Do you remember the last time you were feeling stuck? Someone might have asked you to do something you had no idea about. You didn’t even know what to do or how to start.
Well, you are not alone. The good news is that it happens to everyone. In this article, I’ll share some tips, I found helpful to overcome such situations.
Obviously, if faced with such situations, we must work on resolving the problem ourselves first. If we are not able to, we should ask someone for help. So, let’s discuss how to increase the probability of solving the problems ourselves first. Furthermore, I’ll share some tips that you can use to ask for help. Lastly, we’ll ponder over what to do if nothing works.
How to Find a Way Forward
I sometimes find myself feeling stuck at work. More often than not, it happens when I have to start on something new related to a domain or technology. Moreover, my mind feels like a blank slate. So, what do I do in such situations?
Let’s first try to understand, why we find ourselves in this dreadful ”feeling stuck’ situation. Usually, we can solve a problem quickly if we’ve already seen or solved something similar. We call it experience, don’t we? However, in case of a new problem, we lack prior exposure and experience. Moreover, in many cases, we don’t know the complete background of the problem.
So, without further ado, let’s discuss how to unblock ourselves if we feel stuck.
Ask the Right Questions
The first thing I would like to suggest is to ask the right questions. Right questions help to find the background related to the problem. We must find out why the problem exists in the first place. How is fixing the problem going to help?
This exercise helps us to channel our thoughts in the right direction. Which, consequently, increases the chance of finding the solution.
Interestingly, if you ask the right questions, you may realize sometimes that you don’t need to solve the problem. Maybe the problem is not valid or it does not apply to your scenario.
Stare at the Problem
Here, I am suggesting to go over the problem multiple times. Although we know about the background of the problem, it can still be challenging to solve.
Have you seen a detective TV series, or movie, or read a murder mystery? The protagonist also feels stuck initially as he has no clue about the case. He also employs this technique to solve the case. He goes over the pieces of evidence multiple times till he finds a clue that leads him to solve the case.
In our case also, we should do the same. We must write down the problem and go over it multiple times. Also, I insist on using a pen and paper while doing so.
What happens when we do that? Some magic happens like in Harry Potter movies and the letters change to reveal the answer. Of course not!
When we think about the same problem for a long time, we direct our minds to focus on it. Doing this, sometimes, our mind comes up with something we have not thought about earlier.
For example, let’s say you have been given a document full of requirements to implement as an engineer. Chances are – when you first read the document, you may not get all of it immediately. So, you must spend time reviewing it repeatedly until you start connecting the dots.
Be Resourceful
Once you understand the problem domain, you should do some research. You should find out any related resources available. Interestingly, this is the first thing we all do. We try to do an internet search and hope to find the solution. So, what’s new I am telling you here? If a problem is complex, you may not find the solution directly. Moreover, finding the right information is a skill one develops with experience.
When I can’t find a solution to a problem on the internet, I usually try to search various keywords in my organization’s knowledge base like Confluence, JIRA, chat histories of related forums, and even the code repositories. Unless we are working on something noble, we can find some pointers or someone who has worked on a similar problem.
Try to Come up With an Analogy
Undoubtedly, an analogy is one of the most effective ways to visualize and understand a problem. Relating the problem to a different domain or a real-life example expands our thinking.
As a software engineer, I have learned lots of concepts with the help of analogies. Analogies not only help to visualize the problem but also give us a way to look at the same problem from a different perspective.
Break the Problem into Smaller Ones
How do you eat an elephant? - One bite at a time.
Often, it is a good idea to break a problem into small pieces and start solving them one by one. It’s possible that while doing so we may figure out the solution or a clue we are looking for. It’s like walking in the fog. Clearly, you won’t see anything if you stay at the same point. However, once you start walking things will eventually get clearer.
Furthermore, solving the problem in pieces will give you a sense of achievement. Consequently, you will no longer feel stuck.
Take a Break
Lastly, have you ever found an answer to something while driving, walking, or doing chores? Have you woke up in the middle of the night only to realize you found the answer you have been looking for?
The book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, explains this phenomenon very well. The subconscious mind takes over once we disconnect our conscious mind from the problem. It processes the information in the background and sometimes gives us the answer the conscious mind could not find.
So, if you have spent hours working on something without luck, take a break. Go for a walk, listen to songs, or do anything else that helps you to disconnect completely.
Ask For Help
Now, let’s say you have tried everything in your capacity but in vain. Obviously, this is the time to ask for help.
You must have noticed that often when you ask someone for help, you figure out the answer yourself while explaining the problem. Why does this happen? What changes? When you describe your situation to someone, you look at it from the other person’s perspective. And, we already know how a perspective change helps.
Who to Ask for Help
To begin with, finding who to ask is usually not that difficult. You can ask someone who is an expert in the problem domain. For example, if you are stuck at work, you can ask your senior, a colleague, or someone else in your organization.
When to Ask for Help
Most importantly, we should understand when to ask for help. People are often busy. So, you should find a time when the person is relatively free. Showing up unannounced may startle or disturb someone. Consequently, the person may not give a helpful response or may not even agree to help.
Therefore, when I need help, I give the person a quick summary and then ask for a suitable time. Sometimes they help. However, sometimes they redirect me to someone else if they are busy or cannot help.
Another important thing is that people (especially our mentors or managers) do not like it if we ask for help immediately without trying to solve it ourselves. So, we must always try our best to solve the problem before asking for help.
How to Ask for Help
How to ask for help is completely subjective to the person you plan to contact. So, you should find out about the person and approach him/her accordingly. If it makes sense to create a document or presentation that explains the situation visually, it always helps. Moreover, always mention or showcase everything that you have tried. Just saying that you tried does not help.
Furthermore, a trick that always works is to propose a solution after you describe the situation. Interstingly, it works even though the solution is far from correct. There are two reasons for this. First, they know you have attempted to figure it out and are not there to waste their time. The second and most amusing reason is that people love to correct someone way more than help them. Don’t you agree?
When Nothing Works
Finally, if nothing works, it is a good idea to leave it and call it a day. There is no shame in failing to do something given you tried your best. Maybe it’s impossible or you are not the right person for it. So, do not beat around the bush and move on to the next task.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed different strategies we can try when we are stuck with some problem. Furthermore, we also talked about how we can ask for help and when to ask for help.
I hope you found this article helpful. Do share your experience and the techniques you use when you get stuck with something.
Also, if you liked this article, check out my other articles on leadership and personal growth here.
This is definitely everyone of us run into at some point in time. You have very well illustrated on how to pave our way out in such a situation. Thanks.
Thank you, Abhishek for the feedback.