🚀How to unstuck yourself - Do less & different, Think less & different!

🔒 Life, career, relationships, growth, finances...so many areas to get stuck!

I got stuck many times in my life, in my career, in my finances, in my personal relationships, and in my personal growth.

I also happen to speak with many people who also feel stuck in their lives, so I wanted to share some simple, fast and free technics I have used to unstuck myself.

Before that I want to remind you of Einstein’s definition of insanity which is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

🚀How to unstuck yourself - Do less & different, Think less & different!

There are two main streams that happen in parallel in order to get unstuck – changing things, and decluttering.

🔓 Changing things

You can’t have the same thoughts, say the same words, do the same things and expect new opportunities to show up.

It seems obvious but when we are stuck in a rut we forget about the basics.

Start with changing small things. The goal is to get your creative juices flow and break the autopilot you are on.

🔑 Externally

Start by doing things  that  you don’t usually do. They don’t have to be big, they don’t have to take time, they don’t have to be expensive.

Eat a different food, read a different type of books, watch a documentary on a topic you don’t know about, speak with new people, take a breathing class on YT, go see a concert, etc…

It is all about making a different, deliberate choice. Ideally align these new activities with what interests you.

For example, you would like to be more artsy, but don’t have resources to allocate. Read the art section of your business newspaper (instead of scrolling through social media for the 11th time), watch a documentary on art (instead of sport, TV reality or whatever show), go to the museum with a friend (instead of going for a drink).

It will require you to be present and make an effort versus following your usual pattern, but this will open up your mind to new ideas and build new neural pathways.

A few years ago I started a challenge with myself that I called “the Year of Yes”, for one year instead of systematically saying no to things I usually didn’t do, I said yes. I went to concerts with friends, I spoke to a conference in Bogota, I travelled to a retreat in Tulum…You get the concept. It was great to discover new places, and new people, but more importantly I became more flexible and less fearful to experiment new things.

🔑 Internally

Doing new things is great as you will start seeing yourself differently. The presence required to make different choices is excellent for starting to change your thoughts.

For me, changing things externally broke the auto-pilot and I started noticing my thoughts and it was not pretty.

As I mentioned in the past, I have been plagued by very negative thoughts for as long as I can remember. I was always expecting a catastrophe to happen so I was holding very tight, trying to control everything in my life, which was exhausting.

I started by changing small thoughts, instead of “that networking event is going to be painful” I tried “I might speak with interesting people tonight”.

If you are more present you can more easily monitor your thoughts and swap them for something more aligned once again with the person you would like to be more of.

Perception is reality. Thinking differently will help unstuck yourself.

🔓 Decluttering

I was never a fan of Marie Kondo and I could never understand why the concept of decluttering was so popular. Until I understood that if I wanted new things in my life I needed to make space for them.

Decluttering is a great way to unstuck yourself. The goals is to create space for new opportunities.

🔑 Externally

That is easy to understand. Get rid of the stuff you don’t like, you don’t use, you don’t even know you own. Donate, recycle, tailor, mend, there are plenty of ways to make these items useful for others.

I had this massive locker that was costing me $350/month that I kept for years. It was filled with books, clothes, inventory from a failed business, stuff. I didn’t even know what was in there and would have rather bought a new set of weights, than trying to find them in the mountains of boxes.

Every month I was complaining about the cost, about having to empty it and every month I was not doing anything about it.

One day I just gave my notice so I would not have any other choice than to empty it. It took me a few days, many trips to the Salvation Army and clothing bins, but I eventually did it. Some clothes were brand new and I am sure they made some people happy.

Now, I don’t have to pay and think about it anymore.

It takes physical and mental space to have clutter and unfinished projects. It is better to come to terms with the fact that some of these projects seemed cool (who doesn’t want a home microbrewery, a gym, or spa-like equipment?!) but unrealistic or that no, you will never fit back in your pre-pandemic outfits and they are not a useful reminder of that.

All the unread books and magazines, clothes too small, healthy food we will never eat and so on are taking space and make us feel guilty, taking up precious resources we could allocate elsewhere.

Very often when we try to get unstuck we add things – a new course, a new book, a new membership. Starting with removing the old is the best way to create space for new opportunities.

🔑 Internally

Getting rid of useless stuff will create more space in your mind as you won’t constantly see it and think about it.

You can also create more mental space with more thoughtful to-do lists, email and schedule management.

I used to have these 2 page long to-do list, with everything from the most important to the most menial and from the most urgent to the least. It was just making me feel constantly overwhelmed by the number of things I had to do. Now my to-do list is very short and realistic. If I don’t really plan on doing something, or I will but in weeks or months, I just remove it, I don’t need aspirational items in my list sucking up my mental space and energy.

Same thing with emails, I used to answer every email in 24 hours with very detailed and personalized answers. Now I only answer right away to what is important and urgent for me and then I assess if the other messages grant an answer or not. I have been saving so much headspace, guilt and time!

I also lighten the load on my schedule A LOT! I learnt to say no (took me +40 years but I did! 😉) and put my own agenda first.

My most productive time is in the morning, I keep that time for my creative work. Lunchtime is best for me for meetings and afternoons for admin tasks. I now organize my time accordingly, starting with my own rhythm and priorities in mind, versus trying to accommodate everybody’s schedule but mine.

Creativity needs space and getting unstuck is all about creating space and energy for new opportunities.

Again, you don’t have to add anything that will consume time, money and energy. Do less & different, think less & different! Quickly you will see possibilities where previously you were only seeing doors.

Microdosing psychedelics also helps quite a bit to see more options and unstuck yourself 😉

I hope you enjoyed this piece. Please add any comments and questions below and subscribe to get future insights on personal transformation, mental health and psychedelics.

Bye!