September 27, 2026 · Getting unstuck
The smallest brave thing
Stuck is rarely a lack of plans. It is a lack of a first move small enough to make today.
Most people who feel stuck at work are not short of ideas. They have a list: the course they should take, the conversation they should have with their manager, the portfolio they should finish, the job they should apply for. The list is not the problem. The list is often the thing keeping them stuck, because every item on it is too big to start before lunch.
Stuck is a feeling of weight. And weight does not respond to planning. It responds to motion.
Shrink the move until it is embarrassing
Take the thing you have been avoiding and cut it down until it is almost silly. Not “update my résumé” but “open the file and fix the first line.” Not “ask for a promotion” but “put fifteen minutes on my manager’s calendar called career check-in.” Not “change careers” but “send one message to one person who does the work I want to do.”
If the step still makes your stomach drop, it is not small enough yet. Cut it again.
Why small works
Fear does its best work in the space between deciding and doing. The bigger the step, the wider that space, and the more room fear has to argue. A small step closes the gap before the argument can start. You are done before you have had time to talk yourself out of it.
And something odd happens once you have moved at all: the next step becomes visible. You could not see it from where you were standing. You can see it from here.
Today’s brave thing
Pick one. Make it small. Do it before the day is over. Then write down what you did, because tomorrow you will want proof that you are not, in fact, stuck.