Stuck Happens

Here in Southern New England, we haven't had enough precipitation so far this winter for anyone to get stuck in the snow. But no matter where or when, it's always possible to feel stuck on the job.

Sometimes feeling stuck is a short-term problem. A writer facing a blank page or screen (no names, please!) may wonder "what am I going to write about today?" While that feeling has a name -- writer's block  -- the phenomenon is common to far more activities than just writing.

Procrastination is one form of feeling stuck -- the self-inflicted kind. You know what to do, but you just can't muster the initiative to get it done and so waste time on some -- usually trivial -- activity instead. For procrastinators, one trick is to try working on something useful, but not the big thing you're avoiding, so you can get back into the rhythm of working. This avoids the "I just wasted two hours doing absolutely nothing" guilt trip. Once you're on a roll, it gets easier to start working on the thing you've been avoiding.

Another kind of stuck-ness is feeling overwhelmed by a long-term project or complex task and not knowing how to get started. The standard advice is to break down the project or the task into smaller, bite-size pieces and then tackle those. Sometimes the stuck feeling happens in the middle of the task -- you've been slaving away for days or weeks, and the end is nowhere in sight. You're trapped in the sunless valley of endless labor. My advice is to reapply the bite-size analysis to what you've already done as well as to what still has to be accomplished. You'll discover there's a lot more behind you and less in front than you thought.

The most profound form of feeling stuck isn't about a task or a project -- it's about you. It's the inner voice that asks: "What am I doing here?" but doesn't get an answer. There's no directive to "Do this!" "Change that!" or "Go there!" You can feel stuck between two powerful but opposing forces: "I want something new, but what about the risks?" or because, "I just don't know what to do next."

The first few times this happens can be very difficult. One way to cope is to enlist the aid of the legions of self-help coaches, experts and authors who offer advice on getting out of a rut. But one of the few benefits of spending a lot of years on the job is knowing that stuck happens and that you can, and will, get yourself unstuck. Just keep at it. Even when it comes to writing a blog entry on a Monday morning.

Feeling stuck is no fun. Here are some resources that can help:

• "Baby Steps"
• Do You Ever Feel As If You're "Stuck"? 
• "Five Ways to Stay Positive"
• "Stop Procrastinating About Your Job Search"
• "Stop Thinking and Start Doing"
• Unstuck: A Tool for Yourself, Your Team, and Your World and Unstuck.com
• "What's Holding You Back in Your Career?"

Have you ever felt stuck? What did you do to get unstuck? Post your comments below.

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