Trouble Shooting Guide:
What to Do When You’re Stuck
Here are the 10 most Common reasons why you’re stuck and
can’t make a decision about which career to choose (and
what to do about it!).
1. Your thinking is off
Your mental attitudes MUST support your vision and what you WANT
(not what you DON’T want).
Negative beliefs, attitudes or thought patterns that may be hindering
you:
• It’s not possible to follow my passion and get paid well
• I’ll never figure it out!
• I don’t have any passions
• I’m too confused and overwhelmed to make a decision
Solutions:
ü Assess your beliefs (are there any negative beliefs around you
finding your ideal career or business?)
ü Replace any negative beliefs with more useful beliefs (know that
there is ALWAYS a solution, it’s simply a matter of mindset)
ü Focus only on what you WANT (not what you don’t want)
ü Be in a state of expectation that you are moments away from
having a breakthrough and finding the answer
ü Read through the ’10 Attitudes to Adopt for Unstoppable
Success’ resource at the bottom of this guide
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2. You’re not doing the work
You’re giving into your internal resistance around making the changes
you seek.
You may have internal resistance to:
• Completing ALL of the modules & worksheets
• Reaching out to people to find out if a career is right for you
• Putting yourself ‘out there’
• Making your final decision
Solutions:
ü Stop making the decision about YOU. There are people who
need your skills & talents. How can you make this decision about
how you are contributing to the world? (refer to your life vision
statement from the ‘Identifying your Why’ video in module 4)
ü Ask yourself “what’s the alternative?” If you don’t make a
decision, are you happy & willing to go back to your old life?
3. You’re not prioritising
You’re using excuses such as ‘I don’t have the time or energy’. This just
means that you are prioritising other things ahead of this decision.
Solutions:
ü What can you cut out of your life temporarily to make space for
this? (it’s not forever, just while you commit to the program!)
ü Who can you ask for support to get you through this? (ask a
partner or friend help you to make time)
4. You’re leaning towards choosing what someone else wants for you
(not what YOU truly want).
You may be choosing an option that you feel you should choose.
e.g. I should do this because..
• It’s the faster option and I don’t have time to study / work it out
• Everyone says I’m really good at this so it makes sense to do it
• It will make me more money than the other options
• It’s what my partner / mom / friend / kids want
• I have experience in this so it will be easier
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Solutions:
ü Ask yourself WHY do I want to do this? You should be able to
confidently explain why this is the right choice for you. If you
can’t then it’s probably not the right choice.
ü Are you choosing this because it’s what you feel you should do?
If so, drop it and go back to what you WANT to do
5. You’re not motivated enough
If you’re not motivated enough you simply won’t make a decision or
take any action.
Solutions:
ü Energise the result! Picture yourself in great detail, getting the
result you want (see the money in your bank, see the person you
will become, see the exact moment when you succeed!)
ü Use time to motivate you. Go into the future 10 years from now
and see yourself not having moved forward. Allow the fear and
dread of this possibility to push you forward to take action.
6. You don’t have all the information you need to make the decision
You might be struggling because you skipped some of the research
phase.
Solutions:
ü Get whatever research you need to make an informed decision.
ü This may mean stepping out of your comfort zone and reaching
out to people you don’t know.
ü Use your initiative, get out there and find out more about this
career or business idea (be sure to use the onetonline.org tool to
run a keyword search about your career or business ideas).
7. Fear of failure
You’re frightened of looking silly or failing.
Solution:
ü Ask yourself: “what’s the worst that could happen? And could I
deal with that?” (Hint: you’re stronger than you think).
ü Remind yourself “What others think of me is none of my business.”
ü The truth is your biggest risk of failure is to continue to do what
you know deep down is not the path for you. This is failure. If you
commit to your true purpose and a career that aligns with your
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
natural talents then you WILL succeed. You just need to believe it
and take action.
8. You’re ignoring your intuition
Deep down you already know what you want to do. You’re just not
listening to your intuition.
Solutions:
ü What was your initial gut instinct when you started considering
your different options?
ü Get quiet, place your hand on your heart, take 3 deep breaths,
and ask yourself “what do really I want to do next? What’s my
path?”
9. You have shiny object syndrome!
You keep getting distracted by new ideas just as you’re about to
commit.
Solutions:
ü You have to commit to ONE career idea in order to find out if it
really is the right thing for you
ü Ban thinking about ALL new ideas that pop up (you can still
make a note of them and refer back to them at a later date, just
don’t allow them to distract you right now)
ü If you allow yourself to continuously stay stuck in the ideation
phase you have no chance of succeeding (there are a million
ideas born every second, it’s the ones that are implemented that
succeed)
10. You’re not taking action
Maybe you already know what you want to do, but are stalling on
taking action. This usually boils down to either fear or overwhelm.
Solutions:
ü Go back and do the bonus mindset module again to eliminate
any last fears or doubts
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
ü Ensure you have broken down your next steps into small actions
(use the goal-planner template featured in the ‘Time to Take
Action’ video in module 4 of the program)
Know that if you’re feeling stuck and can’t move forward, then there
WILL be a reason. Don’t get distracted by this, simply go through this
guide and you will find the answer you need to move forward.
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
* Additional Resources *
10 Attitudes to Adopt for
Unstoppable Success
If you want to get results with this program, you need to start
with your thinking. Having worked with people from all over
the world to help them change careers, I have seen firsthand which type of people get results and which ones don’t.
The number one factor in someone’s success is the way that
they THINK, their attitudes and their beliefs. Change your
attitude, and your results will exponentially increase. Below
are my top 10 attitudes to adopt to guarantee unstoppable
success.
HINT: If something is not working for you right now, then it’s
highly likely you are not adopting one or more of these
attitudes J
1. You already have all the resources you need
You already have access to everything you need. You just need to get
creative. For example, if you don’t know how to do something, find
someone who has already done it, and copy them, In Neuro Linguistic
Programming, this skill is called modelling. Know that whatever you
need to know, the information is out there somewhere. All you need to
do is find someone else who has done it, study them and follow their
lead.
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
2.Your power lies in your ability to make decisions
If you’re feeling stuck, nine times out of ten this can be attributed to an
unmade decision. Successful people make fast decisions. They do not
worry about failure, if they fail, they simply move onto the next thing. If
you want to succeed, you MUST be willing to make decisions.
Further reading:
10 Secrets of Fast Decision Makers
3. Failure is a pre-requisite for success
There are no mistakes. Failure is simply feedback showing you where to
go next (or where not to go!). You cannot succeed without failing first.
Change the way you view failure and you will succeed so much faster.
Further reading:
Dealing With failure
4. Clarity comes from ACTION, not thought
Often the answers we are looking for cannot be found by more
thinking. Sometimes the only way to figure something out, is to take
action and learn from your results. Don’t waste valuable time overthinking a solution. The answer lies in taking some form of action.
HINT: LESS thinking, MORE action.
Further reading:
How Taking Action Creates Success
5. The safest place for you to be is OUTSIDE of your comfort
zone
Feeling uncomfortable? Great! This is exactly where you are meant to
be. You cannot achieve anything great without feeling uncomfortable.
This is a sure-fire sign that you are on the right track. And besides, you’re
comfort zone wasn’t all that comfortable anyway was it really? Get out
of your comfort zone. This is where the magic happens.
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
Further reading:
Tips For Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
6. Refuse to give up and you WILL succeed
As you progress towards your new career, there will be times when you
feel like giving up. As human’s we‘re hardwired to avoid change. Those
times when you get distracted and stray off-course do not matter.
What matters is that you never give up. What matters is how quickly
you remember to recommit to your goals and keep going. You’ve got
this. I believe in you.
Further reading:
Revealed: My Personal Success Principle
7. Past events, your thoughts, your circumstances and your
behaviours do not define who you are or what you are
capable of
Maybe you’ve already tried to find a new career and failed? Maybe
you worry that you’re not as passionate as you used to be? Maybe
you’re scared you don’t have what it takes. None of this matters. What
matters is how ready you are NOW, in this moment to commit and
make some changes. Move your focus from the past to the Now. This is
where your power lies.
Further reading:
The Day My Dad Left Home
8. Imperfect action beats perfect action
Perfectionism is a 21st century disease. It will rob you of what you want
in life if you’re not careful. You will NEVER be 100% ready to go for your
dream career. You will NEVER feel like you have all the answers. You
must move forward anyway. You will work it out as you go. This is the
secret of the successful.
Further reading:
How to Make Stuff Happen (my 5 step strategy)
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved
9. You get what you FOCUS on
Are you focussed on what you WANT or what you don’t want? Be
careful, because we get what we focus on. Your focus needs to be
ONLY on what you WANT. You must leave any negative thinking
patterns behind. Stay committed to this vision and you can’t fail.
Further reading:
How to Stop Negative Thinking in It’s Tracks
10. Everything you want is on the other side of Fear
To turn your dream career into a reality, you will need to overcome
your worst fears. You have a choice: you can allow your fears to STOP
you from getting what you want, OR you can use your fear as FUEL to
power you forward. And besides, 80% of fears don’t happen so you
have nothing to worry about.
Further reading:
How to Use Fear to Get What You Want
Be sure to check out the BLOG section on Simple Life
Strategies for further coaching resources.
© Simple Life Strategies 2015 All Rights Reserved