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Howdy rebel ideapreneurs 🦸♂️🦸♀️
Leo hosts a weekly podcast about strength training for beginners over 35.
He started it because most fitness advice assumes everyone's already fit.
He's convinced it's never too late to start — late beginners aren't broken.
His listeners know the feeling — they want proof starting late isn't starting wrong.
⛳️ Problem:
Leo has 30 episodes recorded but can't make himself edit episode 31.
So he watches another motivation video and tells himself tomorrow is the day.
He tries discipline next, forces an hour, then quits halfway angry at himself.
By Friday the episode is still unedited and another week of guilt piles on.
His problem: how to name what's actually keeping him from pressing play.
🔥 The recipe
➡️ The unblock method
Ali Abdaal is a former NHS doctor turned full-time YouTuber.
His channel has over 4 million subscribers, and Feel-Good Productivity was a bestseller.
He argues willpower is the wrong tool for procrastination.
Pushing harder on motivation or discipline never fixes the real cause.
Abdaal's argument: a task you avoid is a pebble in your shoe.
It's boring, scary, or confusing — and you can't out-walk it.
Name which pebble it is, and the next move shows up on its own.
Picture the email you've dodged for a week.
You're not lazy — it's scary; you fear the reply.
Name that, and the move shrinks: send two honest lines.
🚗 The steps
🥱 Step 1 — Check if it's boring.
Ask: am I avoiding this because it has zero spark for me right now?
Leo sits with episode 31 and notices: not boring at all.
The guest is a 52-year-old who deadlifts twice his bodyweight.
He rules out boring.
🫨 Step 2 — Check if it's scary.
Ask: am I avoiding this because shipping it puts me on the line?
Leo sits with it again and feels his chest tighten.
The guest talked about ignoring every gym he ever joined.
Publishing it feels like claiming a stage Leo hasn't earned.
That is the pebble: it's scary, not boring.
🪨 Step 3 — Make one tiny move that shrinks the fear.
Once you've named the pebble, the smallest next move becomes obvious.
Leo doesn't force a 2-hour edit session.
He opens the file, listens to the first 5 minutes, and writes one timestamp.
The pebble shrinks. He edits for 40 minutes that night without forcing it.
Stop hating yourself for not doing the thing. Name the pebble first.
The prompt below will run one stuck task through the boring / scary / confusing test.
You just tell it the task you've been avoiding.
🧸 Diagnose the pebble + one tiny move = the task moves on its own.
🏄♀️ The prompt
Save this prompt as a Skill or add to Project in your favorite AI tool — build once, use often.
Update your input values in the prompt or just run as is, your AI sidekick will use the example values and will give output.
CONTEXT:
- (use what's available, fall back to the inline values)
- If my Voice Profile exists, write in that voice. Otherwise, write in a clear, warm, no-jargon voice — first-person, plain words, no startup-speak, no therapy-speak.
- This is a diagnostic prompt, not a motivation prompt. Be honest and kind. Never blame me. Never tell me to "just push through."
Inputs:
The one task I've been avoiding for at least 3 days (one sentence, specific and picture-able — not "my whole launch"):
{e.g. edit and publish episode 31 of my podcast — the interview with the 52-year-old who deadlifts twice his bodyweight}
What I usually TELL myself about why I'm not doing it (the story I run when someone asks):
{e.g. "I'm waiting for the right energy" or "I want to do it justice" or "I'll batch it on the weekend"}
What I've already tried (motivation videos, hard deadlines, accountability buddies, time-blocking, etc.):
{e.g. watched two productivity videos, blocked Tuesday 9-11am, told my friend I'd ship by Friday — none of it worked}
For Audience: {e.g. me — a guy building a strength-training podcast on the side while still working a day job, scared to publish content my fitter friends might judge}
For Outcome: {e.g. an honest diagnosis of whether the task is BORING, SCARY, or CONFUSING — plus the one tiny next move that shrinks the actual blocker}
Outputs:
1. The diagnosis — pick one label: BORING (no spark) · SCARY (puts me on the line) · CONFUSING (I don't know what "done" looks like). One paragraph of evidence from my inputs.
2. The pebble — one sentence naming what's actually under the avoidance, in my words, no therapy-speak.
3. The one tiny next move — a 5-15 minute action that shrinks the pebble, not the whole task. Something I could do in the next hour.
4. What to AVOID this week — one specific anti-pattern I keep reaching for (e.g. another motivation video, another hard deadline, another accountability text).
Then write me a 3-line closing in my voice that acknowledges naming the pebble was the hard part — without slipping into hype or motivational quotes.
One stuck task diagnosed in plain words.
One pebble named instead of pushed through.
One tiny move that gets the task moving today.
That's it, my fellow trailblazers!
Yours 'helping you build your own AI sidekick, that works and makes money while you sleep' Vijay Peduru 🦸♂️