On the way to our goals, we often find ourselves
lost.
Sometimes we get stuck, and we stop progressing
like we were in the past.
Here’s a framework I use to get myself unstuck
and moving again.
Let me ask you a question: is this girl moving?
Sure, you see her body moving, but is she
actually going anywhere?
What about now?
Now you can actually see the truth.
Motion means nothing without a reference point.
The forest in the background acts as a reference
point, allowing you to judge whether she’s
actually going somewhere.
Step 1 of getting unstuck is to choose a key
metric.
It will act as a reference point, allowing
you to judge whether you’re actually making
any progress towards your goal.
If you’re focused on your health, some metrics
you might measure are your weight, your body
fat percentage, the time it takes you to run
a mile, or the amount of calories you consume
in a day.
If you’re focused on productivity, you might
measure the number of pages you write, the
number of hours you practice your craft, or
the number of works you produce.
I find that a good metric has the following
traits: it’s very specific, it’s easy
to objectively measure, and a change in the
metric indicates progress towards or away
from my goal.
For example, if I want to become a better
basketball player, I might measure the amount
of points I score per game.
Points are specific, easily and objectively
measurable, and they’re one obvious way
to see whether I’m becoming a better player.
Step 2 of getting unstuck is to create a process
that affects my key metric.
A process is just a set of actions that I
perform to try and reach my goal.
For example, if I’m trying to get better
at basketball, I might practice my ball-handling
for fifteen minutes a day, then my three-pointers,
then my free throws, and then my lay-ups.
This makes up an hour long practice session.
Now how do I know if my process is any good?
This is where the metric comes back in.
Let’s say I’m measuring my points per
game.
If my process is any good, then I should see
the metric moving up.
I find that the best processes cost the least
amount of energy but produce the greatest
changes in our metric.
Or in other words, if our process is a machine,
the best one produces the greatest output
for the least amount of input—the greatest
results for the least energy.
The best way to improve a process is through
knowledge.
Knowledge allows us to swap out the actions
in our process for better ones, so that it
produces more results for less energy.
The best place to get knowledge is from people
who have already done something similar to
what you’re trying to do.
In our basketball example, that’s probably
a coach.
But you might learn from books, other writers,
artists, painters, film directors, musicians,
and so on.
The point is to find someone whose process
you can imitate until you find the best one
for yourself.
The third step to getting unstuck is to manage
your energy.
You can think of yourself like a video game
character, having an energy bar that runs
out by the end of the day.
Of course, taking care of yourself with good
sleeping and eating habits keeps the energy
bar nice and full.
But even then, you still have a limited amount
of energy that you can use in a day, so you
have to learn to use it effectively.
Each action in a process costs a certain amount
of energy.
To make a process more efficient, you can
lower the energy cost of each action.
How do you do this?
By improving your strength.
We’ll discuss three different kinds of strength:
physical, psychological, and technological.
The first is physical.
By having a stronger body, you’ll expend
less energy doing things.
Your body is just more efficient.
The second is psychological strength.
If, for example, you write everyday and practice
the basics of grammar and language, you’ll
make them unconscious habits, and unconscious
habits require less energy to act out.
This goes for basketball too.
If you make the basics unconscious—such
as ball handling and your shooting form—you’ll
expend less energy doing them.
And lastly, there is technological strength.
For example, if you use a computer to type,
you’ll use less energy writing up a page
than if you did it by hand.
Improving your strength allows you to expend
less energy when you perform your process.
So here’s a summary of the framework I use
to get unstuck.
I start by picking a goal.
I need to know where I wanna go.
Then I pick a key metric, and I ask myself
if the metric is specific, easy to objectively
measure, and representative of true progress
towards my goal.
If it doesn’t meet this criteria, I need
to pick a new one.
Once I’ve selected a good metric, I create
a process that affects it.
I write down my process, act it out, and watch
how it affects the metric.
Then I get knowledge from experts to alter
my process so that it produces greater results
for less energy.
And lastly, I manage my energy.
I try to eat and sleep better to keep my energy
bar nice and full.
I ask myself if I have the energy for a new
goal or process, and where is the best investment
for my energy right now.
Then I try to make my energy expenditure as
little as possible by working on my physical,
psychological, and technological strength.
So that’s the framework I currently use
when troubleshooting how to get unstuck.
Hopefully it’s useful to you.
Take what works, discard what doesn’t, and
make it your own.
