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Stagnant Life:

This post is a response to a question posted on quora about how to deal with a stagnant life. At some point in our life, I am sure we all feel that life doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and it feels like being in a rut – doing the same old things every day with little excitement and the sense of adventure. This post is about finding that sense of adventure and motivation which helps us shake off the dull, boring set of events and find the excitement in our everyday life.

I would like to refer to Anthony Robbin’s work here where he talks about the basic 5 areas of our life which complete us. To use his metaphor, each of these 5 areas contribute to a circle and if any one of them is short, the circle is a jagged one and no wonder life doesn’t move the way we want to. We shall tackle this question based on those five circles and identify and answer for this question- How to deal with a stagnant life:

1: Physical

How do you feel about your physical body? Do you think that you are in a great shape? If we were to ask you to rate your physical fitness/health/energy on a scale of 1 to 10, what would your rating be? To remind you, we do not really care about what others feel about rating you, it is your own rating – a personal one which you need not share with anyone else. It is for your eyes only!

And once you have done this, what do you feel about it? Do you think there is some work that has to be done in this regard to get you to the physical stature you desire and deserve? And if so – what is the next course of action.

If you said that the gym is boring and it is annoying to go the same place over and over again, please refer to our post – 10 Useful Tips to Ensure gym motivation everyday

2. Emotional

Most times, this is one zone most of us seem to neglect and take for granted. Yet, it is the most important aspect which drives us all. It is this aspect which wakes us up in the morning, gives us the energy to do the things we do. Again, we would suggest you to make the rating on a scale from 1 to 10 to see where you are and where you want to be.

The moment you do this, the next important thing is to identify what makes you completely juiced up and drives you. For me, a sustained mode of action is reading a good inspirational book every day. It helps me create a world of possibility around me. For some, it is the thumping music which does the trick, for someone else, it is helping a friend in need.

Pick anything you think makes the most impact on you and the next trick is to find a way to do that on a daily basis.

3. Relationship

I cannot stress on this enough, we all are social beings and we have a tendency to do more things for the people we love than we do for ourselves. So find out where you are on this scale and see what you can do to make things better. Maybe you want to be a better friend or find the love of your life. Maybe you want to spend more time with your kids. You know what you want the best, identification is the key!

The moment you identify it, see what you can do every day to improve it. And these improvements need not be huge, they can be as small as watching a movie together or cooking a meal together, surprising them with a flower, taking a walk with a friend and so on. This is a rich area of life and the more we do to make it better, the happier we get.

4. Business

By business, we just mean your career, what you are doing right now and what you want to do 5 years from now. If the answer is you don’t know – then perhaps the action item is to try and identify what it can be. Sure life can get stagnant and boring – but that is because we sometimes fail to see where we are going and how we are placed with what we want to achieve in life. The more we are focused on what is missing or how boring or stagnant life has become, the more we live in that vicious cycle. Instead, look at what you want to get out of it and try finding ways.

I am sure there is an answer out there. It is just about asking the right question and it is also about getting out of your comfort zone with a little tip from our previous post : 10 Simplistic ways to get out of your comfort zone. 

5. Finance

Finally it is also about the affordability to the quality of life you desire and deserve. Of course I agree that it is a never ending pit and no matter how much we have, we could always use a little more. Unfortunately, that is one resource which seems to stagnate every now and then. But then again, there are ways we could make more. And I don’t mean gambling or ‘smart investments’. I mean trying to find ways you can improve this aspect of your life as well.

That might mean meeting people who have done it well and see what contributed to their success, it might mean making some small investments, cutting some unnecessary expenses, drawing out a smart plan or even finding smarter ways to make more money.

After all this, if you feel that your life is stagnant, you are clearly missing out on the warning signals and continually seem to miss the ones which can have a big impact in life. Pick any sector, I can almost blindly challenge that there are things that need to be done there and there is no way life would have gotten stagnant. It is just that sometimes we miss observing the things that are around us and we need a fresh perspective.

And that was the purpose of this post – hope you found it useful. Please do share your thoughts below, we would love to discuss more.