2 years 🥳 and the non-obvious way of getting unstuck

One week at a time

Today, we’re celebrating a special milestone—our second birthday! Yes, 10x Your Mind is 2 years old. 🥳 The first edition landed in your inbox on May 26, 2022:

➟ I see only what I believe 👀—Confirmation bias.

There was no long-term plan. My husband had been encouraging me to create something I’d be proud of, however small. So, I started this as a 10-week experiment: one cognitive bias a week. I started enjoying the weekly rhythm of researching, writing, and sharing. 10 weeks passed but I never stopped. Since then, we’ve had 107 Thursdays → 107 editions (including this one!).

YOU made this journey possible. Thank you for reading and for responding with your lovely emails and comments. Please keep showering 10x Your Mind with your love and support. ❤️ We’re just getting started!

In hindsight (not the hindsight bias 😀), I would have never started without my husband’s push. He could see that I was baffled by trying to figure out “everything” before moving an inch.

In my defense, this is the usual way of doing things—Use your experiences and knowledge to make a plan and execute it. It’s the top-down approach. It works fantastically for my morning pages, even for a dreams reset. Here’s a gist:

• Big picture - What all do you know?

• Intentions - What do you want to do with what you know?

• Actions - What will turn those intentions into reality?

Sometimes, this obvious way of approaching a problem fails (as was happening in my case). You’re stuck at step 1.

It’s not about the lack of information, it’s too much of it. We lack clarity despite all the answers available as instant Google search results and ChatGPT responses.

What to do then?

The unobvious way of getting unstuck

Forget big goals. Forget figuring it all out.

Just figure out what you want to do this week.

Let your interest drive you to a weekly goal.

• You don't have to plan your annual fitness regimen. Just go by weekly gym goals.

• You don’t have to plan your entire career. Just focus on what skills you want to develop this week. For example, if you want to learn a new programming language, set a goal to complete a few coding challenges this week.

• You don’t have to organize your entire home in one go. Pick one room or even one drawer to declutter this week.

• You don’t have to write a whole book. Set a goal to write for 30 minutes each day this week. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish with consistent, small efforts.

At times when information and even intentions don’t help, focus on the action you feel like taking.

By repeating your weekly goals, one week after another, you’ll eventually clarify your intentions and might even discover a big life goal. That’s the bottom-up way to get unstuck:

Actions guiding → Intentions guiding → Goals

If I had tried to write this newsletter based solely on my educational or professional background, I would have stayed stuck. Instead, I focused on one thing I was keen on learning and sharing - Cognitive biases.

One thing lead to another. Eventually, I also shared other decision-making tools, productivity frameworks, and occasional self-reflections.

One week at a time.

“Clarity isn't about knowing what you want to do with your life, it's about knowing what you want to do this week.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step.”

— James Clear

Thank you again for being a part of this journey.

Here’s to many more weeks of learning and growing together! One week at a time 🙌