Sometimes you find yourself stuck, not knowing what to do next or which way to go. You can analyze and research, play ‘what if’ until you’re blue in the face, but sometimes the answer just doesn’t come. So what do you do? How do you decide?

As my dad has always told me, “Just pick one and look at the rest.”

At first glance, this might appear to be merely the advice of an exasperated dad, but the more frequently I’ve followed this advice, the more value I find in it.

Sometimes the only thing required to get unstuck is action, any action. Not everything about our world is linear. Not everything can be traced back to a logical cause and effect. Sometimes, all we need to find our answer is to step – in any direction – off of dead center. Movement is the antidote to being stuck. Action is the answer, more often than not.

Where I believe we get hung up is in our requirement to ‘get it right the first time’. When you think about it, doesn’t that seem an inordinately ridiculous goal? Doesn’t it just suck the wind right out of your sails to think about having to do something ‘right’ in order to do it at all? Is it any wonder, then, that we can feel so stuck?

Will the world stop spinning if you make a mistake? Will the sky come crashing down if you don’t do it ‘right’ the first time? Better yet – what if the action you take, the one that doesn’t really ever pan out, is the action that was required to get you to the next decision – the one that REALLY makes a difference in your life? Doesn’t it make sense then, when all of the available choices appear to be equally insufficient, to pick one and look at the rest to get unstuck?