In this video, I change the scenery to talk about doing just that. Sometimes we really stay stuck with our thoughts or our problems. And, while it doesn’t solve every problem, it can be a tremendous advantage to change our environment and shake things up.
Don’t “they” say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Sometimes we need to shift something in our process or our habits in order to obtain a different perspective or even find a new source of inspiration.
Take a few minutes to listen to me muse on the idea and tell a related story while out on an evening stroll. I would love to hear your stories of how you’ve experienced similar things in your life, or how this video has helped you.
Video Transcript
00:00:01:17 – 00:00:28:18
Something a little different this week. Dogs barking in the background. People playing at the park at the end of the day. It’s just a simple little tip. Something that I have found to be super useful and I’m trying to embrace all over again. And that is this idea that if you change your environment, you have the opportunity to change your mindset.
00:00:28:18 – 00:00:53:25
So if you’re feeling stuck, if you’re feeling frustrated, if you’re feeling like you’re just not making the progress that you want to be making, you’re finding that, you know, you’ve got a problem that you’re trying to solve and you’re just banging your head up against the wall or on the desk. Hopefully not literally. Uh, don’t just stay sitting at the desk.
00:00:53:26 – 00:01:15:00
Like, go somewhere else. Maybe it’s somewhere else in the house. Maybe that’s do another task for a few minutes. An hour. I don’t know what it needs to be. But, a lot of the times for me it looks like going outside or it looks like moving physically or both. Maybe it’s going for a drive. Maybe it’s going for a walk or a bike ride.
00:01:15:10 – 00:01:48:20
Do something that changes your environment, that will help change your mindset. Staying in the same place keeps us stuck in the same place, like physically and mentally. So, I think that can apply to any context. It can apply to any situation. And I think sometimes we forget the simple things. Sometimes we forget. What I often find is that when I do that, I’m either already solving the problem while I’m walking. Like, I leave it and think “I’ll just take a break from that.”
00:01:48:20 – 00:02:17:14
And all of a sudden a solution comes because I change the context. I remember when I was in undergrad university (several, several years ago) that… I remember going to a rehearsal that I was positive that I didn’t have time for. I was a computer science undergraduate student, and I was in a band at my church and we had weekly rehearsals.
00:02:17:14 – 00:02:40:10
This band met and I remember thinking to myself, I don’t have time for this. I have so much homework to do. I’m so stuck on this. And I’m like, “No, I gotta take a break. I need to step away. I need to take a break.” And I remember sitting in this rehearsal… I was busy playing. I was in the middle of playing my part in the band and I realized I had the solution.
00:02:40:10 – 00:03:08:10
I actually stopped playing, grabbed a scrap of paper, wrote down the entire solution for the thing that I was stuck on and picked my instrument up and started playing again. And thankfully I was in a band that I could do that where it wasn’t horribly noticed… but it was amazing. And I’ve had that happen in a bunch of other ways too, where just stirring myself up from the context, taking a break from from the problem…
00:03:09:19 – 00:03:32:17
It also happens if you’re just, like, not making progress quick enough. You’re really getting tired of staring at the computer screen or you’re getting really tired of… you know, just mentally exhausted. And you need to step away and do something else. And yeah, I find it’s super powerful and try to make sure that I’m intentionally doing that in one way or another every day.
00:03:33:12 – 00:03:55:09
And I recommend it. So, just remember: change your… You want to change your mindset? You want to get unstuck? Physically go somewhere else. Do something else. Change your context. Change your environment. I hope this helps you. If it does, you know the drill. Like the video. If you’ve got any comments? Any examples? Something that you want to share relating to it?
00:03:55:12 – 00:04:24:07
Please leave a comment. Send me an email through the contact form on the website. And, if you haven’t already subscribed and you want to see more content like this and like the to-dos on the technical side… the how-tos! I called them to-dos… I don’t know why! The how-tos and some of the other neat stuff that’s still stuck up here, but it’s going to come out and join the world at some point in the near future.
00:04:24:21 – 00:04:45:07
Please subscribe. And tell your friends. Share. Do all that good stuff. I just want to be here to help you… and build your technical skills and your essential skills. So, that’s it for me for today. Don’t stay stuck! Until next time, take care!
