7 Steps to Get Unstuck & Start Moving Forward

Sometimes when we are stuck, it seems impossible to pull ourselves out and move forward. However, I have discovered that part of our stuckness comes from a lack of self awareness about who we are, what we want, where we really want to go, and what is holding us back. The only way we can pry ourselves out of the quicksand is to dig deep, connect to our inner wisdom, and face our fears head on no matter how uncomfortable that process may be.

Step 1: Self-Assessment

One of the first steps in getting unstuck is evaluating where we are and how we got here. Life Assessment Tools are a great first step to identifying what areas in our life are going well and where we need to make improvements, and they also help us zone in on our priorities.

Another useful self-assessment tool is personality typing such as Jungian Archetypes, Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the Enneagram. Not only do these assessments help us pinpoint, or narrow down, or personality type, but they can also help us understand behaviors and motivations that may have led to our current stuckness.

Step 2: Connection with our Inner Wisdom

Introspection and Reflection are powerful processes that allow us to tap into our inner wisdom (ie: higher self or divine source energy) to gain clarity. By connecting to this inner source of power, we can ascertain why we made certain decisions or took certain actions that might have not been in our highest good or didn’t support our true desires and dreams.

It also helps us identify any subconscious fears or other limiting beliefs that may have or is preventing us from taking action. Some useful techniques that promote such connection are journaling and meditation.

Step 3: Get Clear On What You Really Want & Why You Want It

Once we are able to connect with our inner wisdom and lean into our authentic selves, the next step in the process is to identify our innate gifts and talents, and gain clarity about what we truly want for ourselves and our lives, as well as why we want these things.

Our dreams, passions, and desires are meant specifically for us, but over time many of us have been conditioned to believe that the things we deeply desire are not possible for a variety reasons such as: we’re too fat or too old, we’re not pretty enough or feminine enough, and women don’t or shouldn’t do xyz.

Step 4: Examine & Overcome Any Fear, Limiting Belief, or Resistance That Comes Up

This type of subconscious conditioning is always working in the recesses of our minds and may stay perfectly quiet until you decide you want to pursue a dream or a passion. That’s when fear rears its ugly head and that conditioning starts screaming all those reasons what you want is not possible.

Unfortunately, too many times, we listen to it and don’t take action resulting in us feeling stuck and directionless. However, instead of listening to the stories our conditioning and subconscious fears are trying to tell us, we should be grateful for their appearance because once we know what is blocking us and keeping us stuck, we can deal with and reprogram it and move forward.

Step 5: Set A Goal & Break It Down Into Smaller Action Steps

Once we are crystal clear on our desires, and have broken through old conditioning and limiting beliefs, it’s time to create a soul map. A soul map is a road map of sorts that identifies the best path forward, predicts any obstacles we may face, keeps old conditioning and fears in our awareness so we can recognize it if we start falling back into old patterns of thinking.

Once we are clear on our destination, we can reverse engineer the path we need to take to achieve our soul goals by breaking our end goal down into smaller and more manageable steps so that it begins to not only feel possible to achieve our goal, but the process feels easier.

Step 6: Make Decisions In Alignment With What You Want

This step might be one of the hardest steps in the process and is where most people drop the ball and get stuck because it requires us to be totally authentic and put ourselves and our dreams first, before that of our spouse, our children, our parents, or anyone else who has previously had a say in how we lived our lives. It requires us to override all of our past fears and conditioning and our desire to please others and focus on pleasing ourselves and staying focused on our dreams.

That’s why it is so important that we maintain that sense of clarity throughout this process. It helps us to eliminate any confusion, prioritize ourselves, our dreams, and our needs, and make sound decisions that support our dreams and goals. When we know what we want and we have outlined a path to get it, it becomes easier to establish boundaries and say no to things that do not support our desires, and make decisions in alignment with them instead.

Step 7: Take Consistent and Intentional Action

Once you have your soul map and are making congruent decision aligned with your goals and dreams, the final step is to take consistent and intentional action. This is easier to do if you have completed your soul map from step 5, because you know exactly what steps you need to take and they are broken down into single, small actions that build on each other to propel you forward to your dream.

That’s the process I follow to get unstuck. I will be the first to admit that it isn’t always easy. We can get tripped up by every single step, and often times we find ourselves moving backward and forward, up and down this ladder, but by becoming more self-aware, and continuing to work through the process, we have the biggest chance of finally getting unstuck and achieving our dreams and goals.