Sometimes when we travel or move overseas we can find ourselves in those sticky situations that are hard to get out of. A relationship that’s not going as well as we’d hoped. Unexpected things happening at work or in our family. Needing more money than we had originally budgeted for. I’ve seen endless variations of this, but they have the stickiness in common.
One of my very first blog posts was about questions to ask when making decisions. These are still very important and certainly very helpful to get out of a sticky situation. So in order to get out of something difficult:
A) Ask yourself the following questions to decide if you need to do something to adress the challenge in front of you right now:
- What will happen if you do something about it?
- What will happen if you don’t?
- What won’t happen if you do?
- What won’t happen if you don’t?
B) When you’ve decided that it’s time to act – make a plan and action as soon as possible. Most problems and sticky situations tend to multiply the longer you let them fester, so decide what needs to be done and start doing it today. Talk to a person, find a new job, find new travel buddies, make a savings plan or whatever else you need to do to get back on track.
The most common mistake people make (yes, I’ve made it too!) is to think to long about a plan before they start to take action. As long as you can answer the first 4 questions based on how things are right now, you are more than ready to decide what comes next. It’s up to you however if it’s going to be a passive choice (leave as it is for now and wait for things to change) or active choice (make different things happen as a result of your actions). Now it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do about the next sticky situation you meet.