# When Stuck Protocol

## Problem Pattern
Complete blockage on marketing project or campaign:
- Progress halted, unclear how to move forward
- Team in decision paralysis
- Overwhelmed by options or complexity
- Disagreement on approach
- Can't see path from here to goal

## The Stuckness Trap

**Symptoms:**
- Endless meetings, no decisions
- Analysis paralysis (need more data)
- Perfectionism (waiting for perfect plan)
- Complexity overwhelm (too many moving parts)
- Team conflict (can't align on direction)

**Result:** Zero progress, missed opportunities, demoralized team

## The When Stuck Protocol

Four powerful questions to unblock any marketing challenge.

### Protocol Step 1: Zoom Out

**Ask: "What's the ACTUAL goal?"**

**The problem:** Lost in tactics, forgot the objective.

**How to zoom out:**
1. Stop discussing tactics/execution
2. Write down the real goal (business outcome, not marketing metric)
3. Ask: "If we achieved the goal tomorrow by magic, what would that look like?"
4. Reconnect tactics to that goal

**Example:**

*Stuck:* "Should we use Mailchimp or HubSpot? What subject line? Plain text or HTML? When to send? Which segment first?"

*Zoom out:* "What's the actual goal?"
→ Get 10 customers to try new feature

*Clarity:* Email tool doesn't matter. Subject line matters less than we think. Send today, any time, to 50 power users. Measure who tries feature. Iterate.

**Result:** Unblocked. Ship today instead of debating tools for weeks.

---

### Protocol Step 2: Constrain

**Ask: "What if we had 1 day and $100?"**

**The problem:** Infinite options create paralysis. Constraints force prioritization.

**How to use constraints:**
1. Imagine extreme resource limitation (1 day, $100 budget, or similar)
2. What would you do?
3. That's probably your MVP (minimum viable plan)
4. Do that first, elaborate later

**Example:**

*Stuck:* "Product launch needs: landing page, email campaign, social media strategy, paid ads, content marketing, PR, influencer partnerships, webinar series..."

*Constrain:* "What if you had 1 day and $100 to launch?"
→ Simple landing page (4 hours, $0)
→ Email to existing customers (2 hours, $0)
→ $100 LinkedIn ads to cold audience

*Clarity:* That's the actual launch. Everything else is optional enhancement.

**Result:** Ship in 1 day instead of 3 months. Learn from market. Iterate.

---

### Protocol Step 3: Naïve Question

**Ask: "What would a complete beginner do?"**

**The problem:** Experts overthink. Beginners see obvious path experts miss.

**How to ask naïvely:**
1. Pretend you know nothing about marketing
2. What's the most obvious, simple approach?
3. Why aren't you doing that?
4. Often the objections are assumptions, not facts

**Example:**

*Stuck:* "Need to grow email list. Should we build content upgrade funnel? Lead magnet landing pages? Facebook ads? LinkedIn outreach? Webinar funnel?"

*Naïve question:* "What would a beginner do?"
→ "Just ask people to sign up?"

*Expert response:* "Too simple, won't work, need lead magnet"

*Test reality:* Add simple signup form to homepage, ask in Twitter bio, email signature
→ Gets 50 signups/week (vs. 0 while building complex funnel)

*Clarity:* Simple often works. Test before building complex.

**Result:** Immediate results instead of elaborate planning.

---

### Protocol Step 4: Ship Smallest

**Ask: "What's the absolute MINIMUM to test the hypothesis?"**

**The problem:** Building complete solution before validating assumption.

**How to find minimum:**
1. State hypothesis being tested
2. What's smallest experiment to validate?
3. Ship that
4. Learn
5. Iterate

**Example:**

*Stuck:* "Should we invest in video marketing? Need to hire videographer, buy equipment, create content calendar, build YouTube channel, develop video SEO strategy..."

*Hypothesis:* "Our audience wants video content"

*Smallest test:*
- Record 1 video on iPhone (today)
- Post to LinkedIn (today)
- Measure engagement vs. text posts
- Total time: 2 hours
- Total cost: $0

*Result:* Know if video resonates BEFORE investing $10K

**Result:** Learn fast, fail cheap, scale what works.

---

## Combined Protocol Example

**Stuck situation:** B2B SaaS company wants to improve product adoption but paralyzed by options.

**Step 1 - Zoom out:**
Q: "What's the actual goal?"
A: 100 current customers actually using our new feature (only 10 are using it now)

**Step 2 - Constrain:**
Q: "What if you had 1 day and $100?"
A: Email those 10 users who ARE using it, ask them to tell us why they love it. Use their words to email the 90 who aren't using it.

**Step 3 - Naïve question:**
Q: "What would a beginner do?"
A: "Just ask the 90 why they're not using it?"
→ Revelation: We assumed we knew why. We don't. Ask them first.

**Step 4 - Ship smallest:**
Q: "What's minimum test?"
A: 
- Today: Email 10 users using feature (ask why they love it)
- Tomorrow: Email 10 non-users (ask why not using)
- Day 3: Based on answers, create simple plan
- Total time: 4 hours
- Total cost: $0

**Outcome:**
Unblocked. Shipping this week instead of planning for months. Real data instead of assumptions.

## When Stuck Indicators

Use this protocol when:
- Team in third meeting discussing same decision
- Can't agree on approach (everyone has different opinion)
- Waiting for "perfect" information before moving
- Building elaborate plan instead of shipping
- Complexity increasing faster than progress
- Timeline slipping week after week
- Team energy low (talking, not doing)

## Quick Unblocking Checklist

When stuck, run through:
1. ✅ Zoom out: Stated actual goal clearly?
2. ✅ Constrain: Identified 1-day version?
3. ✅ Naïve: Asked what beginner would do?
4. ✅ Ship smallest: Defined minimum test?

If answered all four, you're unblocked. Execute.

## Common Stuckness Types

### Type 1: Analysis Paralysis
**Symptom:** "Need more data before deciding"
**Protocol:** Ship smallest test to GET data

### Type 2: Perfectionism
**Symptom:** "Not ready to launch, needs polish"
**Protocol:** Constrain to 1-day version, ship that

### Type 3: Complexity Overwhelm
**Symptom:** "Too many moving parts, don't know where to start"
**Protocol:** Zoom out to actual goal, ship smallest toward that goal

### Type 4: Disagreement
**Symptom:** "Team can't align on approach"
**Protocol:** Naïve question often reveals simple path everyone agrees on

### Type 5: Over-Planning
**Symptom:** "Need comprehensive strategy first"
**Protocol:** All four steps - zoom out, constrain, naïve, ship smallest

## Integration with Other Techniques

**+ Simplification Cascades:**
Use when stuck due to complexity. Simplify ruthlessly.

**+ Inversion Exercise:**
If stuck, try opposite of conventional approach.

**+ Scale Game:**
Sometimes stuck because optimizing for wrong scale.

## Anti-Patterns (Avoid These)

❌ "Let's schedule another meeting to discuss"
→ Make decision now, imperfect action beats perfect planning

❌ "We need to research best practices first"
→ Test your situation, don't copy others

❌ "Let's build comprehensive solution"
→ Build minimum, learn, iterate

❌ "What if we also added..."
→ Constrain, don't expand

❌ "We should wait for [X] before starting"
→ Start with what you have today

## Success Metrics

Protocol working when:
- Decision made in current conversation (not next meeting)
- Something shipped this week (not next month)
- Team energy increases (doing beats discussing)
- Learning happening (data replacing assumptions)
- Progress visible (movement toward goal)

## Key Principle

**Action beats analysis. Done beats perfect. Learning beats planning.**

**Stuck = thinking problem → Solution = doing something**

When completely stuck, the protocol is simple:
1. Zoom out (what's the real goal?)
2. Constrain (1 day, $100)
3. Naïve (what would beginner do?)
4. Ship smallest (test hypothesis)

Then: **DO IT TODAY**

Stuckness ends when action begins.
