Feeling Stuck? Here are 8 Ways to Push Through

Sometimes we just feel stuck. Not that anything is really wrong, but more the sense that we're not going anywhere. That place where you sense that things are okay, but not great. Where it seems like you are just going through the motions. Dependable and reliable, yes. Consistent, absolutely.

But not necessarily bringing your A-game.

I know the feeling. For me, this usually happens after an event is over, or completing a big project. About 10 days-two weeks later. I usually just feel stuck at that point. I have a hard time being creative, being intentional, getting things done, moving the ball forward, and making decisions. I feel like I'm walking in knee deep mud at these points.

Another time of the year many of us feel stuck is mid to late summer, right about now. You feeling it right now?

If so, here are a few things to do:

1. Get out of your "normal" routine. Break up your schedule. Go on a trip. Visit someone you've wanted to see for quite a while. Hang out with people you don't know but want to learn from. The key on this is break up your "normal" with something that is out of place, out of context, or just simply breaks up the rhythm. Makes you see things from a different vantage point. For me, when I travel, it usually "unsticks" me.

2. Go back to the Basics. Sports teams will go back to the basics to get out of a rut. In football it's back to "blocking and tackling" or in basketball it's back to "passing, dribbling, and shooting." For you, this could mean a number of things, but in essence, returning to the foundations of what you do, why you do it, and how you are uniquely designed to be doing what you are doing.

3. Jump on the Inspiration train. When I get stuck, I usually take time to find some stories of inspiration, read some emails, watch some videos, and allow myself to be re-inspired and re-energized.

4. Talk with someone who motivates you. I also like to make sure I find some time to spend on the phone or in person with people who inspire me, because they usually can pull me out of my funk that I'm in. Make sure you have some people in your life who are motivators and inspiration icons- when you are around them it just fires you up. Could be a friend, a boss, a mentor, or someone you don't know well. For me, I'll call Bob Goff. If you know Bob, you know what I mean!

5. Keep it simple stupid. Kiss. Figuratively, not literally...! Start a new to do list with no more than 5 things on it. Get those done. Then move on to the next 5 things to do. Don't overwhelm yourself with a to do list that is unachievable and not reachable. Focus on simplicity and clarity.

6. Hang around kids. Whether your own kids or someone else's. Children have a way of providing inspiration because of their imagination, childlike faith, and sense of amazement at everything.

7. Return to the core. What do you love to do? What brings you to life? Maybe it's reading a good book, or taking a drive in the country, or playing golf, or playing guitar or singing. Reconnecting to our areas of strength and passion usually reignites the momentum.

8. Exercise. Take a run, go swimming, work out, climb a mountain, jump on a bike, water ski, play basketball, or whatever activity fits you.

Avoiding a BIG Land Mine for Leaders

Leaders: Who are you accountable to?

1. Who speaks truth into your life? Your spouse? Your best friend? Your boss? Your co-workers? Your small group?

2. Who has the right to honestly tell you when you are wrong, and make sure you stay in touch with reality?

3. Who is asking you the difficult questions that everyone else around you may be thinking but don't want to bring up?

4. Do you have someone, or a group of people, who will challenge you, tell you when you are wrong, confront you on the tough issues, and make your aware of areas where you might be missing the mark?

If not, figure this out. Quick. If you are surrounded by only yes people, you're probably unaware of things that could be jeopardizing your leadership. This is a major land mine for leaders.

We all have dysfunctions. Every leader does. But our healthy response to our own dysfunctions depends on how much we let others "in" and give them full access to pushing back and kicking us in the tail if we are off base.

For many leaders, the greatest threat to our influence right now is our tendency to read our own press clippings, and continually put a "wall" up around us that protects us from any kind of honest feedback.

Don't do this. Avoid the temptation to "remove" yourself from healthy accountability. Refuse the impulse to start surrounding yourself with people who are there only to protect you from reality. Insulation itself is not bad, but too much of it will allow reality deprivation to set in, which can be costly.

We need people around us who will tell us what we don't want to hear, when we don't want to hear it. Identify these people in your life, and give them full access to keeping you in check.

So, my question to you.... who is this in your life?

Young Influencers List, July Edition

Here you go, the July edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past month's lists here.

1. Allen and Ayaka Lu- San Francisco based founders of social enterprise Lev Made, and also most recently Allen produced the well known documentary Linsanity featuring NBA player Jeremy Lin.

2. d'Artagnan Crockett- RIO bound bronze medalist Olympic athlete, & world champion Judo wrestler, and amazing story of overcoming many obstacles, including losing his sight.

3. Harrison Conley- executive pastor of Cottonwood Church in LA.

4. Chad Cannon- Nashville based strategist and former VP of marketing at Thomas Nelson, and now founder of Chadwick Cannon Agency, a full service digital marketing firm.

5. Jacob Brooks- Colorado based artist and photog, founder of Brumley and Wells, a well respected Wedding Photography brand.

6. Will Bakke- award winning filmmaker, writer and director of Believe Me, and co-founder and managing partner of Riot Studios.

7. Eden Chen- LA based business, finance and investment guru, founder of Fishermen Labs, working on innovative tech and augmented reality futuristic stuff.

13 Key Points on Being an Authentic Leader

Here are 13 points on the importance and practice of being Authentic as a Leader. You might consider these "Authenticity Rules." And in today's leadership culture, it's true that "Authenticity does actually rule."

Some best practices I’ve found helpful:

1. Be real in all mediums. Digital age makes it easy to be inauthentic. Although we are always “on,” ultimately we can create a fake persona behind a profile on Facebook or a twitter account. It's easy to live a secondary life and feel like we are someone we aren’t. Have to be authentic across the board.

2. Constantly turn the rocks over in your life and in your leadership. Uncover the areas that need to be made clean. Big things are at stake. It’s exhausting to not be the real you. It's easier and less work to be who you really are.

3. The more successful you become, the less accessible you are. It’s reality. More people clamor for time with you, but it’s not possible to be available to everyone. Be wise and discerning, but also open to helping where you can. As Andy Stanley says “do for one what you wish you could do for many.”

4. Learn to open up. You can impress people more easily from a distance, so many leaders keep others at arms length. For example, we often prefer digital interaction to life-on-life exchanges. This insulates us and prevents others from uncovering our weaknesses and flaws. But it also reduces our ability to influence others.

5. Ask great questions. Great leaders I know solve problems and create solutions through the questions they ask. Questions many times reflect your values, and give value and dignity to the person you're asking the question of.

6. Invite direct reports to do a 360 degree review of you on a regular basis. It’s uncomfortable, but also helpful. As Rick Warren has said, “You can’t love people and influence them unless you are close to them. Up close means you can see my warts.”

7. Accept a better standard. The goal of every Christian is to become more like Christ, but often our standard becomes some “great” leader who we admire. When we exalt fellow influencers, we try to dress like them, talk like them, pray like them, tell jokes like them, and achieve like them, it's dangerous. By emulating them we hope to someday become like them. This never works, and a painful side effect is that deep down we end up feeling like a cheap knock-off.

8. Be interested over interesting. Start with leaning into others and caring about them vs. only worrying about yourself.

9. Be accountable to those who know you best. Know your blind spots in your leadership. We all have areas of weakness. Know what they are and give your team, your family and your friends permission to call you on them. Are you comfortable enough in your leadership that those around you have the freedom to tell you the truth without repercussions?

10. Make more of those around you, and less about yourself. Make others the center of the story. Authentic leaders are servant leaders, and willing to be less in order for others to be more. Authentic leaders seek to serve and understand the power of putting others first. And great leaders attract great people to their team. Like attracts like.

11. Actively build a Support Network. Beware of CEO disease, the temptation to surround yourself with people who only tell you what you want to hear. Keep honest people in your life so that you can stay grounded in the reality of your experiences. Don't ever think you've arrived. Don't take yourself so seriously. You're not a big deal. Seriously. I don't care who you are. Humility is way more attractive than arrogance.

12. Give others permission. Allow your team, your friends, your family and your community to continually have permission for pushing more towards the true you. Asking questions, pushing for clarity, pushing back, disagreeing, confronting, bringing new and different ideas to the table, and ultimately the ability and the freedom to push and pull.

13. Give yourself permission to be who you are. Authenticity requires true honesty, self awareness and a selfless approach to leading. One of the challenges in organizations today is actually creating space for leaders to admit and share their challenges. We need to create community where you can talk about the things you are dealing with without getting arrows in the back. Be willing to share your struggles. Create and find environments where we can deal with things and be honest and real.

Do you have 3 key words to describe your Leadership style?

There are lots of tests, assessments, seminars, conferences, training centers, and workbooks available today that are supposed to help you accurately identify and determine your leadership style. Many of these are very helpful, and very accurate. I've taken lots of them.

But someone asked me the other day, "With only three words, describe your leadership style." And with no hesitation, I immediately knew.

My answer: Hustle, Hungry, Humble.

Those three words have defined my leadership style for the last 20 years. I've seen this style manifested in all the different titles, roles, and leadership moments over the last several years.

In fact, those 3 words are so important to me, that my next leadership book is entitled H3 Leadership: Be Humble, Stay Hungry, Always Hustle. Releases on September 22, in about 2 months!

Obviously there is no right answer to the question, but we all must be diligent in defining, refining and living out our leadership style. A phrase that would describe my leadership style over the years: "work hard and play hard." Whatever we are doing, we give 110% and always want to deliver- an excellent result. Whether working on a brochure, programming, curriculum, or playing basketball or kickball at the office, the goal is to strive to be the best at everything we do. You must have tremendous passion for the work. Another phrase I think describes my style is "calm but intensely focused." Especially in environments like producing an event where things can be chaotic and multiple decisions have to be made instantly.

I believe this naturally flows out of my leadership style of Humble, Hungry, Hustle. Secondarily, I think the honorable mention runner-up words would be Passion, Excellence, and Execution.

Try three words for yourself- it's tough, but will help in identifying the areas of your leadership that matter the most, show up most often, and should be put into practice with the most focus and intentionality.