5 Ways to Get Unstuck in Your Business
Let’s be real for a second – feeling stuck sucks. Whether it’s being stuck in your business or in your personal life, it’s never a pleasant experience. And when you start comparing yourself to all of the other entrepreneurs around you who seem to “have it all together”, you start feeling like everyone is moving forwards and you’re still stuck in the same place. Yup, it sucks.
Well, my friend, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone, and feeling stuck is completely normal. In fact, this is something I’m going through myself right now at the time of writing this post.
And if you’ve been following me for some time now, you know that I like to be very open and transparent when it comes to my business. Why? Because we’re all so used to reading about other peoples’ wins and successes – but I personally find the most inspiring is learning more from the obstacles instead.
So that’s why I want to be a little vulnerable with y’all and share my “personal recipe” to get unstuck when the cogs in my biz machine are not running smoothly.
Before we dive into the juicy part of this blog, I first want to encourage you – especially if you’re currently feeling stuck/lost/helpless – to take a second and acknowledge this feeling.
My dear friend, please know that there’s nothing wrong with feeling the way you do. Whether you’re just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey, or you’ve been in business for years… there comes a moment where you just start questioning everything. And trust me, m’dear…this happens to me every couple of months – even though I’ve been in business for years now!
And over this time, I’ve learned that this period of “feeling stuck” usually happens for one of the following reasons:
· A change in my business that I didn’t prepare for (new type of client, service, or just a new challenge);
· Personal life challenges are “numbing” my productivity and creeping into my business;
· I put more on my plate than I can handle at once;
· I’ve been overworking myself for too long and I’ve burnt out; or
· All of the above
Well friends, as the time of writing this post – this time it’s all of the above. And hey, I’m still showing up here to share some value with you. So if I can do this? Trust me, so can you!
So, here are the 5 ways that I personally get unstuck in my business – and I’m confident these will help you too!
#1: UNDERSTAND WHY YOU’RE STUCK IN THE FIRST PLACE
You can’t really get unstuck if you don’t know how you got there in the first place. So, the first thing you’ve gotta do is take a piece of paper and a pen to figure out what anchor(s) is holding you down.
If it’s a challenge in your business, then what exactly is that challenge? Why is it preventing you from moving forward? What’s the worst that will happen if you were just to “go for it”?
If you’re too stressed because you have more on your plate than you can handle, then what are the potential solutions to get out of this? Can you pause or outsource some work?
ACTION STEP:
Identify your “anchor(s)” and try to list all the possible solutions to get out of this situation. Even if they seem crazy right now, list it out.
#2: FIGURE OUT YOUR PRIORITIES
As an entrepreneur, you probably have a never-ending to do list. But when things get messy and out of balance, it’s more important than ever to be very clear on your priorities.
So after you’ve identified your “anchors”, think about which of these anchors you’ll focus on lifting first. To do this, you need to ask yourself where should you be focusing your energy. You can’t solve all problems and untie all knots at once, but you can do it over time if you focus on just one problem at a time.
Have you ever tried to untie a bunch of necklaces tangled together? (Gosh, I truly hate it when that happens!)
When I get impatient (which is like, after like 2 minutes), I start pulling at all the chains simultaneously and guess what happens? They get tangled in an even tighter knot!!
That’s why you have to slow down and focus on each chain one by one if you want to untie them all.
The same goes for your business.
ACTION STEP:
Focus on untangling one thing at a time and commit to finishing it before moving on to the next.
#3: DECLUTTER
One thing you’ll hear me tell my branding clients all the time is: “less is more”. And it couldn’t be truer when it comes to your business.
Most of us are more productive when we work in a clean, airy environment but we often forget about all the “virtual” mess that clutters our business.
That’s why, every once and a while, I have a “declutter day”, where I:
– Clear out my desktop from all the screenshots and random images/files
– Ensure my Google Drive is organised
– Reorganise my ASANA boards for myself and the team
– Review my client onboarding/offboarding process
– Unsubscribe from unrelated newsletters
– Review all the app subscriptions we have to see if it’s still worth paying for them
And the list goes on.
ACTION STEP:
Make space in your biz (even if it’s virtual) so that you can fill it up with things that truly matter and will help you progress further.
#4: MAKE TIME FOR YOUR BUSINESS
When you have your priorities clearly laid out and you made “room” in your business, now you can start lifting your anchors! But wait… how are you supposed to find time to do that and run your business, family, life? Well… you make time for it!
Think of it, when you book time in your calendar to work on a client project or attend a meeting, do you fully commit to it? Of course you do! So tell me, why can’t you do the same for your business?
Whether it’s one afternoon per week to write up your blog post, or a full day where you only focus on that new project you’ve been trying to launch for months now – truly commit to your business and make it a recurring event!
Finding time for my own business is something that I personally struggle with too, but I realised that when I start treating my business as a “project” and approach it with the same care and respect – then I’m much more likely to stay focused and make progress. I encourage you to do the same!
ACTION STEP:
Make it a habit to book your calendar for tasks and activities related to your business.
#5: KEEP ON MOVING FORWARD
If you dig deeper into the psychology of “getting stuck in your business”, you’ll find that the most common factor for this is… fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of challenges, fear of the new, fear of letting someone (or yourself) down… you name it!
Fear slows us down, paralyses us and makes us second-guess all of our decisions. So we end up spending hours on research, trying to get as much feedback as possible and ensure we’re making the “right” decision.
But in reality, we’re just buying ourselves time because we’re afraid of the next step.
Don’t get me wrong, you should absolutely educate yourself and do your due diligence, but in those moments when you’re feeling stuck, I highly recommend that you stop second guessing yourself and focus on always moving forward.
A year ago, I spent over 8 months “working” on my website because I wasn’t committing to it fully and I spent waaay too much time “looking for inspiration”. One day my husband told me: “babe, in this instance, you need to focus on done over perfect. Think of how much potential clients you missed because you haven’t launched your site yet” He was obviously, annoyingly, completely right.
I read this really cool quote somewhere that you decide what FEAR means for you:
Forget Everything And Run, or Face Everything And Rise
ACTION STEP:
Make a choice for what FEAR stands for in your eyes, my friend!
So there you have it: my personal plan on how to get unstuck in your biz! While it’s not a quick solution, it is a way for you to look at your life and business from a different perspective and face it head-on.
Because, let’s be honest, you didn’t start a business knowing it would be easy. You did it because you knew it would be worth it for the life you can build for yourself, your loved ones, and the people you serve, right?
You’ve got this, friend!
P.s: If you found value in this blog post, I would be so grateful if you could share this with a fellow entrepreneur who could use some support in their life right now too.
We’re all in this together, right? 🙂
