You’ve got your eye on your next career move. You can see yourself thriving in it. You feel ready! But you’re stuck in your current role, and you can’t seem to break out. You sense that something bigger than you is holding you back. What’s going on here, and how can you break free?

Your vision is only the beginning.

Consider the biblical account of the rise of Joseph, son of Jacob. Joseph served in an executive leadership role with incredible authority and influence during what most scholars estimate to be the mid- to late 17th century BC. At the pinnacle of his career, Joseph was second-in-command only to Pharaoh in ruling over all of Egypt. In that leadership role, Joseph’s inspired vision and administrative acumen enabled him to leverage a global crisis to transform Pharaoh’s kingdom into an economic powerhouse, consolidating all of the region’s capital and labor under Pharaoh’s direct control.

Joseph had received a grand vision for his career at very early age. At seventeen years old, Joseph was working alongside his brothers as a lowly shepherd under his father, who was a migrant herdsman in the land of Canaan. Shepherding in those days was hard, dirty work in gritty conditions with long hours, low pay, and very little recognition. It was hardly the kind of role where you would expect to find an up-and-coming leader. But Joseph was a dreamer, and he had big dreams that one day, he would be a great ruler.

However, all did not go well with Joseph on his journey from shepherd to Pharaoh’s second-in-command. Joseph’s career path included being betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, being sexually harassed on the job and falsely accused of rape, and even being thrown into prison and completely forgotten. After two full years of languishing in prison with no one advocating for him and no end in sight, Joseph could not have felt more stuck!

How did Joseph get so stuck, and how did he move from being woefully stuck to stepping into the role of his dreams?

To move on to the next season, we must first complete our current assignment.

I am a firm believer that each of our roles has a purpose in our spiritual and practical development, and each of those roles has a corresponding season. Some seasons we move through quickly. Others seem to drag on forever. But in each season, there are assignments from God that we must complete before we can move on to the next season. These assignments typically include:

1. Something we have to pick up
2. Something we have to lay down
3. Something we have to give someone

Something we have to pick up

In order to ascend to second-in-command over all of Egypt, Joseph first needed to pick up some new skills. It’s one thing to keep sheep safe, accounted for, and all moving together in the right direction. It’s another thing entirely to cultivate the vision required to see economic warning signs, recognize strategic opportunities embedded in them, develop and implement a plan to capitalize on those opportunities, and manage the people and resources required to pull that plan off.

To pick up these skills, God placed Joseph into the role of a servant in the house of Pharaoh’s Captain of the Guard, who had purchased Joseph as a slave. “Servant” is not a very exciting job title. However, in that role, Joseph learned how to gain the trust and respect of others. He acquired skills in the intricacies of household and administrative management. He gained experience in the Egyptian language, culture, and customs. And, most importantly, he fostered a deeper relationship with God and a trust in His plans, which helped Joseph to build the spiritual character required to endure setbacks and delays with humility, patience, and hope.

As you think about your current role, consider what you’re picking up along the way. What skills are you developing that will make you better prepared for your next role? What relationships are you cultivating that will provide the support and sponsorship that you’ll need to move forward? How are you growing and maturing both professionally and spiritually into the leader you’re meant to be?

Something we have to lay down

Joseph’s big dreams as a youth enabled him to see the promising future that God had in mind for him. However, Joseph hadn’t yet learned that just because a vision came into his head didn’t mean that it needed to come immediately out of his mouth.

You see, as the youngest of twelve brothers, Joseph was the apple of his father’s eye, and Joseph’s brothers were envious of the gifts and benefits that their father openly lavished on Joseph as the favored child. So, when Joseph told his brothers not once, but twice, that his dreams had revealed that all of them and also both of their parents would bow down to him in the future, Joseph’s vision was not well received. As a consequence, Joseph’s brothers got rid of this annoying, entitled little favored child by selling him into slavery. Joseph’s insensitivity to the who, what, when, and how of communicating his vision cost him his status, his relationships, his job, and his home.

Before Joseph could emerge from this season and advance to the next, he would need to lay down the entitlement mentality that was not serving him well. He would need to lay down the pride in himself and in his favored status that blinded him to the effect that his communication style had on others. And Joseph would require a strong dose of humility in order to get there.

Joseph would also need to lay down feelings of bitterness at having been wronged by his brothers. God could not move Joseph into a position of authority until He could trust Joseph not to use that authority for vengeance. God had more important matters for Joseph to attend to, and His plan required Joseph to bring the family back together, not break it apart. God needed a long season with Joseph to help him work through those feelings and lay them fully down.

What might you need to lay down in order to advance to your next season? What thoughts, feelings, habits, or behaviors keep tripping you up? What feedback do you continue to receive that might be a clue to something you need to lay down in order to move into your next role with effectiveness? Will you seek God’s help, let Him work in you, and do your part to lay those things fully down?

Something we have to give someone

So, you’ve done the hard work. You’ve picked up the learning. You’ve truly laid down the things that have been tripping you up. And you keep doing the work diligently every day. But you’re still stuck. Why aren’t the doors opening for you to move forward?

Sometimes, it isn’t about you. Sometimes there are other people who need what you have, and they can’t pick those things up for themselves if you’re not there to give them.

Just when Joseph was making real headway in his role as a servant for the Captain of the Guard, he was sexually harassed by the captain’s wife, then falsely accused of rape, and then thrown into prison. None of this fiasco was Joseph’s fault, but now he was as stuck as stuck could be. With no clear way forward, all Joseph could do was apply what he had learned from his previous assignments and begin cultivating the trust and respect of the leaders in the prison.

One morning, Joseph noticed that two of his fellow prisoners were sad. Each of them had had dreams, but they had no one to interpret their dreams for them. Joseph knew that he was a gifted interpreter, and he had learned from a previous assignment not to take the glory for himself. Joseph rightfully gave the glory to God and gave of his gift to interpret the two prisoners’ dreams.

Joseph’s big promotion

By picking up the learning and humility that God had prepared for for him, laying down his pride and his bitterness against his brothers, and giving to the prisoners in the prison, Joseph completed his required assignments and demonstrated to God that he was ready to unlock the doors to his next season. When one of the two prisoners whose dreams Joseph had interpreted was released, it was that prisoner who eventually told Pharaoh about Joseph’s gift of dream interpretation, and that conversation was the catalyst for Pharaoh’s recognition and subsequent promotion of Joseph into his ultimate position of great authority.

So, how do I get unstuck?

Vision is good! Goals are good! Both help you to develop and execute a strategy to grow into your purpose. But don’t neglect to steward the season that you’re in now. You are on assignment! Instead of dwelling on feeling stuck, approach this season like a treasure hunt. Ask God: “Show me what You need me to pick up in this assignment. Help me to understand what You need me to lay down. Highlight what You need me to give and who You need me to give it to.” Seek God in these questions every day, and He will be faithful to help you successfully complete your current assignment and prepare you to move into your next season!

If you’d like help stewarding this season and understanding and fulfilling your current assignment, I encourage you to check out my coaching page or connect with me directly. I’d love to talk with you!