Getting Unstuck

Hey there! 👋

Before we begin this newsletter, I just want to say thank you for all your emails and feedback that you have sent. As you can see, I’ve made some changes based on your feedback. Is it better? Let me know! I truly appreciate all of you and your feedback. Now let’s dive in!

Feeling stuck?

You’re not alone in this. It could be anything—from design work, to even your career. I’ve heard from people in the senior management talking about feeling stuck as well. There are a few ways to help you feel unstuck because doing nothing is not going to help. Here’s some tips of how you can move ahead.

Get help

Getting help from someone you trust, whether it’s your mentor or your close friend, could help you move forward. Yes, you can whine about things for a while but talk to someone who could give you a new perspective of how to handle the problem. If you’re facing a blocker from a senior colleague, try to speak with someone with experience of handling that. Your peer might not have the know-hows of handling such situations.

Move away from the problem

This might be a bit of a controversial advice. But it’s not to avoid your problems. When you’re feeling stuck, you’re not in the best mindset to make decisions. Your mind needs to rest, recharge and get inspiration from something else. Moving away from the problem and coming back to it later might help. If it’s time constrained, try getting help and brainstorm the situation together—but, away from the problem. Or you could grab a pie.

Assess and reflect

Sometimes assessing and reflecting is all it takes to put things in perspective. It could be sorting out your priorities or just assessing the scenario from the beginning of where the problem started—what if we do it this way, or that. Sometimes, you could try doing it in a more interesting way, for example, if you look up to someone, ask yourself “What would this person do? How will they solve this”. Being creative in the way you assess your problems might just re-ignite that spark and help you find a new way in getting unstuck.

Help others

I got to tell you, a lot of times, helping people out is one of the best ways to get new ideas. Because you’re not as invested in the problem, you find that you are more likely to use creative ways to solve the problem for that person you’re helping. At the same time, when helping others voluntarily, you feel that sense of achievement and higher self-esteem that could help you feel that you can take on your own problem in a new way.

With that said, you don’t have to pick only a single way to solve your problem, if you are more than capable of using any of the above at the same time, you’re more than welcome to do so. Sometimes, even after doing all of above, you may still find yourself stuck. If so, take a day off to recharge and unplug. Do the thing that you love or energise you.

Something to think about 💡: If you’re feeling stuck from a burnout, do not continue to push ahead. Rest is what you need. Burnouts are a sign that you have pushed yourself too hard. Go for a holiday or just sleep away your entire day—but just recharge. Don’t let yourself burn out.

Mentor’s Notes

I remember watching Tom Hank’s interview which left a very deep impression of me. Check out the video here:

In the video he says “Time is your ally, and if nothing else, just wait. Just wait it out” However, when waiting it out, it does not mean that you don’t do anything. Keep treading forward, and keep moving ahead. Even small steps forward are still steps forward.

Anyway, it was a joy writing this for you. As usual, if you love it, please share it with your friends or colleagues. Take care and see you in the next one!

— Carlsson