What people call "thinking outside the box" is usually just switching POVs. The box doesn't change. You do.
Fixating on an idea or a system that worked once is how you get washed.
You get married to your strategy, defend it, build your identity around it. And then the game changes and you're stuck arguing with reality instead of adapting to it.
It’s a vicious cycle, fighting the unweary hands of time. If you've ever been stuck like me, here’s how to snap out of it.
Stephen Covey tells a story in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People about a road trip.
I’ll spare you the details, but this is the analogy: imagine you're trying to navigate Dubai, but your Google Maps is stuck on the map of Abu Dhabi.
You’re bound to get lost no matter how hard you try because you're using the wrong map.
Most people, when stuck, double down on effort. They assume the problem is execution. But sometimes, the problem is the map itself. The lens you're using to see the situation is pointed at the wrong territory.
Covey calls these lenses “paradigms.” And the fastest way to get unstuck isn't to work harder within your current paradigm. It's to question whether you're even looking at the right map.
I've been working on video content BTS, and something that's really helping me is a speaking course gifted to me by @leonabboud.
The tutor uses showmanship to drive his points home.
One section stuck with me where a magician performed a trick that looked impossible. Genuinely impossible.
Then he showed the BTS footage from a different angle. You could see everything: the setup, the timing, the misdirection.
What felt like magic was actually simple once you saw the full picture. The "impossible" was just a perspective you hadn't couldn't see.
I keep thinking about InfoFi creators who feel stuck right now.
There's an obvious path everyone talks about: partner with agencies in hopes of getting a paycheck for shilling projects. Become a mouthpiece, or worse, trade your audience for a Trove Market badge and undisclosed ads.
But think about what that actually means.
You're competing with every other creator chasing the same agency relationships. You're dependent on their deal flow. You're one bad campaign away from being replaceable. And you're building someone else's audience, not yours.
The "obvious" answer is usually the most crowded and least defensible position you could take.
Instead, zoom out.
What else can you do with the skills you've built?
Video content. Crypto YouTube is still underserved relative to the attention it commands. TikTok and Instagram even more so. Most of it is low-effort screen recordings or recycled Twitter takes. If you can write, you can script. If you can script, you can build a channel that compounds (note to self).
Ghostwriting long-form. Founders, VCs, protocols with treasury budgets and no time to write. They need voices. Most of them are desperate for someone who actually understands the space and can make them sound smart. This pays better than shilling and builds relationships that matter.
Social audio. I was on a space hosted by @chinsanity a few hours ago and kept thinking to myself: "damn, this is a blue ocean for creators." Genuinely good social audio formats are a completely different ball game from everything else. Hosting is a skill. Asking good questions is a skill. Becoming the person who makes conversations happen puts you at the center of networks without needing to produce content at scale. Lots of people out there like @shotguncaio, @SimonDex, @iamveektoria_, @EasyEatsBodega, etc. have built their communities through this skill.
All of these paths pay. All of them build equity in yourself rather than renting out your attention to the highest bidder. None of them require you to follow the herd.
If you're feeling stuck, try this:
Write down the problem as you currently see it.
Then ask yourself what you'd tell a friend in the same situation.
Then google the same question and look up Reddit results (real).
Boom, now you have multiple perspectives for the same situation.
TL;DR: You don't need a new game. You need a new angle on the one you're already playing.