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Leitura de 13 min

Strategies for Overcoming Mental Blocks

Summary

Jonathan Cottrell continues the thread from the prior episode’s question—what to do when you don’t know—by focusing on the next step: what to do after admitting you’re stuck. He describes the experience of hitting a complete wall with no leads and emphasizes that this situation is common for developers and non-developers alike.

He explains why mental blocks often become emotional quickly. Once someone accepts they’re blocked, attention shifts away from methodical problem-solving and toward the consequences of being blocked—activating a fast “forecasting” mode that scans for threats and imagines negative future scenarios.

After a brief sponsor segment, he rapid-fires several strategies to get unblocked, most of which involve changing the situation. Key approaches include reaching out to someone else for a different perspective, altering the problem via thought experiments (changing scale, time, or scope), and reframing the problem using different language or logically equivalent statements to unlock new actions.

He closes by highlighting one of the most effective tools: stepping away. Rest, sleep, hydration, and a walk can help because the brain is part of the body, and sometimes the best way to think better is to give the system a break.

Recommendations

Services

  • Linode — Sponsor mention as a developer-focused hosting/service provider with worldwide data centers, S3-compatible storage, and plans starting at 20 credit for new customers using promo code DeveloperT2020 via linode.com/developertea.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:00:00 — Moving from “I don’t know” to next step — Jonathan references the previous episode’s question—what to do when you don’t know—and sets up today’s focus: what to do once you admit you’re stuck. He introduces himself and reiterates the show’s goal of helping developers find clarity, perspective, and purpose.
  • 00:00:28 — What a mental block feels like — He describes being faced with a question or coding problem where you have no answers and no leads. The experience is framed as hitting a complete wall, a mental block that can happen frequently in development work.
  • 00:01:12 — Why being stuck quickly becomes emotional — Jonathan explains that mental blocks often engage emotions faster than solvable problems. He attributes this to shifting from thinking about the problem to thinking about the consequences of being blocked, which triggers a fast forecasting brain focused on threats and imagined future scenarios.
  • 00:02:19 — Sponsor: Linode — He thanks Linode as a long-running sponsor and describes it as a developer-run company offering tools and services for developers. He mentions 11 worldwide data centers (including Sydney), enterprise-grade hardware, S3-compatible storage, and pricing starting at 20 credit for new customers using the promo code DeveloperT2020.
  • 00:03:41 — Rapid-fire toolkit for getting unblocked — Jonathan transitions into a set of strategies for dealing with being blocked. He notes that no single strategy is universally best and that the right approach depends on context, but all are useful tools for problem solving.
  • 00:04:08 — Use another brain: ask for help — He recommends reaching out to someone else, since you may have a dead angle. The other person isn’t necessarily smarter; they may simply have different experiences or be thinking differently that day, allowing something to click for them that doesn’t for you.
  • 00:05:34 — Change the problem with thought experiments — Jonathan suggests altering the problem itself to shift how you think about it—for example, changing small numbers to large numbers, or imagining a deadline moved out in time. He also recommends reducing scope by slicing a complex problem into subparts and imagining pieces already solved to change the landscape.
  • 00:06:42 — Shift perspective: imagine it already solved — He proposes a perspective shift in time: imagine you have already solved the problem. From that viewpoint, identify what must be true and how you would know the problem is solved, using those truths to guide current action.
  • 00:07:03 — Reframe with new language and logic — Jonathan explains that describing a problem with new language—especially using logically equivalent statements—can change your approach. He uses a hospital example, reframing “99.5% have temperature checked” into “only 0.5% don’t” or “1 out of 200 can miss it,” making the goal feel more concrete and policy-driven.
  • 00:08:33 — Step away: rest and physical reset — He emphasizes getting away from the problem as one of the most effective strategies. Walking, sleeping, and drinking water are highlighted as reminders that you’re not a computer; your brain is part of your body, and rest can be essential to thinking clearly again.
  • 00:09:13 — Closing thanks and network mention — Jonathan thanks listeners and reiterates the Linode offer and promo code. He encourages subscribing and mentions other shows on the SPEC network at spec.fm, then credits producer Sarah Jackson and signs off.

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Developer Tea
  • Author: Jonathan Cutrell
  • Category: Technology Business Careers Society & Culture
  • Published: 2020-06-20T04:00:05Z
  • Duration: 00:10:07

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] In the last episode of the show, I asked the question, what will you do when you don’t

[00:00:08] know?

[00:00:09] In today’s episode, we’re going to go to the next step.

[00:00:14] What can you do once you admit you don’t know?

[00:00:18] My name is Jonathan Cattralli.

[00:00:19] You’re listening to Developer Tea.

[00:00:21] My goal on this show is to help driven developers like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose

[00:00:26] in their careers.

[00:00:28] So when you are faced with a question, whether that question is coming from yourself, let’s

[00:00:35] say you encounter a problem in your code, or it’s coming from a coworker or a friend,

[00:00:42] and you don’t have any answers, in fact, not only do you have no answers, but you have

[00:00:47] no leads, no idea of what to do next.

[00:00:52] You’re kind of hitting a complete wall, a mental block.

[00:00:59] What do you do next?

[00:01:01] As developers, this happens to us a lot in our careers, but it happens to everyone.

[00:01:07] Everyone faces a problem that they have no idea how to solve it.

[00:01:12] And this can be a very emotional thing.

[00:01:15] It’s important to understand that when you experience a mental block, it’s very likely

[00:01:21] to engage your emotions much faster than if you were to experience a problem where

[00:01:29] you have some kind of way forward, a solution.

[00:01:32] And the reason for this is because you’re moving out of thinking about the problem itself,

[00:01:38] most likely, because you’ve accepted that you’re blocked on the problem, and now you’re

[00:01:42] thinking about the consequences of being blocked.

[00:01:47] So instead of using that slow and methodical problem-solving brain, you move into that

[00:01:55] fast forecasting brain, the one that is looking out for threats, that is constantly trying

[00:02:01] to kind of play out future scenarios that haven’t even happened yet, in a way trying

[00:02:07] to prepare for those threats.

[00:02:09] Now, what can we do about this kind of blocked scenario?

[00:02:15] And how can we deal with these emotions better?

[00:02:19] We’ll talk about that right after we talk about today’s sponsor, Linode.

[00:02:22] If you’ve been listening to Developer T for very long at all, then you’ve heard about

[00:02:26] Linode.

[00:02:27] And that’s because Linode has been one of our longest-running sponsors.

[00:02:33] Why do you think that is?

[00:02:34] Well, Linode is a company run by developers, making tools and services for developers,

[00:02:42] With 11 data centers worldwide, including the newest one launched in Sydney, Australia,

[00:02:48] an enterprise-grade hardware, S3-compatible storage option, and the next generation network,

[00:02:54] Linode delivers the performance you expect at a price that you don’t.

[00:02:57] For example, you can get started with as low as $5 a month, and Linode is going to give

[00:03:04] you a $20 credit if you sign up as a new customer today and you use the promo code Developer

[00:03:11] T2020 when you create your account.

[00:03:15] Head over to Linode.com slash Developer T to get started and you’ll have root access

[00:03:19] to your server along with access via a version 4 API and a Python CLI.

[00:03:28] Again, that’s promo code Developer T2020.

[00:03:31] When you create your new Linode account, you’ll get $20 worth of credit towards your next

[00:03:36] project.

[00:03:37] Thanks again to Linode for sponsoring today’s episode of Developer T.

[00:03:41] So what can we do when we are blocked on a problem?

[00:03:46] There’s a lot of strategies to try to get unblocked from a problem.

[00:03:49] We’re going to kind of rapid fire through a handful of these strategies, and I won’t

[00:03:55] say that any one of them is better than the other.

[00:03:58] It all depends on your context, but certainly all of these strategies have a place in your

[00:04:05] toolkit for problem solving.

[00:04:08] The first strategy is to reach out to someone else.

[00:04:13] You may have a dead angle.

[00:04:17] You may not be seeing clearly a way forward that someone else may be able to see clearly.

[00:04:24] Not because they are better or smarter or any of those other superior things to you.

[00:04:31] Instead, simply because they have had a different experience in their career or in their life

[00:04:38] or maybe it’s just something that’s happening in your brain today that’s happening different

[00:04:43] in their brain.

[00:04:44] And so when they encounter the problem, something clicks for them that doesn’t click for you.

[00:04:49] And so this is one of the fastest and most effective ways to deal with a brain block.

[00:04:56] Use a different brain.

[00:04:58] And in fact, many of the strategies that we’re going to rapid fire through here are about

[00:05:03] changing the situation.

[00:05:06] Because when you come to that deadlock where you have a problem and you’ve tried to think

[00:05:12] it through and nothing seems to be working, then it’s time to try something different.

[00:05:18] To make some kind of change.

[00:05:22] The wonderful benefit of bringing someone else into the problem is that not only do

[00:05:27] you have another brain working on that problem, but you now have the combination of the two

[00:05:32] of you.

[00:05:34] Another strategy is to change the problem itself.

[00:05:38] There’s a lot of ways that you can change a problem.

[00:05:41] For example, you can create hypothetical thought experiments.

[00:05:46] Let’s say the problem is dealing with very small numbers, but you may change the problem

[00:05:52] to deal with very large numbers and see if it changes the way you think about it.

[00:05:57] Or as we talked about on the show before, imagine shifting some metric of time.

[00:06:04] Let’s say that you have an unreasonable deadline and you don’t know how you’re going to get

[00:06:09] things done before then.

[00:06:11] Perhaps you can imagine that you move the deadline out.

[00:06:15] Well now, how does that change how you would solve the problem?

[00:06:20] Or maybe you change the scope of the problem itself.

[00:06:24] Maybe the problem is incredibly broad or complex.

[00:06:28] Slice the problem up into its subparts, smaller problems.

[00:06:33] Imagine that you have parts of it already solved, even if they are still the complex

[00:06:37] parts.

[00:06:39] How does that change the landscape of the problem itself?

[00:06:42] You can also shift yourself, your perspective in time.

[00:06:47] Imagine that you’ve already solved the problem.

[00:06:50] What kinds of things are true?

[00:06:52] How do you know that you’ve solved the problem?

[00:06:55] Another effective way to kind of inspect a given problem and change the relationship

[00:07:03] that you have with that problem is to describe the problem with new language.

[00:07:09] This is particularly effective if you can use some rules of logic.

[00:07:14] A simple example from the medical profession, imagine that someone tasks you with making

[00:07:21] sure that 99.5% of all patients who come into the hospital have their temperature checked.

[00:07:29] Well, you may look at it from a different angle that is logically identical.

[00:07:35] Reduce the number of people who don’t have their temperature checks to 0.5%.

[00:07:42] Or you can say it a different way.

[00:07:45] For every 200 people, only one person can go without having their temperature checked.

[00:07:51] You can see why this changes your approach.

[00:07:55] Instead of trying to keep your numbers up, you can think about keeping other numbers

[00:08:01] down.

[00:08:02] More specifically, now that you’re dealing with an explicit number, 1 out of 200, instead

[00:08:09] of thinking about percentages, you can think about concrete policies or concrete action

[00:08:14] you might take.

[00:08:16] Refraising the problem or reframing the problem in combination with cutting the problem in

[00:08:23] half, right?

[00:08:24] Making the problem smaller or reducing the complexity.

[00:08:27] These can be incredibly powerful ways of changing your perspective of the problem itself.

[00:08:33] Finally, one of the most effective strategies that you can employ when you are totally blocked

[00:08:39] is to get away from the problem.

[00:08:42] Get away and go for a walk or get a good night’s sleep, drink a little bit of water.

[00:08:48] Remind yourself that you are still dependent on your physicality.

[00:08:53] In other words, you are not a computer.

[00:08:57] Your body is not existing alongside your brain.

[00:09:01] Your brain is affected and is a part of your body and so sometimes the most important thing

[00:09:08] you can do for your brain is give it a rest.

[00:09:13] Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode of Developer T. Thank you again to Linode

[00:09:17] for sponsoring today’s episode.

[00:09:19] You can get $20 worth of credit by heading over to linode.com slash developer T and using

[00:09:24] the promo code developerT2020 when you create your new Linode account.

[00:09:30] Thanks so much for listening to this episode.

[00:09:32] I encourage you to go and subscribe and whatever podcasting app you’re currently using, but

[00:09:36] also don’t forget there are other incredible shows on the SPEC network, head over to SPEC.FM

[00:09:43] to listen to more incredible content that is built specifically for you as a designer

[00:09:49] or developer looking to level up in your career.

[00:09:53] Today’s episode was produced by Sarah Jackson.

[00:09:55] My name is Jonathan Cottrell and until next time, enjoy your tea.

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