What To Do When You’re Feeling Lost

Episode 23 | Host: Emilie Aries | Guest: Maxie McCoy

For today’s Boss Tip, I’m relaying some words of wisdom from my pal, Maxie McCoy. Maxie was actually present at our first-ever Bossed Up Bootcamp back in 2013 and has been a dear friend and supporter since then. Maxie’s been an especially big source of inspiration for me lately as I’ve been diving head-first into writing the Bossed Up book, as she’s recently authored her first book, You’re Not Lost.

Here’s what Maxie has to say to folks who are feeling a distinct lack in direction and looking for answers:

“You won’t feel lost forever, but you do need to deeply believe in yourself in order to find your way. Here’s one question that can help you come out of the lost fog immediately and return to your own power.

Ask yourself – What’s the absolute smallest thing I can do right now to get toward a future that energizes me? Contrary to what you’ve been told and contrary to the pressure you’re putting on yourself to ‘have it all figured out,’ you don’t actually have to have the big picture completely sorted in order to begin. And you don’t need an intricate goals spreadsheet in order to make progress. You simply need to be willing to take small step after small step after small step without knowing where the steps will lead you.

If you’re thinking, ‘Well, I don’t know what energizes me.’ Look back on your past month, year, or few years for when you felt that pop of inspiration and thought gosh I would love to do something like that. The things that energize us ARE there. We just have to peel back the layers enough in order to pay attention to what we’ve been feeling all along.

For example, if you’ve always loved learning about design in your own time – making Pinterest boards, taking screenshots of cool graphics, and dreaming up how cool it’d be to design your own website, but your day-to-day soul-sucking job is in sales, what’s energizing you is right there. You don’t have to go from sales into design immediately. That would freak anyone out. But, you do have to be willing to do something small today, to go towards the feeling of being energized.

In this example, if you asked yourself, ‘What’s the absolute smallest thing I can do right now to move toward a future that energizes me?’ You could take a friend who is a designer out for coffee this week. Or, you could research design classes online or in your area. So if you’re feeling lost, move aside the big picture and do something simple today. Let it be small. Let it be now. And if you continue to take small step after small step after small step around actions that brings you energy, the lost fog will begin to clear quickly.

Remember, no one has it all figured out. You won’t always feel lost, but you’ll always be finding your way.”

To learn more about Maxie McCoy and get lots more of her insights, head on over to MaxieMcCoy.com and click here to pre-order a copy of her book, You’re Not Lost, right now.