My best tip for getting unstuck

I’ve always recorded my ideas in one way or another. But the way I feel when I record it is more important than the recording. (Image by BRRT)

Ever get stuck on a decision?

Or worse, you know the feeling you get when you don’t even have clarity on what the decision is or what your options are?

Probably the best way to deal with it is to talk it out with someone you trust. That could be a professional or expert you’ve hired to help, or it could be a colleague or friend who’s supporting me pro bono.

But when I don’t have someone to talk to for whatever reason, here’s what I do. I dress for the weather. I grab my earbuds and head out the door. I open the voice recorder on my phone, hit record, and start walking and talking.

I talk about the weather. I talk about what I see as I walk along.

And once I get warmed up, I get into solving my trickiest problems with enthusiasm and confidence.

Maybe it’s something about the movement. Maybe it’s the fresh air. Maybe it’s the relief of letting my thoughts out through my mouth. Whatever it is, it works for me.

It doesn’t matter whether I ever go back and listen to the recording. What helps me, as someone who processes ideas verbally, is that sense that someone is listening, even if it’s my future self.

It also helps to know that if I happen to come up with something brilliant, I don’t have to remember it — it’s there.

Sometimes, I’ve just recorded meaningless yammering and me saying “So anyway…” a bunch of times.

But often, a mile into my walk, I’ve had a breakthrough. and then another, and another. The combination of exercise and ranting unapologetically into the mic on my earbuds elevates my mood and my problem-solving skills, and I return home with new ideas and solutions.

Maybe, by this time, I have those breakthroughs because I expect them to happen when I’m out walking and talking this way.

Even if I don’t arrive at the solution, I’ve usually gotten some clarity. I’ve figured out what questions I have and who to ask.

And since I haven’t burned out my friends and family with my arcane business problems, they might even be happy to hear from me.

Being out in the world away from my laptop triggers a different set of thoughts and impulses than I might normally experience. I can look at a given situation in a new way. I can make connections I haven’t made before. The future feels present and real, as though I’m walking toward it as I follow the path along the seafront.

Sometimes, when I’m back under electric lights and sitting at my desk, the magic fades and it’s hard to recapture the sense of limitless possibility I felt outside. That’s when the recording can do its job and I can simply take dictation from my past self, who somehow knows what I need to do now and how to carry it out. Then, all that remains is to do it — to follow the path I’ve laid out toward my grand vision of what could be.

It’s so simple, but it didn’t used to be possible. Let’s celebrate the fact that walking down the street talking to yourself is now a commonplace thing to see someone doing. It is one of my favorite problem-solving strategies.

Try it yourself and see how it goes. And if you need more support than that with a business problem, let me know — that’s my job!