Highest Growth for Your Highest Good

Staying Stuck, Three Ways

  1. Never try anything new. Comfort first, growth later, or never.
  2. Don’t read or learn. New ideas are overrated anyway.
  3. Put your media on repeat. Rewatch, replay, repeat. Familiarity is bliss.

Staying stuck isn’t hard. It’s almost an art form.

Thinking about staying stuck from the “wrong way” is actually the first step toward getting unstuck. Focusing on the habits that trap us can help us see the opposite path more clearly. These habits include avoiding change, ignoring new ideas, or living on repeat. It’s a bit of “black hat thinking”: by imagining the negative, we uncover the positive.

Resources for getting unstuck:

Six Thinking Hats Why it’s great: Used successfully by thousands of business managers, educators, and government leaders around the world, Six Thinking Hats offers a practical and uniquely positive approach to making decisions and exploring new ideas. Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/4qMvkmq

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear Why it’s great: Clear shows that massive change comes from tiny habits done consistently. Perfect for anyone stuck in old loops.
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43no1I2

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well‑Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
Why it’s great: Uses design thinking to help people “unstick” their lives and build something meaningful.
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/49h32dG

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
Why it’s great: A stoic‑inspired take on how what blocks you can actually become your path forward.
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3XoGxMx

How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self by Nicole LePera
Why it’s great: Focuses on deeper emotional/behavioral loops that keep people stuck
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/446g3TH

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Why it’s great: Explores how staying power matters more than talent when it comes to long‑term growth.
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4qWkZEB

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Why it’s great: Helps readers declutter their lives and habits so they can focus on what really matters. Ideal for breaking cycles of stuckness via “too much.”
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/47QRdIv

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Why it’s great: Explores motivation in new ways—useful for readers who feel stuck because the old “push yourself” advice isn’t working anymore.
Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/47DQhsp

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Amanda is passionate about people development with over 25 years helping others grow.