Getting Unstuck and Taking Action
I’m sure you’ve noticed that it got a little quiet around here after the first flurry of posts.To be honest, I haven’t done much of anything the past few days.
First there was labor day weekend which I enjoyed just hanging out with my family.
Then, starting Tuesday I noticed that I really didn’t feel like booting up my computer and getting any serious work done. I did a little here and there, but mostly just tried to find other tasks around the house to avoid working. Wednesday I didn’t even bother booting my computer up. I wasn’t feeling well and spent most of the day in bed. Thursday I did a little catching up, but quickly curled up with a good book on the couch. Something was going on… I had a serious case of Analysis Paralysis.
Analysis Paralysis
I tend to get these in spurts. I’m working along fine, getting things done and then all of a sudden I don’t want to work on anything. Sure, sometimes it is a matter of my brain and my creative juices needing some rest, but if it’s lasting more than a day, and I’m struggling to even force myself to go through email, it’s more serious.
Analysis Paralysis is the act (or better lack of taking action), that’s caused by overthinking things. We spent all our time worrying about various little details or all the stuff on our plate to the point where we’re not getting anything done at all. It feels like we are paralyzed.
Getting Overwhelmed
For me, it’s usually triggered when I put too much on my plate. I get overwhelmed by all the things on my to-do list and as if that wasn’t bad enough yet, I also start to mull over all the things I could and should be doing to grow my business and increase my income.
That’s exactly what I’ve done here lately. Between my regular business and all the little projects I have going on there, as well as writing content for this new blog, thinking of ways to improve it, the case study and the content challenge, I was getting pretty worn out. Heck it makes me tired again to just think of it now.
Time To Get Over It
First things first… the most important thing when you’re in this situation is to get yourself unstuck. It’s time to get over this paralysis. Take a deep breath, and forget about all those to-do lists, commitments and obligations. I know that’s easier said than done, but it’s the only way out of this.
If your paralysis is caused by just feeling overwhelmed about all the stuff you don’t know or all those technical details, focus on just one little aspect of it and learn more about it. For example if you’re stuck on setting up your first website, take a look at registering the domain name. Learn some more about just that or find someone that can help walk you through the process.
Take Some Action – Any Action
The best way I know to get out of this paralysis is to take some sort of action. Open your laptop and start working on one thing that needs to be done. Don’t over-think this, don’t worry about all the other things you need/should be doing. Write a blog post, answer a few emails or write and submit an article. The important part is that you finish that one little task. Don’t stop until you’re completely done with it or you’re likely to slip back into not doing anything. Pick something small that doesn’t take you more than 20-30 minutes to complete.
For me that action was to first answer some important emails this morning and the write this blog post you are reading right now. For some reason just sitting down and writing something jumpstarts my brain and helps me get out of the funk and working.
Once that’s done, move on to another little task and then another one. Taking babysteps until you’re out of the funk and back to your usual productive self is fine.
If you’ve got too much on your plate, make some small adjustments. For me, I’ve decided that I’m going to cool it on our little restaurant recipes case study for a few weeks. Instead I’m going to focus on the Content Challenge first. Of course I’ll still share some great content on the blog and am probably also going to work on a few more articles and such for the case study (I’ll update you on those along the way), but I’m not going to force it.
P.S. What action are you taking TODAY to grow your business. Leave a comment, I’d love to hear about it.
You may also like to read:
- Going From Feeling Inspired To Taking Action – Reflections On NAMS 3
- Blogging Action Guide – Friday Freebie
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