Quotes for when you feel stuck
Stuck rarely looks dramatic. It looks like the same week on repeat: the job you've outgrown, the plan you keep meaning to start, the conversation you keep not having. These are lines for that feeling, sorted by the kind of stuck you're in.
When you're waiting to feel ready
The most common kind. You're not really stuck, you're waiting: for more information, a better plan, a quieter month. The month never comes.
Whenever you are stuck searching for the optimal plan, remember: Getting started changes everything.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
If you've been deliberating on something for a while, get it out of your head, and into the world.
Derek Sivers, sive.rs
In the summer, when I have more time and have fewer expenses, I will start on some serious work.
Anton Chekhov, Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends
Chekhov wrote that in a letter, and it's funny because everyone has a summer like that, always a few months off. He went on to write some of the best short stories in any language, so the summer must have come eventually.
When the path you're on isn't working
A different problem. You're moving, and working hard, but it isn't going anywhere. Sometimes the bravest thing is to stop pushing on the same door.
Some things work and some things don't. There is almost always another way to get where you want to go. Don't keep trying to open a locked door.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
Let go of outdated dreams that keep you from noticing what's here now.
Derek Sivers, sive.rs
Do you have a list of conditions you need to have met before you do something? Try changing "and" to "or."
Derek Sivers, sive.rs
That last one is small and oddly practical. "I'll start when I have the money and the time and the confidence" means never. Any one of the three is enough to begin.
When you can't make up your mind
Indecision feels like being careful. Mostly it's being stuck with extra steps.
The state of indecision is a major time waster.
Steve Pavlina, Do It Now
If a decision is reversible, the biggest risk is moving too slow. If a decision is irreversible, the biggest risk is moving too fast.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
Worth sitting with, because most of the decisions that keep people up at night are more reversible than they look. You can leave the new job. You can move back.
No choice is inherently the best. You make it the best through your commitment to it.
Derek Sivers, How to Live
Most failures are one-time costs. Most regrets are recurring costs. The pain of inaction stings longer than the pain of incorrect action.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
When it feels like nothing will ever change
The heaviest kind of stuck, where it doesn't feel like a phase anymore. Almost everything is a phase, though, this included.
Things must turn when they can go no farther.
Charles Spurgeon
Nothing is ever done with; a little happiness is enough to make everything begin again.
Emile Zola, Germinal
Germinal is one of the bleakest novels in French literature, about miners in a strike that goes terribly. That this line comes from it is part of why it's worth keeping.
Find the little spots where a little action can change everything.
Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
Doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by action.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How to actually use a quote when you're stuck
Reading a list like this feels good for about four minutes. To get more out of it than that:
- Pick one. The one that stung a little is usually the right one.
- Put it somewhere you'll see it tomorrow, not somewhere you'll see it once. A sticky note on the kettle. Your phone's Lock Screen.
- Ask it a question. What's the smallest version of this I could do today? Then do that version.
If you'd like lines like these to come to you, Dailies sends them through the day, picked from the topics you follow. Decide what's next and Just start are the two closest to this page. And if the stuck feeling is really about getting started at all, how to motivate yourself when you have no motivation is the longer version.
Questions
What is a good quote for feeling stuck in life?
One of the most useful is from James Clear: "Whenever you are stuck searching for the optimal plan, remember: Getting started changes everything." If the problem is a path that isn't working rather than getting started, try his line about not trying to open a locked door.
What should I do when I feel stuck?
Work out what kind of stuck it is. If you're waiting to feel ready, start with a small step anyway. If your current path isn't working, look for another door instead of pushing harder. If you can't decide, remember that most decisions are more reversible than they feel.
Who said "Doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by action"?
The line is attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German writer, and appears in collections of his sayings in English translation.
Why do I feel stuck even when things are fine?
Often because "fine" has stopped being enough. Feeling stuck in a life that looks good from outside usually means some part of you wants to grow or change direction. It's a signal worth listening to, not a sign of ingratitude.
Keep reading
Start today with something good.
Set it up once. Dailies takes it from there.
