The simple habit for when you feel stuck

At one point or another all of us have felt stuck.

Part of life is getting into and out of these moments of “stuckedness.”

You might be feeling like you are in a moment of “stuckedness” right now. Or as the U2 song says, “stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it.”

I know I have been stuck. And I want to share the thinking and habits that got me out of it.

I hope they help you get out of whatever sense of being stuck you might be in now, or that you might feel in the future.

For me it was a job.

I was in a job I didn’t really like. And I was stuck.

I was in that job because of decisions I had made, I mean no one made me take that job.

But, boy, I really didn’t like that job.

Thing is, I knew what job I wanted. But I felt stuck. I did not feel like I could get from the job I was in to the job I wanted.

And then I decided to take massive action.

Now, a decade later, I’ve been working at the job I wanted, and a job I love, for a decade.

The question is. What was the kick in the butt I needed to take the massive action I took?

(Notice that the question is NOT, “What was the massive action?” Because the massive action I took is different than the massive action you will need to take, but the thinking and the habits are exactly the same!)

Thinking that leads to massive action

The thinking is summed up in a powerful lesson from Naval Ravikant and found in Tim Ferris’ book Tools of the Titans.

This teaching from Naval changed my outlook, my integrity to myself, and eventually my career trajectory.

He said, “In any situation in life, you only have three options. You always have three options. You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it. It’s that struggle, that aversion, that is responsible for most of our misery.”

That was it!

In my job situation I had three options. Accept, change, or leave. And it was this thinking that changed everything for me.

Start with integrity to self

What I discovered was that this thought was all about integrity.

I wasn’t living true.

And that started with not living true to myself.

I knew I was made for more. I knew I was settling. I knew I was living below who I wanted to be.

It wasn’t that I was cheating anyone else. I was cheating myself.

And the biggest question was, would I live with the personal integrity to live up to my full potential. Or would I choose to wish I could change or leave and not.

Every day I chose to wish and not do was a day I lived out of integrity with myself.

The habit that changed it.

I started a new habit that made all the difference. (Best part is, it is an easy habit that you can use too!)

Every morning I would sit and think:

“Because I can change or leave this situation, what 1 action will I take today to make it better?”

I would write down one thing that came to mind and I would do that one thing.

Every day I did one thing to move from the job I had to the job I wanted.

Every day I got in the habit of one action that moved me out of being stuck.

Keys to habits

You will notice the keys to habit formation:

1. Make it small
2. Make it easy
3. Celebrate small wins

I did that. I kept it small. Just 1 thing each day. Not 5 or 10, just 1

I made it easy. First thing in the morning I would write down my 1 thing and if I hadn’t done it by noon, I would always do it at noon. Easy to remember.

Every day, after completing my one thing, I would celebrate.

If you are stuck

If you feel stuck, the first decision is integrity to yourself.

The integrity to embrace that you can accept, change, or leave whatever you are stuck in.

The integrity to start the habit you need to get yourself unstuck.

And it all starts with that simple morning habit:

“Because I can change or leave this situation, what 1 action will I take today to make it better?”

Think about where you feel stuck right now.

What is 1 action you will take today?

Start embracing integrity to yourself with 1 action a day.

One month from now, your “stuckedness” will look totally different.

30 actions over 30 days will start you on a whole new path!