013 Getting Unstuck! – ProductivityCast

Have you ever gotten stuck? Are you stuck right now? How do you get unstuck? Well, getting unstuck is tough, but it's doable! In this cast, the ProductivityCast team discusses what gets us stuck and methods for getting unstuck. Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade Art Gelwicks Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. What Designers of Task Management Apps Can Do to Catch Up with Pokemon Go by Francis Wade 50 Shades of Grey (if you didn’t get Augusto’s joke ? ) Getting Things Done by David Allen OmniFocus 2 Todoist Any.do Habitica (f/k/a HabitRPG) (Let us know if you’d like to join Ray’s GTD Habitica Party!) Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation SuperBetter - Jane McGonigal, PhD (McGonigal’s TED talk) Jerry Seinfeld / Don’t Break the Chain Bullet Journal Unstuck app Tim Ferriss - “deconstruction of expert process”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSq9uGs_z0E https://tim.blog/2016/10/06/the-art-and-science-of-learning-anything-faster/ Human Senses Raw Text Transcript Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110 are you ready to manage your work and 0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000 personal world better to live a more 0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109 fulfilling productive life then you've 0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809 come to the right place 0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:09.809,0:00:15.000 show about all things productivity here 0:00:12.540,0:00:18.510 are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and 0:00:15.000,0:00:20.220 Augusto Pinaud hello everybody and 0:00:18.510,0:00:22.289 welcome back to another episode of 0:00:20.220,0:00:25.080 productivitycast the weekly show about 0:00:22.289,0:00:28.680 all things personal productivity today 0:00:25.080,0:00:31.230 on the show we have Augusto Pinaud Art 0:00:28.680,0:00:33.210 Gelwicks and Francis Wade welcome 0:00:31.230,0:00:35.640 everybody how's it going good morning 0:00:33.210,0:00:36.030 going great it's going great thanks a 0:00:35.640,0:00:38.280 lot 0:00:36.030,0:00:40.800 awesome so excited to have everybody on 0:00:38.280,0:00:43.950 for this recording because we're talking 0:00:40.800,0:00:46.559 about getting unstuck I wanted to I 0:00:43.950,0:00:48.480 wanted to lead off with just what we all 0:00:46.559,0:00:51.660 are thinking about when we talk about 0:00:48.480,0:00:53.879 getting stuck in the first place and how 0:00:51.660,0:00:56.190 and and what that means in the context 0:00:53.879,0:00:58.350 of productivity art had come up with a 0:00:56.190,0:00:59.520 really great suggestion which is that at 0:00:58.350,0:01:02.699 the end of the episode 0:00:59.520,0:01:06.180 we're each going to rapid-fire give some 0:01:02.699,0:01:08.460 of our own sort of tactical techniques 0:01:06.180,0:01:10.229 for our you know sort of our quick 0:01:08.460,0:01:14.250 tactics for being able to get unstuck 0:01:10.229,0:01:15.780 when we ourselves get stuck so we will 0:01:14.250,0:01:17.759 close out the episode with that but 0:01:15.780,0:01:21.479 let's let's start with just your 0:01:17.759,0:01:24.060 thoughts on what is getting stuck and 0:01:21.479,0:01:27.630 what is getting unstuck then as its 0:01:24.060,0:01:30.630 inverse I've found myself stuck in a 0:01:27.630,0:01:33.240 serious way when I moved back to Jamaica 0:01:30.630,0:01:36.390 brahmam living in the US all of a sudden 0:01:33.240,0:01:39.090 I was unproductive whereas I used to be 0:01:36.390,0:01:40.740 productive I used to lead before I moved 0:01:39.090,0:01:42.329 back I used to lead time management 0:01:40.740,0:01:45.060 programs and I thought I had that stuff 0:01:42.329,0:01:47.610 together and I moved into an environment 0:01:45.060,0:01:51.020 that was way more hectic than I expected 0:01:47.610,0:01:53.549 way more dramatic way less predictable 0:01:51.020,0:01:55.829 people we less trustworthy in terms of 0:01:53.549,0:01:58.350 what they could deliver and I was 0:01:55.829,0:01:59.670 totally at sea it was totally 0:01:58.350,0:02:01.290 disconcerting and I couldn't get 0:01:59.670,0:02:02.579 anything done I went looking on the 0:02:01.290,0:02:04.680 internet for answers and couldn't find 0:02:02.579,0:02:06.570 anything I had way more to do because I 0:02:04.680,0:02:10.440 was doing all people's jobs for them and 0:02:06.570,0:02:12.660 I had no idea how to cook things were 0:02:10.440,0:02:13.860 flying through the cracks and this is if 0:02:12.660,0:02:15.930 I couldn't remember 0:02:13.860,0:02:17.850 to do anything that I needed to do and 0:02:15.930,0:02:21.630 for the people who have never read those 0:02:17.850,0:02:24.240 post of presidents it has always been an 0:02:21.630,0:02:28.890 internal joke or at least for me between 0:02:24.240,0:02:31.620 Francis and I I from the outside instead 0:02:28.890,0:02:34.130 enjoy reading those posts incredibly I 0:02:31.620,0:02:37.470 was born and raised in Venezuela so I I 0:02:34.130,0:02:41.310 went the other way I felt is when I was 0:02:37.470,0:02:44.430 I learned productivity in a place where 0:02:41.310,0:02:47.760 it was completely unpredictable we're 0:02:44.430,0:02:49.350 getting to a meeting and the person who 0:02:47.760,0:02:52.770 gives you the meeting decide not to show 0:02:49.350,0:02:56.310 up and where predictability was almost 0:02:52.770,0:02:58.709 non-existent so when I moved to the 0:02:56.310,0:03:00.750 United States for me happen exactly the 0:02:58.709,0:03:02.700 opposite it was like oh great 0:03:00.750,0:03:05.670 so all these tools that I've been using 0:03:02.700,0:03:07.980 for years now make sense and over the 0:03:05.670,0:03:11.700 years they have evolved and change but I 0:03:07.980,0:03:15.570 was always feeling more stock before I 0:03:11.700,0:03:17.459 move here then then when I move and of 0:03:15.570,0:03:18.690 course that change and I've been stuck 0:03:17.459,0:03:22.320 and unstuck 0:03:18.690,0:03:25.920 multiple times and actually just 0:03:22.320,0:03:28.739 yesterday that this topic came you know 0:03:25.920,0:03:32.340 pretty timely and we were privately 0:03:28.739,0:03:35.280 joking via text messages because I was 0:03:32.340,0:03:40.980 doing my with the review I noticed that 0:03:35.280,0:03:44.310 I had 963 talk okay that is for me the 0:03:40.980,0:03:47.580 definition of stock because the reality 0:03:44.310,0:03:50.940 is there's no way for me to tackle 10% 0:03:47.580,0:03:53.250 of that in a day so that means even if I 0:03:50.940,0:03:56.250 have a really productive day is going to 0:03:53.250,0:03:58.709 feel as if I did nothing and the 0:03:56.250,0:04:00.570 question is what you do after you and I 0:03:58.709,0:04:02.670 will I'll say that to the episode but 0:04:00.570,0:04:07.019 that's a question I want to leave open 0:04:02.670,0:04:07.590 today for me stuck is usually one of two 0:04:07.019,0:04:11.280 things 0:04:07.590,0:04:13.410 it's either I've got things pulling me 0:04:11.280,0:04:15.900 in all different directions you get this 0:04:13.410,0:04:17.459 mental image of an object with ropes 0:04:15.900,0:04:19.019 tied to it pulling in all different 0:04:17.459,0:04:21.060 directions and the object doesn't move 0:04:19.019,0:04:25.380 because everything is pulling equally 0:04:21.060,0:04:27.450 but in different directions but also the 0:04:25.380,0:04:30.750 kind of the lack of 0:04:27.450,0:04:32.880 knowing exactly what the next step will 0:04:30.750,0:04:36.180 be to get me back on track for a 0:04:32.880,0:04:38.910 particular thing and not knowing that 0:04:36.180,0:04:41.250 often will push me into a direction for 0:04:38.910,0:04:43.910 something else leaving me stuck on that 0:04:41.250,0:04:47.790 particular item and it's easy to confuse 0:04:43.910,0:04:50.580 stuck and procrastination I don't think 0:04:47.790,0:04:51.600 that they're completely separate but I 0:04:50.580,0:04:56.280 also don't think they're completely 0:04:51.600,0:04:58.200 equal to one concede the other but I do 0:04:56.280,0:05:00.300 want to take five seconds though here 0:04:58.200,0:05:03.030 and I want to congratulate Francis's 0:05:00.300,0:05:05.820 Jamaican soccer team on their incredible 0:05:03.030,0:05:08.090 upset win last night in the Gold Cup so 0:05:05.820,0:05:09.960 now that I'm done with that 0:05:08.090,0:05:21.600 another nope said it was kind of 0:05:09.960,0:05:23.760 expected I made a note here as we were 0:05:21.600,0:05:25.620 preparing for the show and I wrote down 0:05:23.760,0:05:27.360 procrastination because I think I'm 0:05:25.620,0:05:30.000 pretty much on the same page here with 0:05:27.360,0:05:33.540 art which is to say that I see being 0:05:30.000,0:05:38.310 stuck in and being sort of a fork in the 0:05:33.540,0:05:41.600 road and one is avoidance and the other 0:05:38.310,0:05:43.860 is sort of lack of resources or 0:05:41.600,0:05:46.640 limitation of resources of some kind 0:05:43.860,0:05:49.290 whether it be mental physical time 0:05:46.640,0:05:51.510 energy money whatever it might be the 0:05:49.290,0:05:54.600 the reality is that that that sense of 0:05:51.510,0:05:57.630 avoidance that lack of resources causes 0:05:54.600,0:05:59.760 some kind of stymieing of your personal 0:05:57.630,0:06:03.900 ...