Tag Archives: productivity

by Gregory Toole

There are so many reasons why we might procrastinate starting a new project, despite the fact that it excites us and inspires us. Here are a few:

• We’re afraid we’re not quite up to the task.
• The perfectionist in us wants the conditions and timing to be just perfect.
• We might succeed, and then we’d have to step into a larger sense of ourselves.
• We’re spinning our wheels on something else (i.e., we’re in a rut).

Being stuck is a state of mind. We’re usually not really stuck, unless we’ve stepped into some industrial-strength glue. The mind, however, is powerful enough that it can work us into a sense of being stuck that can feel as real as any physical bind. Conversely, the mind is also powerful enough to free us.

For many years I wanted to study Spanish. However, every time I thought of studying Spanish, the thought that immediately followed was, “But I still haven’t mastered French. I ought to master French first.” It was a good rational argument, so I would put off my study of Spanish once again. On a positive note, it would usually get me inspired to practice my French language studies more persistently.

Last year, I really became in touch with this pattern and asked myself if it was serving me in the highest way. I realized that it was not serving me. I still hadn’t mastered the French language and yet I hadn’t even started on Spanish.

This is one way that the mind can keep us stuck, by putting up false barriers. In accepting that perhaps I’ll never “master” French and letting go of that as a reason to not study Spanish, last year I was able to begin studying Spanish. It has not interfered in the least with my intention to keep improving my French proficiency.

It’s so easy to get stuck, yet there are some simple ways to get unstuck. Here are 10 simple steps you can take to get unstuck:

1. Get quiet and still. Take a couple deep breaths. Tune into what you’re feeling. Allow what you’re feeling to be okay. Accept it. Embrace it. Be gentle with yourself and see what you can learn from your feelings about what you’re needing right now.
2. Realize that, whatever you’re feeling, the feeling itself can’t keep you from taking action.
3. Write down, in a journal or on a piece of paper, everything that is rattling around in your mind. This gives you a chance to look at it objectively and perhaps to organize it so that it’s not just mental clutter.
4. Take what you’ve written in the last step and see what things need your attention and what things can be discarded. This is likely to provide greater peace of mind and to dispel confusion, now that the thoughts are sitting finitely before you on paper and no longer rattling around in your mind.
5. Write down some positive affirmations or empowering statements about why you want to take on the project, how you’ll feel when it’s complete, and what impact it will have on others and the world around you.
6. Allow yourself to feel excitement about taking on the project.
7. Let go of worry about how the project will turn out and instead see it as a creative endeavor and enjoy the process of creation.
8. Take a step, any step, in the direction of what you want to do. This starts to break through the mental and emotional clutter that might be blocking us. It gets the energy flowing in the direction we want it.
9. Praise yourself and celebrate each step forward. Avoid self-criticism.
10. Each day, continue to take steps, remembering that no step is too small. Anything that moves you forward is positive. Eventually the momentum of taking these steps will move you forward, and before you know it you’ll find that you are no longer stuck.

Congratulations! Your creativity is freed and you are once again able to be of full service to yourself and the world.