Strategies can actually move the ball down the field. Here are just a few strategies you might use to break free, bust through, and get moving again when things just aren't working.

Everyone gets stuck from time to time.

Whether you are trying to launch a new website, finish up the Sunday message, or trying to get buy-in for a new ministry in your city, you are going to experience moments where you feel completely stuck. Maybe there is a person on your team that, for whatever reason, isn’t engaged or is antagonistic toward new ideas. You want things to work, but they just aren’t.

You will have moments when what you are doing isn’t working.

In those moment, how do you respond? Do you fold your arms and stomp your foot? Maybe you bury your head in the sand. One type of leader might clear the table and aimlessly vent his frustration. Some people just cross their fingers and hope for the best.

What’s your strategy for getting unstuck and working again?

Here are ten strategies that won’t work:

  1. Anger
  2. Anxiety
  3. Cynicism
  4. Self-doubt
  5. Hope
  6. Passion
  7. Good intentions
  8. Denial
  9. Wishful thinking
  10. Magic

These ten things can be fuel, but they aren’t strategies. Some are better fuel than others. But they are all fuel for your strategy, not the strategy itself.

The problem is, without any other tactics or real strategies, these “false strategies” all end up in the same place: hopelessness. The feeling that nothing you try will work, things are always going to be this way, and there is nothing you can do about it. You inevitably end up in hopelessness when you rely solely on a false strategy like hope, cynicism, or wishful thinking.

“I hope this works out” is a perfectly fine thing to think, but a poor way to actually nudge an outcome in your favor. Hope, believing that positive future outcomes are possible, is a critical ingredient in helping you grow and persevere. But hope has to be paired with some other action or movement. The same goes for anger, good intentions, and having expectations. Left alone, they are mighty powerless.

On the other hand, strategies can actually move the ball down the field. Here are just a few strategies you might use to break free, bust through, and get moving again:

  1. Limit your options and commit
  2. Take a risk
  3. Break a big goal into smaller, short-term goals that add up
  4. Redefine your goal
  5. Listen and empathize
  6. Assume the best in others
  7. Get direct, honest feedback
  8. Rest and recover
  9. Practice
  10. Resist the comfortable choice and make a hard one
  11. Learn a new skill
  12. Seek out a conflicting opinion
  13. Meet another person’s needs
  14. Exceed another person’s expectations
  15. Clarify your action steps in reverse order, starting with the end in mind
  16. Cut your losses and move on
  17. Give the decision away to someone else
  18. Double down
  19. Experiment
  20. Practice gratitude
  21. Celebrate small victories along the way
  22. Be accountable to someone else
  23. Be transparent
  24. Iterate
  25. Practice humility

Personally and professionally, in your relationships and in your organization: do you have a strategy to get where you want to be?

Strategies don’t guarantee success, but they do create space to take action, learn, and keep moving forward.

When you are stuck, or when you aren’t seeing the outcomes you want to see, what is your strategy? If you don’t have a strategy, get one. If you are relying on a false strategy, replace it with an actual strategy. Maybe you have a strategy, but it has run its course. Try a new strategy starting today.

When things aren’t working, make sure you have a strategy to get them working again.

It’s too easy to fool ourselves and settle for something less.