Why You Feel Stuck, and How to Change It | Michael Davis | TEDxColumbiana

Feeling stuck in a career, a repeating relationship pattern, or a meeting where one stays silent is often blamed on oneself. In this TEDxColumbiana talk, speaker Michael Davis argues that the cause is usually a script picked up in a painful moment and never questioned. He traces his own obstacle back to a wobbly desk in a first-grade classroom. The talk explains why self-awareness alone does not break a limiting belief and offers a different question to ask in place of "What's wrong with me?"

• Feeling stuck is often linked to a script learned in a painful moment, not to personal flaws
• The speaker traces his own obstacle to a wobbly desk in a first-grade classroom
• Self-awareness alone does not break a limiting belief
• A different question is suggested in place of "What's wrong with me?"

Most of us have a place where we keep hitting the same obstacle, whether it's a career that stalls, a relationship pattern that repeats, or a meeting where we had the answer and said nothing. We assume the problem is us. Michael Davis disagrees. He says, “You're not stuck, you're scripted.” In this talk, he traces his own obstacle back to a wobbly desk in a first-grade classroom and shows why feeling stuck is rarely about who you are. It comes from a script you picked up in a painful moment and never questioned. You'll find out why self-awareness alone doesn't break a limiting belief, and the question to ask instead of "What's wrong with me?" Michael Davis is a leading authority on storytelling for impact and influence, known for rewriting the scripts that run the room. Michael Davis works with leaders and sales professionals to speak in a way that earns trust and drives action. During his financial planning career, he saw a pattern. Smart people lost opportunities, not because they lacked expertise, but because their messages didn’t connect. He built a coaching and speaking business to solve that problem. As the founder of SpeakingCPR and a TEDx coach, he’s helped clients shape talks and presentations that have reached more than 6 million views. His work focuses on one core idea: The story you tell yourself, the story your audience believes, and the story you share must align. When they do, people listen. They trust you. They act. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx