When You Are Stuck, Start Small, and Build Momentum

If you are ambitious, you have a strong desire to succeed. But this usually means you put too much pressure on yourself, and one can often break under the strain. When the pressure is on, we can feel stuck. We may procrastinate or even feel a little depressed. Working with the proper mental edge demands that one set realistic goals and take specific action to achieve them

When we set goals that exceed our skills, we know deep down that we can't reach them. We believe we will fail even before we try, and so we just give up. When we are obsessed with reaching a high performance standard, we feel uneasy. When this happens, it's necessary to relax, and set more modest goals. Rather than stress yourself out, you can think of goals that you can easily reach and try to build momentum after some initial success. For example, you may set a small goal and see if you can achieve it. Dr. David Burns suggests trying to act mediocre. When we set a modest goal and work hard to achieve it, we experience initial success, which elevates our mood and allows us to get out of a rut. A modest goal is easy to achieve, and will lead to personal satisfaction upon completion. It will get your mind going and you will start to feel motivated.

Once you achieve a little success, you will start the ball rolling and start to act more freely and creatively. You'll find that you can transform a slump into a productive work session. So don't get discouraged. Set modest goals, and get to work. Getting out of a mental slump and into a peak performance mental state can sometimes be a matter of starting small and building momentum.