There comes a time when every single person that works a desk job feels “stuck.” Feeling stuck at work produces many different emotions, from loneliness, disappointment, and complacency to feelings of isolation, a lack of motivation, and a sense of feeling lost.

When we find ourselves in this place, we want to get out as quickly as possible, right? Easier said than done.

The villain in this story is “safety and security.” Staying the course is the easy route; there is no risk of failure, no risk of getting uncomfortable in trying something new, and a future that has some stability. We lack the time to look into jobs that might provide a sense of fulfillment. Internally, we don’t know where to start (feeling “lost”). From a big picture perspective, we might not know our “purpose,” which leads us to question if we’re doing what we truly want to be doing.

You might even be finding yourself at a job you normally love but just a bit burnt out. Maybe you haven’t had the time to focus on yourself, pursue any of your passions, or simply haven’t had the energy to bring your full self into work each day. This can cause you to resent the job you usually enjoy doing.

Making a Change at Work

We know how you feel. Jason started in public accounting and Bret started in corporate retail working a job in data analytics. Long hours, weekends, late nights, and busy seasons. After a while, it all kind of blurs together – it’s easy to feel “safe” going through the motions, collecting a salary, and working for the (work-free) weekend. At times, the jobs were extremely rewarding and challenging, but overall the work itself wasn’t our purpose. The excuses were adding up, and we needed to make a change to get unstuck.

This is now our business — providing health to people that want to pursue life with motivation and passion to give the world their full potential. We started Live Better with this “why” in mind, and built a community of people doing just that to surround you with the support to go after your passions and purpose.

Here Are 5 Strategies to Get “Unstuck” at Work and Find Motivation:

Get Physical

Your physical state often determines your mental state. Ever feel better after exercise? When our physical capacity grows so does our mental capacity. After putting ourselves through physical challenge, (mental) stress is just a bit easier to handle as we adapt to hardship. If you’re in a regular training routine, try doing a go-to workout you know you like and will be successful doing. A long walk in nature will also do the trick, even if that’s just a stroll through the park.

If all else fails, we dare you to take an ice-cold shower. Try 15-30 seconds (…as cold as it goes), and just yell. Feel better?

Start Asking Questions

When we feel stuck, it’s often because we ask ourselves questions we don’t know the answers to. Think on that for a moment. What if we could find a guide or coach to help us explore ideas instead of bang our heads against the wall? Have you been thinking about exploring something different for work? Go find the best person you know doing that job and start asking questions. Feeling out of shape or tired? Go find a trainer or health coach you know and ask for help. Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way.

Get Mental

The foundation of this whole game is your mindset. Once our physical state has been shifted, we can turn inwards. Mental health is the most important health. What kinds of strategies can you employ to get out of that spiral of complacency or negativity? Sometimes it’s an endless feedback loop of unhelpful mental “noise.” Meditation is an incredible tool to quiet that noise, as is note-taking, making “dream lists” and actioning on your ideas.

Pursue a Side Passion Outside of Work

If you have a “side hustle” idea, pursuing some work in this area can boost creativity and help you connect patterns from things you’re interested to learn about. Even if the idea doesn’t go anywhere, you’ll still have learned valuable lessons about the type of work you were doing. This could extend to your volunteer work, an online business, or simply exploring basic work in a field of your choice. By starting your own business, you’ll learn about sales, marketing, communication, accounting, law, you name it. This will lead to your next project, and maybe, just maybe, your dream career (fun fact: it did for us.

Get Social 

Find people that support the way you want to feel. It’s that simple. We’re social beings, and we rely on the support of people that have our best interest at heart. People inherently want to help you, but they don’t know you need help unless you tell them. This is part of the mental health equation formerly mentioned; don’t be above accepting help from others. We move from an independent mindset (Me vs. Everyone Else “I can do it myself”) to an interdependent mindset (a series of “strategic partnerships”). Seek motivation and assistance from a social group you trust.

These five strategies are easy ways to overcome the inertia of feeling “stuck.” Be aware of it, call it out, then move past it by helping yourself and allowing others to help you.

Then, have the best day ever…every single day.