Are You Feeling Stuck? Consider Changing Your focus!

 

If you sometimes feel as though you’re caught in life’s quicksand and you’re going nowhere, then you’re not alone!

We work, we struggle, we try to do everything we possibly can to make our lives better, but sometimes it seems like the harder we work, the more stuck we get. If you’re approaching a high level of frustration, consider giving the following approach a try:

Switch your focus from what you’re trying to achieve and your frustrations, and move it to the people and other causes that you’re helping.

It’s important to put yourself first. You can’t look after others if you don’t first look after yourself. You need to be healthy, happy and financially secure. You need to set goals, put plans in place to achieve them and then take the necessary actions to at least make some progress toward your goals.

However, what can often happen is that we can become so over focused on ourselves, our goals and our own personal wellbeing that we end up not being able to see the bigger picture and the possibilities that life presents to us. We become so focused on “me” that we sometimes begin scrutinising even the most insignificant events in our lives to determine how they can potentially affect us. We end up becoming victims to ourselves. We sometimes just become so busy being busy, that we lose track of where we thought we wanted our lives to end up in the first place.

By changing your focus from “me” to “others”, and becoming a giver instead of a receiver, you start to get a view of what you can bring to the world, and how you can contribute positively to the lives of other people and the things that are important to you.

Here’s how you can change your focus, without having to change what you’re doing:

No matter what you do to earn a living or what you want to achieve in your life, somewhere down the line someone or something will likely benefit from what you’re doing. Really think about this. Although you may not see it immediately or directly, the work that you do has a reason and a desired end result.

Our activities and work generally reflect a more positive endeavour. That leads us back to how we can change our focus when we’re feeling stuck.

If you feel like you’re caught in life’s quicksand, take a few minutes to really think about the people or other causes that will benefit, be healthier or happier because of what you’re doing. Think about how you are giving of your time and talents so that others will benefit in some way from your efforts.

Do you see what’s happening when you do this? When you change your focus from “me” to “others”, your work and efforts – the things that you do every day – start to take on a new significance. You are now a giver. You are now contributing to something worthwhile and bigger than yourself. Your life has purpose and meaning. You know that what you do is truly important to someone else. That’s pretty special. You’re pretty special.

If you still feel that you’re not contributing to the benefit of others, or you feel you can contribute more, then remember that there are many people and causes that could really benefit from your talents and what you have to offer. Think about what you do well and what you enjoy doing, and how that could help others have a better life. Then go do it. You’ll find this new-found sense of purpose will quickly get you out of the quicksand and give you levels of inspiration and motivation that you didn’t think were possible when you were feeling stuck.