What does feeling stuck feel like?
Some people describe it as feeling as if you are being suffocated, others say it’s like you are spinning your wheels. Still others say it’s like you are lacking fulfillment or the feeling you feel when you are just wandering around.
We are all leading fast-paced, busier lives these days as we have access to so much more stuff. Yep, I am one of the 3-channel TV station people you have heard so much about, we only had 3 channels to watch and one of them was acquired through the twisting of the antenna pole until someone yelled “good” from inside the house (previously they had yelled “back” and “other way” a few times). These days we have media on the go in which clarity is not as important as speed. Doesn’t it seem as if speed is a major success factor in almost everything we go to do?
If you are a leader or person who is possibly feeling as if your dreams or plans are stuck, and you are experience of the aforementioned sensations as well, let’s face it, you probably are stuck. Here are 3 possible reasons why.
1. You are focusing on bigger instead of better
In business, this runs rampant. It seems as if the goal always has to do with size, since we measure everything. Everything that is except the core competencies we need to have in order to do what we do. It’s never a bad idea to learn more. It’s sometimes not a bad idea to expand. But it’s always a great idea to become more skillful at what we are already good in. Jim Collins wrote: Good is the enemy of great. When we feel we are good enough, we stop getting better. Truett Cathy of Chik-Fil-A said: “When we get better, the customer will force us to get bigger”. Ain’t it the truth.
2. You’ve got too many ideas and too little execution action
We all fall into this trap. Everyone loves strategy more than execution. We all are good at making our grocery list. We’re not all good at taking what we had on our list home. We either missed something or we took home additional items that were not on the list. Good ideas don’t work unless you work them. When someone comes to you and says “I’ve got a good idea for you” what they are really saying is “I’ve got some work for you”. Sometimes we are stuck because we think we have a lot of great ideas but no good action on any of them.
3. You are distracted
As we said, there are plenty of things out there to get your attention. What has your attention besides the important things you need to deal with? I understand that there are various things that can distract us. The thing to remember is, whatever gets our attention gets all of us. The attention we provide to something then converts to dialogue in our minds and begins to compete with what we should really be focusing on. Knowing that we need focus is not the hard part, staying focused is the difficult element. You can do it, though. Shift your focus to what is really important to you and your life or organization right now. What’s the most important thing you need to do today? Focus. Then do it.