15 Ways to Get Out of Any Situation
Do you feel trapped in a situation you don't want to be in? Maybe you feel like you're stagnating in life. Maybe you're living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe you're unhappy with your weight. Whatever your situation is, when you're stuck in a rut, it can feel like you're never going to get out. But let's change that today! Here are 15 ways to get out of any situation. Welcome to Alux.
Number one: Focus only on your most important goal. We've all got a lot on our plates, and most of us have several goals we're trying to accomplish at one time. Stop splitting your focus! Dividing up your energy and time to focus on multiple goals means you're going to reach these goals more slowly. The solution is to pick one goal and focus on it completely. Take your most important goal and direct all of your focus at it. The rest can wait. Your most important goal should be landing a new job, saving more money in a month than you ever have before, or losing weight. Whatever the goal is for you, write it down. Then develop a realistic plan of action with the steps needed to achieve it. If your goal is to find a new job, those steps could look like writing a new resume, applying to 10 jobs a day, purchasing a nice outfit for an interview, preparing practice questions for the interviews, and so on. You get the idea. Focusing only on your most important goal means you'll achieve it faster and get out of your situation sooner.
Number two: Think about how you're using your time. Achieving our goals and getting ourselves out of situations takes time. A common excuse for why we're staying in a bad situation is we don't have the time. "I don't have time to lose weight. I don't have time to apply for a new job." Every person on Earth has the same amount of time in a day as anyone else. If you don't have time to work toward this goal, you need to figure out why that is. Start by writing down all of your work and non-work activities that you do in a week. Also write down how long you spend on each of these activities. You could even use a time tracking app to make this easier. After you've mapped out the week's activities, see how much unaccounted time you have remaining. Chances are, you'll see you actually do have a lot of time you could be spending on achieving these goals. So where is that time going? Sometimes we fail to notice just how much time we're spending on unproductive, mindless activities like scrolling social media or watching TV. Now that you're aware of this, you can change it. Instead of wasting your time, you can plan to spend that time working toward your goals.
Number three: Make your brain happy. Did you know that feeling motivated is the result of a spike in dopamine in our brains? We feel motivated because we're anticipating something good is going to happen. For example, we might feel motivated to organize our desk because we know we'll like having a clean workstation, and it's this little spike in dopamine that gives us the motivation to accomplish our goals. Almost everyone has experienced being unmotivated at some point in their life. Feeling unmotivated makes achieving our goals seem impossible. The good news is that there are things we can do to give our brains dopamine even when we feel unmotivated to achieve our big goals. Some things you could do include moving around, even just going for a short brisk walk; eating foods like nuts, eggs, yogurt, fruits, vegetables, and salmon; taking a 20-minute nap; sharing an accomplishment with a friend or family member; and setting easy, small goals like doing your laundry or cleaning the kitchen. You may find that doing one or two of these activities gives our brains a little dopamine spike, and you've got enough motivation to move on to your bigger tasks.
Number four: Strike a pose. Our posture and body movements can actually have an impact on our mentality. For example, when we sit slouched over in a chair, we can feel unmotivated. Slouching and bunching up are called low power poses. High power poses include stretching out and making a "V" with your arms. Striking a high power pose can boost testosterone, which in turn boosts confidence and lowers cortisol, the stress hormone. And don't be misled; both men and women produce testosterone, so this advice applies to everyone. Okay, so next time you feel like you need a boost in confidence or need to lower your stress levels, start by striking a pose. It might just give you the confidence you need to overcome any situation.
Number five: Create a pre-game routine. When you know you've got a difficult task ahead, you can feel stressed, nervous, and unmotivated. Developing a pre-game routine that you do before starting to work on your goals can help you to get your head in the game and ultimately perform well. The key is to make sure your routine is incredibly easy. That way, you've got no excuses. Let's say your goal is to bulk up, and you need to work out. Your pre-game routine could be to change into workout clothes, fill up your water bottle, and drink a protein shake. Even when you lack the motivation to work on your goal, finding enough motivation to carry out your pre-game routine is much easier. After you've successfully completed the pre-game routine, your brain will release a little bit of dopamine, like we talked about, giving you enough motivation to move on to the next, more challenging task.
Number six: Set the bar lower. Getting out of a situation you don't want to be in is never going to be an easy task; otherwise, you'd already be out of it. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the goals that we set for ourselves. For example, if someone's goal is to get out of serious debt, this task might feel impossible to them. But instead of focusing on achieving this huge goal, work toward achieving smaller parts of the goal. The first small goal this person could have is to consolidate all of their debt into one payment plan, so they don't have to deal with the stress of multiple loans. The next small goal could be starting to search for a cheaper apartment. Breaking our goals up like this makes them so much more manageable and allows us to see the fact that we're making progress on getting out of our situation.
Number seven: Tackle your fears. While some people try to put on fearless facades, we've all got fears. Sometimes we can become so paralyzed by fear that we end up stagnating in a bad situation. Think about the situation you want to get out of. What fears do you have about getting out of it? For example, if you want to stop being overweight, what scares you about it? Are you afraid of failure? Are you scared of people making fun of you? Figure out exactly what's scaring you about getting out of this situation. Then question this fear. Is your fear a valid reason to stop trying to improve your situation? Because look, most often the answer is no.
Number eight: Remember to reward yourself. Rewards are what drive the vast amount of human actions. Would you go to work if you weren't getting paid? Probably not. We carry out tasks because we know there's a reward at the end. When we're working toward big goals, we often have to wait a long time for the reward. This can cause us to become unmotivated. So to maintain our motivation, we can reward ourselves along the way. For example, if you're trying to find a new job, give yourself a reward each time you nab an interview. The reward you give yourself could be spending time playing a video game, treating yourself to some ice cream, or whatever you like. Tailor the reward to your situation. For example, if you're short on cash, don't reward yourself with something expensive. Keep it simple.
Number nine: Retrain your inner voice. To get out of a bad situation, confidence is going to be essential, and confidence comes from within. Your inner voice is where it all starts. Positive self-talk can instantly give you a confidence boost. Simply telling yourself, "You've got this," can go a long way even if you don't truly believe it. By talking positively about yourself to yourself, you'll start to right now in your mind tell yourself you can get out of this situation. Regularly practicing positive self-talk can start to change your mindset and give you more confidence. And it's been found that people who talk to themselves using the second person voice, that means using "you" instead of "I" when they self-talk can have an even greater positive impact on confidence. This is likely because saying something like "You can do this" feels like you're getting external confirmation and appreciation.
Number ten: Try a fresh start. Why is it that so many people make New Year's resolutions? People like to embark on tackling new goals once they feel like they've been given a fresh start. For a lot of people, a fresh start can feel rejuvenating and give them more motivation. With the new year coming up, you could take this as your sign to start making big strides toward getting out of your situation. But actually, you can have a fresh start at any time of the year. You could make your fresh start next month or next Monday. Your fresh start could even mean cleaning up, so you have a clean house to start working on your goal. Whatever your fresh start is, it might just give you that extra motivation you need to get out of your situation.
Number eleven: Have someone else hold you accountable. While self-reliance is an admirable quality, sometimes we all need a little external help. Having someone else hold us accountable can really help us to find and maintain motivation. Telling someone about how you're working to get out of your situation means you're not only trying to prove to yourself that you can do it, but also to someone else too. You could work as a team with someone else, and both of you could work in a buddy system where you check up on each other and make sure you're both progressing toward your goal. Or you could simply ask someone to occasionally check in on you and make sure you're still taking steps toward getting out of your situation. When you know the person is going to ask about how your goals are going, you start to feel like you shouldn't let them down, and sometimes that's all the motivation we need.
Number twelve: Focus on positive outcomes. While it's easier said than done, obsessing over things that might go wrong is unhelpful and unproductive. Will focusing on negative outcomes help you to get out of your situation? Well, if not, then this is something you need to train your brain to stop doing. When you catch yourself thinking about negative outcomes or how hard getting out of your situation will be, consciously shift your thought pattern. Think about how great it will be when you accomplish your goal. Think about how, although getting out of your situation will be challenging, by taking small but consistent steps, you can and will reach your goal.
Number thirteen: Think about the bigger picture. Take yourself out of the equation for just a moment. How will getting out of your situation benefit other people? For example, maybe you've got children. If you're trying to get out of a bad apartment, think about how happy it'll make your kids when you do. If you're trying to get out of a bad relationship, think about how relieved your family and friends will feel when you do. By looking at the bigger picture, we could realize that getting out of our situation will have more benefits than just our own happiness, and this can help to give us the motivation we need.
Number fourteen: Go green. Did you know that colors can have an impact on our mood, motivation, and decisions? Well, the color blue can make you feel calm and peaceful. The color red can signal danger to our brains. And green? Green is associated with energy, motivation, and creativity. And since you're trying to get out of your situation, green is the color you need in life. You could bring the color green into your house by hanging artwork, growing plants, or even painting a wall. An easier and cheaper way to go is to simply walk in a nearby park or hike in nature. Take notice of how your mood changes when you're surrounded by the color green. You might find you've got more motivation and energy to get out of that situation.
Number fifteen: Find daily inspiration. Feeling unmotivated is the biggest obstacle to getting out of a situation. While motivation should primarily come from within, sometimes all we need is a little outside help. Where will you look for your daily inspiration? It could be from a motivational book, a trusted friend, or it could be right here on YouTube with Alux or on the Alux app. Make a point to seek out inspiration and motivation every single day because daily inspiration will help to keep you on track and motivated to get out of any situation.
And that's it for today, Aluxers! Thanks for watching. Since you stuck with us until the end, you of course deserve a bonus. Now, as we talked about, getting out of a bad situation requires motivation, but motivation isn't always easy to come by, and mastering self-motivation can be particularly challenging. Do you often struggle with finding motivation yourself? Well, we've got just the video for you! You can watch this one next.