Part of being stuck lies in the simple reality that we do not know everything. As much as read, as much as we study and as much as we can communicate and learn from others there is always a gap between what we know and all that there is to be known.
One view is that we possess insufficient wisdom. That is part of the glass half-full, half-empty view. Over a lifetime we learn a large amount of information – useful, usable, trivial, nonsensical, or fun. All of this learning gets inserted somewhere in the synapses and connections of our memory. Recall is optional.
There will always be a gap between what we know and what we do not know. This underlies why I call an electrician when the repair task is more than fix a plug, reset a circuit breaker or change a light bulb. What you do not know about getting that job, making a decision to move or figuring out how to describe your goals is your STUCK GAP.
This gap could be insufficient wisdom. It could be insufficient money. It could be that you are indeed in quicksand and have not yet found the help you need to get out of that mud hole. To bridge that gap is your purpose. Some gaps are too wide and will not be crossed. Other gaps will give you a choice of which bridge do you want to go over and how fast do you want to get to the other side.
Not all gaps are meant to be traversed. I have not won the lottery. I will not be a professional football player. I will not win an academy award, starring in a movie would have to come first and I am not looking for the location of that bridge.
Learn more. Learn more every day. Make sure that some of that learning activity will assist with your ability to find the bridge, cross over the gap and keep moving towards your goal. Stuck happens. What you do when you are stuck is a choice.
Richard Oppenheim helps individuals and companies get better. His effort is to deliver short term actions that will serve as the foundation for achieving long term goals, such as getting unstuck. He maps what is desired with what can be accomplished and then help create a personal road map for going forward.
As a CPA, Richard was an early innovator of computer based resources. Over the years, his efforts have integrated lots of business processes, personal actions, technology resources and decision making. He has developed computer based professional education courses and co-founded a company providing on-line education courses covering the areas of security, management and control over IT operations.
As an adjunct professor at NYU’s Graduate School of Business, Richard served as a Director with NYU’s Management Decision Laboratory. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and did post-graduate work at New York University.
His writing includes books, magazine columns, computer product reviews, feature articles, trade association pamphlets, book editing and ghostwriting.
His journey continues as he endeavors to guide and illuminate the path that others need to take.
