It’s common to feel stuck at times. To ask, what is my next big move? Am I merely going around in circles?
One may attribute feeling stuck to having too many dreams or not knowing which one to pursue first, a sort of paralysis by analysis. In other instances, the reluctance to take the first step stems from not knowing what you want or whether it is aligned with what you are meant to be doing. While the path forward may seem elusive, there is this overriding feeling of being late to where you need to be.
One key to breaking the impasse is to stop fixating on rigid timelines and listen more to what we want to do over what we have to do. The truth is, there is no place that you “have to” be by the end of the year or decade. When we tell ourselves that we need x, y, and z before an arbitrary deadline, we could start to do things against our natural interests. Sure, understanding the macro life picture is important, however, it’s more crucial to focus on your next 24 hours and exercise discipline to do one thing really well that fuels your development and aligns with your values. It is that action that will put you in a position to find answers to bigger questions along your journey that will allow you to paint more specifics to that grand vision.
Brandon Stanton, the author of Humans of New York, shared a time when he felt like he was walking in tar. He had just dropped out of the University of Georgia as a business major because he lacked the zeal for his classes. Not knowing what his next move was, he decided to stop focusing on the big question of “what am I going to do with my life?” Instead, he opted to pursue an activity that would nourish his soul and for him, that was taking pictures. In conjunction, he started to work on something else that mattered to him which was getting an education in a subject he thoroughly enjoyed. This was essential because he had this overwhelming feeling of falling behind academically since he had always done the bare minimum to pass in both high school and college.
To reach his new learning goals, he committed to reading 100 pages per day, whether it took two or five hours, that was how he was going to spend the chunk of his days for the next several years. While reading, he became fascinated with biographies and history. That new interest in people combined with his love of photography led him to found the photoblog site - Humans of New York, which has a following of over 25 million fans.
When you prioritize your development, great things happen, and what you are meant to be doing becomes clearer. Stop dwelling unhealthily and only on the big picture and start creating discipline in each day. That action will give you the necessary data you need for purposeful breakthroughs.
Q: What’s one thing that you do every day toward your personal development? How disciplined are you with it? We would love to hear your comments!
Quote of the day: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” - Maya Angelou
How can you achieve a small win ?