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How To Get Unstuck

podcast Jan 23, 2019
 How To Get Unstuck

If You Can Make Your Rough Draft, You Can Get Unstuck

 "Your biggest challenge is not getting it right : it's getting started." -Michael Hyatt

Have you ever found yourself holding back on something you felt you really needed in your life?

How do you publish your rough draft? How do you get unstuck? How do you move forward and succeed at that thing that you know you need to do, want to do, or have to do but just keep circling back to the space you are in right now?

The words I'm using...rough draft can be used in many different aspects of our lives. We've all practiced our rough drafts in elementary school with projects we would need to hand in. Remember that? I remember writing short stories in grade three. I loved writing (still do) and I would dive deep into the vault of my imagination and pour so much energy into my assignments. I would always be proud of my work, but because I would reach so deep inside myself, I'd always be a bit shy about sharing. Perhaps vulnerable, yet too young to understand what that feeling meant. I'd have visions of the teacher handing me back my paper saying, "It's perfect. No need for any more."

However there would be red ink all over it and a whole pile of corrections that needed to be made. As I got older the distance between the rough draft and the final copy got bigger, but what remained the same was the effort, passion, and sense  that I was doing what I was meant to do.

In my opinion a rough draft is simply the first attempt at an idea. It can also be looked at in another angle. Really the first time we try ANYTHING it's a little messy. It's quite likely not the best we can do yet, because it takes time to get better. 

So we have 3 choices.

We can hold on to it and keep it for ourselves. That's the least scary, and the least effort.

We can peek-a-boo a rough draft with the world. (I've done that more than I'd like to admit) Maybe post it on Facebook, or share it with friends, hear crickets, feel silly, remove it, then tuck it into a distant memory in our brain. This doesn't work so well because if it's something you really want, or are gifted with it will haunt us until we do it.
 
Or we can boldly take our rough draft and be it, share it, or do it, knowing that we will still need to work with it.

"The magic does not happen in the beginning, it's what happens between the rough draft and the final copy, and beyond. If we never have practice or outside input on it, it won't grow into what we vision, what is tugging, and  inevitably we stay stuck in the same spot "

Let's imagine you've gone on a hike to a mountaintop somewhere you'venever been before. After a long, rough climb you've come to a very precarious position. You are clinging to the earth on a sidehill, feeling somewhat paralyzed by fear. If you take 2-3 steps forward you will be on the other side, only moments from the awards of the stunning view and accomplishment. If you crawl backwards, it seems easier, less intimidating. You can head back down the mountain, but we both know how that would feel. Sure, there would be moments of relief, but then wonder, and perhaps regret might start to sink in.

So what are you going to do?

How do you move forward?

Or do you go back?

Or do you proceed sharing your rough draft?

It might be messy, and it certainly won't be perfect. Maybe it means an ugly cry, crawling on your knees, with every muscle flexed and cramped up, grunting, screaming, whatever it takes. Trust me...I've been there. You get to the other side, you enjoy the splendour of the work. Take a few sweaty selfies at the top, and the next time you encounter this, it's just a little bit (not a lot) easier.

What we do physically, we can ultimately do emotionally.

What rough draft are you holding on to? 

 Gain more self awareness through your nutrition by trying something transforming like the 131 Method approach to life .

 

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