65 Aaron Hill: Finding Clarity When You Feel Stuck

Have you ever felt completely stuck on a project despite your expertise?

In this episode, I explore a powerful mental framework that emerged from my conversation with an accomplished writer struggling with a new project. 

Despite his impressive track record in one area, venturing into unfamiliar creative territory triggered intense self-doubt and unconscious self-sabotage. This writer's experience reveals a common human struggle: our brains can resist accepting our competence in unfamiliar domains, regardless of our success elsewhere.

When overwhelm strikes, we're typically too zoomed in – our perspective so narrow we trip over details and lose sight of direction. Alternatively, when we feel lost and directionless, zooming out connects us with purpose and meaning. The real skill isn't permanently remaining in either perspective, but developing the flexibility to shift between them based on what you need in the moment.

When you feel stuck, ask yourself: Am I too zoomed in or out? Do I need to reconnect with my "why" or identify the smallest next step I can take? 

This simple practice can transform stagnation into clarity and forward momentum.

Hey — before you go, if this episode resonated or sparked something, I’d love to hear from you.

What hit home? What felt off? What do you want more of, or less of?

Drop a review on your podcast app — or send me a quick message or email.

Your feedback genuinely helps shape where this podcast goes next.

Thanks

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Forging Resilience

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Forging Resilience, exploring for a different perspective on strength and leadership. Join me as we discuss experiences and stories with guests to help gain fresh insights around challenge, success and leadership. I was speaking to a writer a few weeks ago about a new project that he was working on. New project that he was working on it's not something that he's done before and despite the fact he's got a wealth of experience writing in one arena this new arena, this new project is not something he'd done before, so his brain was really struggling to accept that he couldn't do this. He felt real, really frustrated and almost self-sabotaging the work before it was even underway. If we take a look at this, it's lots of different little reasons, but in this guy's case, there was a sense of judgment and fear around stepping out. It's not something that he'd done before, so there's no evidence to suggest it would succeed. And if it didn't succeed, then what would others make that mean? What would he make that mean? So something we talked about is a tool and the capacity to zoom in and zoom out when we're feeling stagnated, when we're feeling stuck or lost. Something that's worked for myself and for my clients is that ability to zoom a bit further out or a bit further in. Further out or a bit further in.

Speaker 1: 1:48

When we don't know which direction we're heading in and we're overwhelmed with the sense of the task or the project or the conversation, it's often because we're so zoomed in. Our perspective is so, so, so low to the ground. We'll trip over ourselves. We don't see the obstacles, we don't see the curbs, we don't see the challenges coming. We're so far zoomed in that we're unsure of which way to go, because everything looks the same. If we're able to zoom out, however, then we get a greater sense of our perspective. In this picture, we get a greater sense of our perspective. In this picture, we get a greater sense of the direction that we want to head in, an idea of why we're doing what we're doing, and this really is a skill, because it's not about being constantly in one state or the other. It's about being able to manage ourselves from where we are. So if we're struggling with overwhelm, then maybe we can zoom out a bit.

Speaker 1: 2:52

If we're feeling lost and directionless, then maybe we can zoom in a little bit to find out what's the next small step we need to take on our journey, on our path, on the project or in our relationship, and, like anything, this is something we need to practice. My general suggestion is that this doesn't come in a moment of emergency. It's something we need to start leaning into way before we hit a challenge, and that usually comes from being able to create a bit of space for ourselves, a moment in our day to slow down and to reflect, to see what's going on for us underneath the cover, underneath the hood, internally what's our frustrations, what are our challenges, what's fear? Gently trying to keep us from or tell us or warn us of?

Speaker 1: 3:56

And being able to zoom in and zoom out will usually give us a small clue as to the next step to take. So if you find yourself listening to this, sat in overwhelm or unsure of which next step to take, maybe it's because you're in a position that's too far zoomed out or too far zoomed in. Try considering the direction that you'd like to take or the bigger picture, the why, why are you working on this, why is this important to you? Or what's the smallest action you can take within the next five minutes, by the end of the day, by the end of the week or the month, and see how that starts to create new opportunities for new steps and new clarity.