Recently Dr. Gayle MacBride was asked that very question. Here’s her response:
Getting unstuck can be tricky. The best way I navigate this is:
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Take a moment to listen to my self-talk – really listen. This is the step that I find most people skip. If I can identify what my internal dialogue is saying, I can find the reason I am stuck.
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Challenge the things I’m telling myself that are keeping me stuck.
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Am I stuck in “motion vs action”? Am I stuck in the planning phase when taking action will do? I can revise as I go.
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Identify the “next smallest step” that I need to take in order to say that I “started” whatever task I’m stuck on. Sometimes this is just “putting my name at the top of the paper”, committing to 5 min of an activity, or even just doing the thing that is closest to me and then doing the next thing.
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Review my progress and process so that next time I keep in mind what worked and use it for fuel next time.
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