I had a conversation recently with a creator who had all the tools and knowledge he needed
to make an online course but several weeks had gone by and he still hadn't made any progress
toward getting it done he was feeling stuck we get stuck for a lot of reasons and today we're
going to figure out why and how to get moving again let's get into it hello creators I'm bent
Olson from podía where we empower creators like you to make a living doing what you love if you're
watching this video you might be feeling stuck or maybe you're not as far along as you'd like
to be on your projects in this video I'm gonna give you five actions you can take today to get
unstuck and get what's in your head out into the world action number one is write down your process
sometimes the thing holding us back is not knowing which step to take first or feeling like there's
this ambiguous cloud of all the steps we need to take just swirling around in our heads you need
to get all of that out of your head and put it down on paper there's a great quote from David
Allen author of getting things done that says your mind is for having ideas not folding them break
the whole process down or at least the first phase if you're making a course for example that could
mean breaking down the outlining phase into steps like schedule an outline session research the best
outlining methods by the materials you'll need for your outlining session and so on now instead
of a tangled web of all the things you have a clear roadmap for what you need to do first this
exercise gives your brain permission to focus on just one thing at a time and keeps you from
being distracted and overwhelmed by the stages you haven't reached yet action number two is determine
why you're stuck sometimes you're stuck but you don't really know why try asking yourself these
four questions is there something you don't know maybe finishing your project depends on knowledge
or information you don't have and that's okay if it's something you can come back to later
and fill in don't let it keep you from moving on to your next step for example maybe you want to
make content that teaches someone how to prepare and cook a delicious or a Chetty but you don't
know how to pronounce or it's Yetta or or it orecchiette orecchiette orecchiette orecchiette
buying the ingredients doesn't require you to say it out loud so stop sitting in your
driveway practicing in the mirror and head to the supermarket if something you haven't learned yet
is keeping you stuck acknowledge it make a plan to learn or reach out to experts and keep moving
forward is there something you can't do maybe you have the knowledge but there are parts of
the creative process that have you scratching your head just because you don't currently know
every step of the process for creating something doesn't mean you have to wait to get started
whether it's learning how to use a specific tool or application we live in an incredible time where
the information we need to build our skills is just a few clicks away also just because
it's something you're creating doesn't mean other people can't be part of the creative process with
you maybe the thing you don't know how to do is something you can delegate or hire someone else
to do for you again acknowledge that it's keeping you stuck make a plan for when and how you learn
or who you'll get to do it and then keep marching on is there something you don't enjoy even the
projects were most passionate about can include steps that feel tedious sometimes our passion
is enough to pull us through but it's important to know where those rough patches are it's okay
not to like every part of the process that doesn't mean you're not passionate it means you're normal
now that you know you can decide is this something I want to do or should I delegate it to someone
else if you decide to do it on your own set a deadline and make a plan to celebrate reaching
certain milestones like a certain number of words written or minutes of edited video to help pull
you through the rough times has what you're sharing or teaching already been said it can
be paralyzing when we see awesome content that is similar to what we want to share if it's already
been said so well is it worth saying again yes and here's why new people are born everyday who
have never heard of Elvis who Zoe's that's my best Elvis impersonation I'm sorry all right never mind
that the point is there are new people coming into the market every day who have never heard of that
person who said at first and who might actually resonate more with your unique personality style
of delivery perspective and you are the only one who can say it or make it the way you would
there are people who are waiting for your specific version so don't keep it from them action number
three is build a routine or habits it could be hard to make progress when the steps we need
to take don't fit into our everyday routine one of the most powerful tools you can use to make
progress is to turn those steps into a routine or a habit in James clears book atomic habits
he shares valuable principles for building habits that stick I went to break down to ideas from his
book that I think work really well for building a routine that will help you get unstuck linked the
task or activity to other habits if you're like me even the stuff you do everyday can sometimes
slip your mind if you keep saying to yourself oh yeah I need to do that thing use the task linking
strategy to make sure you do it do you sit down for coffee every morning leave a notepad and a
pencil next to your coffee maker so you can brainstorm and outline while you're drinking
your morning coffee do you take pictures of your cat with your smartphone since you've already got
your camera app open flip that thing around and make a piece of content that you might be able
to use later never miss twice anatomic habits clear shares a story in which Jerry Seinfeld
the popular comedian shares his secret for being a success every day that he writes a joke he gets
to put an X on his calendar after a week he's got a chain of X's and his only job is to not break
the chain clear puts his own spin on this advice and says to never miss twice so even if you fail
to follow through every other day that's still more progress than you would make if you didn't
do it at all there's a wealth of information in atomic habits and I highly recommend that
you check it out if you're trying to build or break habits here are a couple of other tips
for building habits give the task a specific time place and outcome sometimes the best way to make
sure something happens is to actually schedule it if tone your calendar you're more likely to
show up use habit tracking apps one of the ways technology has used our natural human tendencies
for good is gamifying things that are good for us there are apps that allow you to compete against
friends and earn rewards and badges for things like meditation exercise diet and more to habit
tracking apps I really like our habit share which allows you to share your habits with friends and
streaks which awards you with badges for reaching certain habit milestones I'll link those in the
resources section in the description action number four is get accountability another way we can
hack our human nature is to take advantage of our natural desire to not let people down or to follow
through with our word setting up an accountability structure around the tasks you need to complete
can be a powerful way to finish your project this accountability structure is made up of three parts
public partner and personal accountability for public accountability put your deadlines
out into the world share it on social media and your blog from the stage if you're a speaker or
presenter or even shout it from a street corner just the idea that someone out there knows you
intend to finish something can be enough to get you moving for partner accountability you want
to find close friends or a partner who you'll update on your progress it's best if you set
an expectation with the person that you'll share an update on or by a specific date then if that
person doesn't hear from you they can follow up for personal accountability you want to find a
way to keep track of your own progress you can use a calendar a habit tracking app or maybe even one
of those big thermometer posters that you can fill in as you get closer to your goal whatever works
for you it just needs to be something for you that serves as a visible reminder of your progress and
your goal the fifth and final action is work on your mindset for this action I want to share three
ideas for you to consider you may have already heard some of these but it's good to be reminded
sometimes of things we already know and they might provide the nudge you need to get unstuck idea
number one is there's no such thing as perfect even if there was you spend just as much time
if not more getting from 90 to 100% quality as you do getting from zero to 90 percent meanwhile
people are shipping at 40 or 50 percent all the time and are still getting results if you're a
perfectionist it's possible that what you think isn't quite done yet is still way better than most
what's out there so stop waiting and put it out there idea number two is you can't learn from
what you don't publish before you put something out there you can only speculate on how it will
perform and how people will respond sometimes that holds us back because we wonder is it good
enough and we try to tweak it and make it better before we even have any data to analyze or examine
to see if it's good you wouldn't tell somebody about how amazing a restaurant is if you hadn't
actually eaten there but that's similar to what you're doing when you overanalyze publish first
gather real data then make adjustments as needed idea number three is people are more interested
in the results that you can provide for them than they are in polished perfection what people will
remember most is not the quality but the results you help them achieve you can always improve the
quality over time but people are waiting right now for what you have to teach or share don't
keep them waiting remember these are actions which means now it's your turn take a step and
decide which action you will take first where are you going to start are you going to write
down your process get an accountability partner build a routine let me know below in the comments
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for watching and I'll see you next time so stop waiting and ship it so stop waiting and ship that
thing [ __ ] that thing so stop waiting and ship that thing [ __ ] so stop waiting shift that thing