Caught Up in Anything? How to Get Out Quickly

I think this is a great question to ask yourself every so often.  I ask myself this question a lot.  This post shows how I escape what I’m caught up in.  It works.

There’s nothing worse than being (or feeling) caught up in something, whether it’s work, relationships, business, your environment, whatever.  If you feel that way, then something’s not right.  And the default first step for most of us is to complain about it, or feel hard done by.

The first reason people stay caught up: they feel the pain and just spend their time and energy complaining about it. Many people never make it past this step.

Ask yourself in what areas you feel hard done by, or what you’ve been complaining about recently, and you might realise what you’re caught up in.  Some things you’ll realise will pass by, so you can just shrug your shoulders at those.  But some are unlikely to just pass by.  These are the things that you’re frustrated about that you really are temporarily caught up in.  Of course the remedy to your frustrations and worries for these is to get yourself out as carefully and as smartly as possible.

At this point, many people start throwing out the excuses and reasons why they can’t get themselves out.  But most of these excuses just sound lame when you really think about them.  Each of these excuses are effectively you casting another vote to continue to spend your short life caught up in something you’re unhappy about, instead of voting to get the hell out.

The second reason people stay caught up: they dish out excuses or reasons why they can’t get out, each one significantly decreasing any hope or chance of escape.  Of those who get past the complaining stage, few get past this stage.

The reality is usually that you can get yourself out if you drop the excuses and just go for it.  The first step then is to contemplate what you’d do if you did just drop those excuses.  If you have trouble doing that, then answer this: how would an actor in a movie play the role of you once you’d dropped those excuses?  Consider acting like that.

Obviously consider the consequences on your life and relationships in the short, medium and long term of both staying in what you’re caught up in, and getting out of it.  Then weigh up what you’re prepared to live with.  Then decide.

The third reason people stay caught up: they fail to decide to do something about it.  They may get as far as dropping all excuses and they may feel they’ve plucked up the courage to act.  But somehow, they just don’t make the decision.

And of course, verbal decisions (or passive decisions in your mind), in my book, can’t really claim the title of ‘a made decision’ until you act on them.  Only then have you really decided.

The fourth reason people stay caught up: they don’t plan some steps to take to get out as carefully and as smartly as possible (with minimal damage), and they don’t act on these steps.  Of those who decide to do something about their situation, few make it through to actually doing something about it.

So there it is.

Once you notice you’re caught up in something, do this:

1. Stop complaining and re-direct your time and energy…
2. Drop the excuses. Either plan a way around them, or just drop them (but consider the consequences, and weigh up whether you’d prefer to stay caught up for the rest of short your life or not)
3. Decide to act
4. Make a plan and act on it
5. Notice what happens
6. Adapt your plan and actions with what you’ve noticed and learned and keep taking actions until you’re no longer caught up

Now, depending on what you’re caught up in, you may not know what outcome you want, how you’ll plan to get it, or what you need to learn to be able to get out.  But they’re just excuses.  (See point 2 above).  Work it out.  Use your resources.  Use your contacts.  Talk to me.  Talk to each other.  Use your brain.  (What really?  Yeah yeah.  Honestly, it works)

If you’re caught up in your career, here’s your plan, map and all you need to learn and do to get out – click here

P.S.  Don’t forget to do what it takes so that you don’t get caught up in the same situation again

You might also like these:

1. Big Decisions: Taking Risks
2. 4 Decisions to Sort Your Life Out
3. How to Make Decisions for Better Returns
4. The Slump
5. Become Indispensable