The Key to Getting "Unstuck"

One of the biggest challenges each of us face in becoming more financially secure, more prosperous, is that we don't often know what to do or where to start. We know what we want to change but we don't know how to do it. Today I am going to unlock the secret to destroying that roadblock forever.

Let me illustrate how to do this by sharing an experience I have had over the last couple of days. I have a brother-in-law that works for a company that sells and installs fitness equipment. He isn't paid very much but is given a lot of duties and responsibilities. On his blog he talked about how he was dissatisfied with the situation, how the organization was a total mess, and how the sales manager was taking a three week leave of absence. So the boss gave me brother-in-law a temporary "promotion". (You know what a promotion is don't you? It's an increase in responsibility without a corresponding increase in pay.) He now has to do the sales manager's job without any notes or information to help him.

Whether it is right or wrong, when I hear someone say they are dissatisfied with a situation, I make the assumption that they don't want to remain in that situation forever. It doesn't seem like that far of a stretch. If something is uncomfortable, change it or get away from it. Nobody wants to just sit there and take it, do they? So, I pointed out that he is in a prime position to improve his situation in the company. He will be learning the sales manager's job and, seeing how disorganized it is, can suggest improvements in how it is done. He can look for opportunities to improve sales seeing as how this is the slow time of year for their company and get their name out there more. Above all, he can make himself more experienced and more valuable and, if his efforts are not rewarded, he can take that experience and value to some other company that would appreciate it more.

The next day he posted again saying how excited he was for the opportunity and started listing a couple of ideas he had. I responded again and expanded his ideas and suggested some additional ideas of my own and some organizations and events their company could get involved with that would get their name out there more. Then today he posted some ingenious ideas about doing a fitness clinic that had further evolved from my comments the day before. But, again, it sparked the creativity centers in my brain and I had more suggestions on how to do the clinic at a low cost and in a way that would benefit not only them but some fitness trainers in the community.

Can you see what is happening here?

When we are stuck and clueless, it is most often because we are trying to go it alone and figure it all out for ourselves. The best way to overcome this roadblock isn't to brainstorm for ideas but to brainstorm with others for ideas. We don't all think the same thoughts and we don't all think in the same way. And once you get a creativity vibe going the ideas just start to explode from every person involved.

Napolean Hill talked about this in his book Think and Grow Rich: "When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in Harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance, becomes available to every individual brain in the group." It is the power of the "Master Mind" group.

So, whatever it is that you want to accomplish, get people involved. Don't hide under your fears of failure. Step out and share your goals and engage your master mind group to lay out the plan that will lead to success beyond your wildest dreams!

A Very Grave Story

A man was walking home after drinking at the hotel and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery. As he walked in the dark he stumbled and fell into a freshly dug open grave.

He sat there and contemplated his sorry situation. After a few minutes he heard someone walk past. It was a doctor. The man cried, “Help me! Help me!” The doctor looked down, pulled out his pen and notepad, wrote a prescription, dropped it into the grave and walked away.

Later the man heard another person walking by. It was a priest. Again he called, “Help me! Help me!” The priest, thinking it was a lost spirit, said a prayer and walked away.

By now the man was feeling low and lonely when he heard another person approach.

Again he cried out, “Help me! Help me!” This time it was a friend who recognized the man. The man in the grave said, “Mike, is that you?”

“Yes, buddy, it’s me. Wait a second.” Then Mike jumped into the grave.

The man shouted, “You idiot! Now we are both in a hole.”

Upon which Mike replied, “Yes we are, but I’ve been here before and I know the way out.”

Morale of the story:When things look grave, look up and rise above your challenges with the help of people who care, people who share and are people who are there for you.