Careers
Unsticking The Stuck
1. Do you ever feel that you have to run furiously just to keep still?
2. That you are applying for jobs all over the place and sending out CVs but getting nowhere?
3. That you are putting huge efforts into getting sales in your business but nothing's happening?
If this is YOU, then you're not alone! I feel that I'm in one of these periods just now, getting some lovely feedback about success from past clients but not finding many new ones. I don't mind telling you that it's got me perplexed. I know that what I do is powerful and changes lives (no, I'm no believer in false modesty!), so why aren't people beating down my door to work with me? If they can't yet invest in my high level programmes, then there is always something more affordable on offer so I know it's not about money. Something else is going on and it's prompted me to find the learning in the situation and to share this with you this month.
You also know how much you have to offer (well, at least I hope you do by now) so why isn't it happening for YOU either? Why aren't you getting the ideal job you are well qualified for? Why isn't your business taking off in the way you had planned? I don't want to exaggerate as I'm sure that there as many of you out there creating great results as there are those of us standing still. And that's the point really –we will all go through times when things are great and other times when things are not so good on the outside.
I'm reminded of the Wheel of Life and the idea that the wheel is forever turning. This is probably the earliest Buddhist symbol and dates from around 2500 years ago, so we're not dealing with anything new here!
The fierce being holding the wheel in place symbolises impermanence, the idea that everything is transient, nothing lasts, everything changes.
So rather than embroil ourselves in a mesh of anger, frustration and disappointment which wears us out and gets us nowhere, when we reach a block maybe we could distance ourselves from the situation and step back. When you look at any situation from the outside (and you know that it's going to change) you can find more positive ways of dealing with the experience and moving through it more quickly; it's our way of giving the wheel a gentle push.
Enough philosophical thinking; what practical steps could we take to move that wheel on?
7 summer strategies to get unstuck
1. Let go
Set clear and specific intentions about what you want. Write them down, make a 'treasure map', that is a collage that represents what you want to see happen, and then let go. There's a pink bubble technique I use in these situations – visualise the very thing you want in fine details, then surround the image in a pink bubble and let it float off into the ether! Believe it or not, I found a house using this!
2. Be open
Sometimes desperation keeps things away so try not to be too attached too one particular outcome. Be open to things turning out in a better way than you could have expected.
3. Change what you're doing
I very much like this quotation from Anthony Robbins;. “If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” We're human beings are pretty stubborn and continue time and again to get results from doing the same thing. Perhaps you need to tackle your issue in another way –if what you're doing now isn't working, then what have you got to lose?
4. Replicate past success
We tend to think of learning from our 'failures' whereas we can just as easily learn from our success. Think of a time when everything was going your way. What led up to that situation? How did you create that success? Is there anything you could do now to put things in place to provoke a repetition of that success?
5. Give more
If you're not getting much coming in, how much are you giving? By finding ways to share your talents within your community or amongst the people you know, you not only help others but you get a chance to expand your experience and keep yourself occupied in a positive way. Whatever you have freely given will come back to you at some point and you never know what opportunities could emerge from the most unexpected of situations.
6. Be patient
A client of mine emailed me this morning to say that after two years search, she had finally got the good job she had been looking for. And in the same week, she received several other job offers and a chance to do some free-lance work in a field she wants to develop! Isn't that what happens? As soon as we open up a field of opportunity inside ourselves, amazing things can happen.
7. Smile!
The more you smile when you 'don't have anything to smile about', then the sooner you can lift your energy and move yourself on. Have fun even when you're in that blocked situation and don't lose your sense of perspective.
Have fun this summer!