Unstuck Goals and How to Reach Them

“Always live your life with one dream to fulfill. No matter how many of your dreams you have realized in the past, always have a dream to go. Because when you stop dreaming, life becomes a mundane existence.”

- Sara Henderson, Writer

Are you stuck? Do you feel that things are not moving forward? Does life feel boring and uneventful? Do you feel as though time and opportunity are slipping away from you? Does it sometimes feel like your circumstances and situation will never change for the better? Do you feel trapped?

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then ask yourself this, “Do I have clear and written goals?”

It doesn’t matter if you have accomplished great things or nothing at all, you must have something that you are reaching for, and that something must be clear and written.

One of the first mentors I had was an incredibly successful entrepreneur. At the time I met him he owned a chain of over one hundred hair salons. The advice and resources he introduced me to made a lasting impression on my life and was instrumental in helping me find my purpose.

One of the things that he always stressed was the importance of having clear goals. I remember him telling me that the thing that separated people who accomplish great things from people who don’t was that people who accomplish extraordinary things set and went after clear specific goals.

Over the years I lost touch with him, but one thing is certain, he is still living the advice he gave me. Today he owns the largest privately held salon chain in the nation with nearly one thousand hair salons in about 19 states. If I were a betting man, I would bet the farm that there is more to come, lots more. Why?

He has made the habit of always living his life with at least one dream to fulfill.

You may not have aspirations of building a multimillion dollar business, nor should you if that does not speak to who you are. The important thing is that you have a clear goal that you are moving toward. Start right where you are.

Within your imagination is something to aspire to. Write down your aspirations and then educate yourself on what you need to do to accomplish those goal. Forget what you think you know about the topic and seek the counsel of those who have done what you want to do. If you don’t have access to them directly, buy a book, or do your research online.

After you've educated yourself look at your clearly written goal and ask, “What is the next step?”

This is important!

Don’t just dream it, act on it. The only step you need to take to reach your highest aspiration is “the next step.”

Do this consistently and there is no limit to what you can do.

A Better You... A Better Me

a poem by L. Andrew Morgan

There is a better you than you realize
Able to do what you are afraid to try
Able to accomplish without compromise
Able to see beyond your natural eye
There is a better you than you realize

Driven by a love for life
It knows the day is coming
When Opportunity can’t knock twice
Because the clock is running

There is a better you than you realize
Hidden away way down inside
Behind the fear and the compromise
Behind your maybes and your someday I’ll’s
There is a better you than you realize



By L. Andrew Morgan
Copyright 2007

The Four Secrets to My Failures

Four sure fire ways to stay stuck and sleep on your potential
And how to break out

I offer you something very real in today’s blog. For the first time ever I will share inside information on my journey. Specifically my failures along my journey. I’m not looking for sympathy, or any bravery points for opening up and sharing my imperfections. (The fact is we all have them and they’re really not all that special.)

My interest in sharing this information is that you glean insights that help you to get unstuck and move your projects and your life forward in a big way. So here goes.

14 years ago I had an idea that I could help people reach their potential and lead happier more productive lives. I held on to this dream for years, until finally I decided to go for it. I signed up for a boot camp to learn how to perfect my skills and build a business. I received an incredible amount of support and encouragement from some very high paid speaking and training professionals.

I launched Break Out Seminars, Inc. in the summer of 2004 and the online community “The No Rut Zone”. After about nine months of developing product and not generating revenue I had to make a decision. I closed the business and went back to work for someone else. Another dream deferred.

As I look back on the painful lessons learned this is what I found. I had a vision and a plan, but I was spinning my wheels and therefore was not very productive. Below are the four reason why.

The four big secrets to my failures were

1. In the beginning I got stuck on "start".
2. Once I got started I got stuck on "stall".
3. After I restarted I got stuck on "lack".
4. Once I got pass lack I got stuck in "motion" and could not finish

Over the next week I am going to cover each one of these. For today let’s start with number one…

Stuck on start

In my case I had the vision and a plan, but for years I was content with just dreaming and not doing. If you have a dream or an idea that you have been putting off for more than a year, there is a good chance you may be stuck on start. How do you get unstuck?

Simple. Face your fear. Fear is the primary reason why we hesitate to do something new. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of rejection. Fear of wasting our time. Fear of other people. Counter your fear of doing by creating a healthy fear of not taking action. Ask yourself:

What would happen if I never took action?

If your initial answer is nothing, then that’s why you have not started. We are compelled by our internal scripting to take action, however, if you don’t have any skin in the game, you have no reason to play. Go deep into the negative consequences of not taking action.

For example the following are just a couple of the consequences of not taking action I came up with;

• If I don’t help people reach their potential and lead happier more productive lives, I die just a little. Why, because helping others is my reason for being here. I notice that when I am not doing the thing that I was meant to do, I get cranky, a little narrow minded and self-centered. I become overly concerned with my own self-preservation and I lose sight of the fact that if I am not sharing my gifts with others. The result is that my gifts lose value.

I once heard a very wise man say that we are all like a UPS or FEDEX driver. You have a truckload full of gifts or packages that were given to you to deliver to other people. That's your job. Wouldn't it be silly if you just drove around all day and never took a single package out of the truck. Those gifts are not really yours. You have been entrusted with the task of delivering them to someone who needs them. That being the case I must take action consistently to help people or I misuse the gifts I have received.

• Another item on my list of what will happen if I don’t do my part to help people to reach their potential is that as a result of my inaction someone goes to bed with an unmet need, in a state of quit desperation, and I can help as others have help me.

When I finished writing my list I had 50 reasons why I should start and fifty negative consequences for if I did nothing. In the end, I took actions. Now if every I get stuck I sit down with a piece of paper, make my list, and build my courage to act.

Now you can do same.

Next let's talk about what it means to be Stuck on Stall...

Simple Question of the Day

If you are stuck ask yourself:

Have I made a conscious decision to get unstuck?

Stop!

Spend a little time pondering the question. (This is important. Being stuck is often caused by neglecting to test assumptions.)

“The first step to getting the things
you want out of life is this:
Decide what you want.”

- Ben Stein

You probably already know that there is a difference between desiring to get unstuck and deciding to get unstuck. Wanting, wishing, and waiting is very different from deciding, acting, and getting.

Being stuck is the process of repeating a behavior that delivers results that satisfy in the moment, but leave you wanting over time.

Ice Cream tastes good in the moment, however, over indulging can leave you wanting that beautiful trim body you once had.

To decide to get unstuck is to decide to let go of the immediate result and to take action to produce a more positive result later.

So, do you just desire to get unstuck or have you really made the decision to get unstuck?

The following statement of intention has worked very well for me and may give you the same results. Try it and let me know how it works for you.

On this day (today's date) I have decided to get unstuck and (action statement) by (Date of completion).

This can get you started, to keep going visit this blog again soon.