What's Actually Keeping You Stuck?

Most people come to see me, as a coach, to help with clarity or a sense of direction in their career or life. Thankfully, I’m able to help with that. There are different reasons why people feel stuck or lost.

Here are some of the different ways people lack clarity so they can be remedied:

Inexperience

Sometimes it’s difficult to know what you want, or why you want it, if you haven’t explored yourself or different situations. Often, we figure out what we want from what we don’t want and that requires time and differing experiences.

Lack of purpose

Some people feel stuck because they don’t have a driving force for doing what they do. They lack meaning and this affects their motivation and sense of direction. Once they figure out their purpose or why, it’s “full steam ahead” for them.

Too many ideas

There are people who have too many ideas and feel it’s narrowing to choose one. Whether this is because they’re super creative, and don’t want to feel boxed in, because they haven’t figured out their why yet, or because they experience commitment issues. This contributes to feeling stuck and lost.

Value and Interest Misalignment

When you’re doing something that doesn’t resonate with you this can create a mental cloud and stall action. Recently, a client wanted to open a clinic for mental health support but was stalling. She didn’t act on it because it didn’t fully excite her like another idea did. You tend to do things that ring true for you.

Not stepping away and connecting with yourself

When we don’t interrupt the pattern in our career or life, it’s hard to get a fresh perspective regarding it. This is why it’s important to step away if you can (even if it’s half a day or a few hours) and connect with yourself. This can look like taking a bath, journalling, walking, meditation, or yoga. Anything that’s distraction free and will get you in touch with yourself. A lot of problems have been solved when the pressure is off, and your mind is free to roam.

Trauma

Trauma can affect so much and this includes looking into the future and figuring out a new path or direction. If you’ve been in a habit of surviving, then it’s understandable that you might not have a clear sense of direction. Any next steps should be taken with care, compassion and sensitivity.

Lack of an unbiased perspective

Some people can see things better than we can, that’s why most people come to see me. My clients want clarity and direction, and they want an unbiased perspective regarding it. Sometimes all it takes is talking to a person (be it a friend, mentor, or coach) who doesn’t have an agenda and who can help you see things you haven’t seen before.

Fear

There are others who remain stuck because it’s a way for them to not try and not fail. If they don’t pick a direction, then they don’t have to feel the weight of possible failure or possible success. It keeps them in limbo and limbo is preferred to “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”

I’m sure there are other reasons for why people feel stuck or unclear, however, these are recurring ones I’ve seen in my practice. In some cases, a person has more than one block to clarity.

Hopefully, by identifying with any you might have, you can take steps to address it and get clearer. You and your future deserve it.

If you feel you would like help from an unbiased third party, please schedule a Get Acquainted & Strategy Session with me to explore this.

Best,