Every outsourcing engagement goes thru the pulls and pressures of work.  The concept of do more with less has pushed both sides of the outsourcing engagements to the brink at times.  The combination of pressures arsing from people, process and technology impacts people (human beings) the most.

Sometimes finding the way forward takes some self-reflection. If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated or tired of dealing with the same problems again and again, there might be solutions right in front of you that you just can’t see.

Lack of mentoring and support structures on both sides at times leaves resources perplexed.

Here are the four questions can help clear away your mental blocks so that you can move forward.

1. What’s your mindset?
Start by looking at your attitude about your situation. What are you telling yourself? For example, it could be:

• “I don’t have the energy to deal with this.”
• “Why try harder? It won’t really make a difference.”
• “Things will never get better.”
• “Why do I care”
• My loyalty is limited to myself”

Your mindset may be the very thing that’s holding you back, because it affects your choices and how you engage with others. If you find that your self-talk is negative, what messages do you want to replace the current ones with so that you can make more progress?

2. What are you tolerating that you need to let go of?
We all have things, large and small, that we tolerate in our lives. When you hold onto them for too long, they can significantly affect your progress. Take a look at the list below to see if any of these apply to you:

• Being disorganized, resulting in unproductive time
• Failing to plan ahead, allowing lower priority work to take over
• Doing work that others should be doing because of a failure to hold others accountable or delegate

What one small change can you make to free up some energy, and create capacity to find a solution?

3. What choices are you making that are keeping you where you are?
Things typically don’t just happen to us. Outcomes are usually the result of a series or choices that we and others have made along the way. When we make some choices over and over again, they form patterns that may not serve us well.

So, if you’re frustrated by what’s going on around you, ask yourself how you are enabling that situation to continue. The following questions may provoke some ideas:

• Do you keep trying the same approach, but expect a different result?
• Are you putting off a difficult conversation?
• Have your engaged others in solving the problem with you (e.g., escalated the issue that needs to be addressed)?

As you consider the questions above, what do you notice about your own behavior?

4. Are you burnt out?
Finally, your physical health could be a surprising factor that’s keeping you from making progress. Are you getting enough sleep? What does your diet look like? Feeling physically drained can lead you to make more emotional rather than rational decisions. Even getting 15 minutes more of sleep, making sure you don’t skip a meal, or taking five-minute breaks throughout the day can make a big difference