Getting Stuck and Unstuck
And the power of small wins.
Dear friends,
Today's post is a bit different from what you're used to seeing here, where I usually talk about the wins and the cool things I've learned. March was a challenging month with a some lowlights - from getting sick to being demotivated. But it was also a month where I realized the big role of small wins. In this post I discuss, how I got stuck in a negative vicious cycle and what I did to break it.
Getting Stuck
Below are some lowlights from the month of March:
I fell sick for the second time this year and my physical activity reached its lowest point.
My productivity plummeted and motivation hit rock bottom.
Caught in a negative feedback loop
I realized I was stuck in a flywheel and it quickly started to feed itself.
Falling ill not only hampered my projects but also dented my morale. The lower my spirits, the less inclined I felt to push forward, perpetuating a cycle of stagnation.
The danger of such a downward spiral is immense. It makes every goal and milestone seem increasingly out of reach. For instance, one of my objectives is to earn $10k monthly through various revenue streams. However, when you're stuck, each day intensifies the distance from your goals, breeding impatience. During this period I found myself questioning, "Why haven't I reached my $10k monthly goal after a year of experimentations? Am I even on the right path?" It is easy for the mind to fall prey to illogical thoughts.
When self-doubt creeps in, it makes it challenging to apply the lessons learned along the way. For instance, one of my learnings has been that this journey is a “Marathon, Not a Sprint”. Yet, in moments of despair, even the most rational beliefs are hard to uphold.
Caught in a negative feedback loop, my creativity took the biggest hit. It diminished my capacity for out-of-the-box thinking and generating novel ideas. Pessimism has tendency to preoccupy the mind with doubts and limitations. It repels creativity. Pursuing creative endeavors and building new things was one of my primary reasons for embarking on this journey. Thus, losing the motivation to create became a significant concern.
Getting Unstuck
So how did I break this cycle?
Similar to how sickness became a catalyst to this negative cycle, I needed a another catalyst to break it and restart the positive cycle. Small wins serve as great catalysts too. So I focused on doing small independent low effort tasks that can potentially get me small but quick wins. Here are three of them.
Small Win - NVIDIA Inception Program Approval
While I was sick I applied SOAPNoteAI for NVIDIA’s Inception Program and got accepted. NVIDIA Inception Program is designed to help startups build their solutions and grow their businesses faster. As a member, SOAPNoteAI can get up to $10k to $100k of AWS credits based on demonstration of use of NVIDIA technology and other tech training. I learned about this program through a WhatsApp AI study group that I am part of. The application asked questions such as “What solutions does your company build?”, “What makes your company uniquely competitive in this market?” The application took an hour to complete and got approved in about 7 days. This small win reinstantiated confidence that I was on the right track with this product and should continue to innovate in this space using new AI technologies.
Small Win - ReviewHeroAI extension update
ReviewHeroAI chrome extension was at the risk of being removed from the store because Google thought it had unrelated features. For context, back in January I had updated the extension to add a feature to hide sponsored products from search results.Google asked me to remove this feature in next 30 days. I decided to make a standalone extension for this feature in the future. Removing code took about an hour and was therapeutic. After this update Google restored back the “featured” flag.
Although this was an obvious solution, solving problems through code is one of the best hacks for confidence and motivation. While working on this issue, creative juices started flowing again. I was able to think of many new features I could introduce for my users.
Small Win - Fix Customer Issue
One morning a customer complained that copy button was not working. I was surprised because I had made no code changes in past 2 weeks. As I investigated further, I discovered the issue wasspecific to iPhone behavior / bug that
automatically creates hyperlinks when
it detects a “:” after a word
at the start of a sentence
when copying to the clipboard.
Thanks to this Stackoverflow submission, I was able to confirm that my assessment of the issue was correct. I fixed the issue the same day and confirmed with the customer. This small win again kindled confidence and inspired me to continue improving the customer experience for my apps.
From being accepted into NVIDIA's Inception Program, to successfully updating my ReviewHeroAI Chrome extension, and swiftly resolving a customer issue - each of these moments not only reinstated my confidence but also rekindled my motivation. They were the catalyst to start a positive cycle - take action (build), learn and iterate.
Concluding Thoughts
March has been a reminder of many sorts. You can get stuck for reasons outside of your control. But you can also get back on track with small wins. Seemingly minor achievements that can have the most significant positive impact on your thoughts.
In sharing this story, my hope is to continue reminding myself and also inspire you to see beyond the immediate hurdles and to find strength through small wins. It is a reminder that when progress feels slow or invisible, it's there - each small victory is building towards something greater.
Thank you for joining me on this journey and your continuous support. Here’s to the small wins, the lessons learned, and the continued pursuit to follow curiosity.
Do you ever get stuck? What mechanisms do you use to get unstuck? I would love if you could share your stories and insights in the comments below or by replying to this email.
Getting unstuck is hard when you keep doing the same. What helped me is a catastrophic failure, that acts like a brain reset and a mental liberation of a project. You can also experiment with completely different projects, those can catalyze new ideas and new energy, like taking a small bet.
Ha, man! I’ve been trying to turn around those moments or be better at handling them for the past years.
It’s just so hard to turn them around when you’re in the middle of it. From what I’m experiencing it’s a muscle to flex. Mindfulness and journaling help with getting that perspective and getting better at dealing with discomfort. But still hard to do 😅
I’ve also find that sometimes a break is in order. If I’m sick or tired, it affects my mood and generates those random negative thoughts. Usually, taking a break helps a lot to “purge” those thoughts. It might take a day or two to get back to normal.
Anyway, I’m so happy for you you managed to turn those negative feelings around and get a win out of it. No better thing to do with bad experiences than to make something positive out of it :)