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Do you ever feel like you’re just treading water?

Going through the motions? You’re trying. You’re certainly busy. You have too much to do and never enough time and time is flying however really the actual progress you’re making is disappointing.

Perhaps non-existent.

When push comes to shove, or more likely when paralysis comes to stagnation (!) you feel STUCK.

In today’s show I’m weighing-in on: Getting UNSTUCK. 

I’ve got 5 steps to apply to Getting UNSTUCK and specifically I’ll make them applicable to your body gain goal.

Step ONE: Empty Your Mind With A Brain Dump.

Generally when I feel stuck it’s not because there’s nothing floating around in my mind and I’m at a lose for what to do. More so it’s because everything is floating around in my mind and I’m confused as to where to start.

A monthly, weekly or even mini daily brain dump gets all that stuff out of your head and onto a big sheet of paper.

It’s incredibly freeing. No matter how much you purge from mind to paper, seeing it there is freeing. It always looks like less on paper than it felt like all mushed up in your mind.

Step TWO: Connect With Your Greater Purpose.

Please don’t skip this step. If I had to pick a most vital step, this would be it. When you feel stuck it’s tempting to just want to take action.

Any action. As long as you’re doing right? Wrong!

Your WHY or greater purpose is what drags you through the many sticking points that you will encounter. The thing is it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day doing… and lose track of that why. To bit by bit let seemingly urgent actions jump in the way of your truly important actions. To find yourself reactively doing the things that don’t result in progress and ignoring those things that have the most impact on ensuring you achieve your goal.

Which leads us to…

Step THREE: Cull Excessive Choices.

Once you’ve done your brain dump… and connected with your greater purpose you’ll be better placed to identify those opportunities that are more just shiny distractions or obligation based Yes’s or anything else that is contributing to too many choices to get unstuck.

This is where you need to be a little ruthless. The truth to keep at the forefront of your mind is: whenever you say Yes, to something by default you say No to something else. So pick your Yes’s wisely. With volition, based on achieving your goals rather than being led by impulse or a sense of guilt or obligation.

The simple fact is, when faced with too many choices you’ll choose none. You’ll continue onwards with the path of least resistance… with whatever your current choice is that has led you to feel stuck rather than choose the path to progress.

Step FOUR: Smaller Steps.

How exciting is the planning? I love to plan… to dream… to focus on the big picture. The danger here though, is that in the height of planning and dreaming – you’re so motivated to make it happen – that you can set a really big first step.

That first milestone to achieve can be somewhat daunting. 

Perhaps it’s a hundred little indeterminate steps all crammed into ONE BIG STEP. To achieve this week. And you don’t even know where to start. So, you don’t start.

You stay STUCK. I’ve absolutely done this. In fact I still struggle with it.

In the same way that the time you’ll feel most motivated to eat 100% nourishing one ingredient foods ALL THE TIME is the evening of a huge-emotional-demolish-fest-of-processed-carb-crap-o-la… well, after a big brain dump when I’m feeling super motivated and focused I’ll often set myself a colossal first step.

It’s setting myself up to fail. To give up before I even try.

I now believe the most important criteria for getting and staying unstuck isn’t rapid progress it’s continual progress. One small, manageable step forward at a time.

Step FIVE: Change Your Routine.

I’ve made this step five however really it can happen at any stage.

Have you ever had an epiphany on holiday? A different environment… vibe… focus… Or equally perhaps just as you take that impromptu stroll along the beaches… or wherever you like to stroll to ‘clear your head.’

Countless times I’ve found the thing that helps me get unstuck can be as simple as removing myself from my normal, at times entrenched routine. Of course the being active component is likely also helpful. To get out of your normal routine and JUST MOVE.

The thing with Stuck – like fear – is it can leave you frozen in inaction. So a first (or fifth!) step can really be as simple as a change to your routine AND ideally a movement based change to your routine.

To get actionable today: Is there an aspect of your body gain goal in which you’re feeling stuck?

Now if your gut reaction is “HELL Yes Kate – ALL of it!” 

Then your action step is to start with step one and empty your mind with a brain dump.

Anything goes. Whatever is jamming up mind space and needs to be splurged onto paper – Do It!

It’s just your starting point. From there you’ll see:

=> The stuff that actually you know already.

=> The stuff that you need help to sort.

=> The stuff that really doesn’t matter and deserves zero mind or paper space… scribble that rubbish out!

That’s all I need you to commit to today however from there – tomorrow – I’d love you to work through steps 2-5.

That’s it for today. Well, almost. I’d just love to say I appreciate you. Thanks so very much for choosing to hang with me today. It means a lot. I hope you can join me for Fridays show – it’s a goodie – it’s part 1, Will Power: 6 Steps to Build Your Self Control Muscle.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Are You Living Stuck in an Overwhelming State of Perpetual Potential?

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.