying facts. The purpose of expressing gratitude is to change your perspective from one of scarcity to one of abundance. To one of fear to one of optimism. To one of complacency to one of action.

Here are some examples of how to change your mindset into a more positive one:

If your thought is “I hate my job”, be grateful that you have a job to pay your bills. Not everyone is in such a fortunate situation.

If your thought is “I don’t have the qualifications I need to get that dream job”, be grateful you have the awareness to pinpoint what qualifications you can works towards, some people go throughout life without direction or focus.

If your thought is “I don’t know the ‘right’ people that will get me places”, be grateful for your current network of friends and associates for what they bring to your life, some people don’t have that opportunity. 

Create an action plan

Getting unstuck begins with gratitude and allows you to come up with an action plan to move forward. Again, gratitude is not denying the facts; it’s all about change your perspective. By changing your perspective to one that is more positive and forward focused, you have the opportunity to create an action plan so you can eventually be grateful for having those things you feel are currently absent in your life.

To go back to our example of someone who hates their job, now that they can see the silver lining in their current job, an action plan can be created to move forward with finding a more suitable position. An action plan could look something like this:

1.     Speak to your manager about taking on more or different responsibility within your department

2.     Research internal training opportunities at your workplace

3.     Start connecting with people on LinkedIn with your dream job to set up informational interviews to learn more about the steps they took to attain their roles

4.     Start applying for internal and external postings

And remember…it’s a process

There are no overnight successes. While changing your mindset for the better can happen quickly, it’s important to work towards doing so consistently to move forward towards your goals and dreams. This takes time. It’s not easy. But it’s worth it.