Do You Feel Stuck?

 

There are times in leadership that all of us feel as though we are stuck. Our organization has become stagnant and we feel as though our life and leadership is on hold. The issue is not whether you will ever become stuck; the issue is whether you allow yourself to stay stuck. How do you know when your leadership is stuck? Here are a couple of things to watch for:

You accept the status quo

Instead of always trying to improve and get better, you have accepted that this is the best that it is ever going to get. Your church will never grow beyond where you are now. People will never respect you any higher than they do right now. Your financial position is going to remain at a level of “just getting by”. On and on we could go with areas where you have accepted just “good enough” when you could actually get better.

Your routine has become dull

You are no longer excited to get in and do what you do. The passion and zeal you once possessed for the important areas of life and leadership have dissipated and now you just go through the motions. You are unwilling to learn or try anything new so you keep doing the same things repeatedly.

You take opportunities and life for granted

Opportunities come but you pass them by because you think you are not good enough to fulfill them. You have taken the most important relationships in your life for granted and they have lost the joy they once brought. You even take for granted your God-given gifts and talents stop trying to improve those gifts.

Stuck is not a good place to be. Even more so…it is not a good place to stay. So what do you do when you feel as though you are in a place where you are stuck?

Decide for this to be your defining moment

There comes a time where you have to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough. I refuse to go through the motions of leadership without motivation. I am willing to make the needed changes needed in order to get out of the mire of mediocrity.

Define where you want to go

Every journey begins with a destination in mind. As you look at your life, decide what you would like each area to look like by writing down a vision of what you would like to experience in that area. Write out the vision of what you would like to see happen in your ministry or organization. Write out exactly what you would like to see in your marriage. There is no more powerful motivator than a clearly defined and written out vision.

Decide How You Will Get There

Thomas Edison said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” After you write the vision, it is time to decide the steps you must take in order for you to get there. Great leaders commit to action not just verbiage. So look carefully at where you want to go and then decide the daily habits and actions that are going to take you there.

Determine To Never Give Up

Winston Churchill said: “Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Jesus told us in Luke 9:62 “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” You must determine that even though you feel stuck now, you are never going to give in. You are going to press forward through the adversity and never give thought to the temptation to throw in the towel. The vision God has placed within you is too precious to throw away. The potential that lies in front of you is too powerful to give up on. You must press forward and keep leading.

My prayer is that these words have encouraged you through the times of being stuck. We all get there at times; the only difference is that we do not have to stay there!