Stuck? Just Talk About It
Simplest solution ever
Hi friend,
How are you? Hope you had a great week.
Here is something I bet you often face at work.
Problems. Right?
How many times have you gone days scratching your head, wondering how to solve that nagging decision dilemma at work, yet those endless inner dialogs landed you nowhere?
If the problem is high-stakes, it keeps you awake at night, and that’s when your darker emotions take over, painting every possible plotline with only negative resolutions.
It happened to me too many times to count.
In reality, oftentimes the solution is patiently waiting for you to discover - only if you activate one simple tactic.
Just talk about it!
It’s the weirdest thing, but when you verbally share a problem with a colleague, friend, or spouse, you unleash several processes all at once:
You articulate the problem in your own words; it forces you to organize your thoughts and convey a coherent story. Put simply, the act of explaining often turns “doom thoughts” into an actionable structure.
As you’re telling your story, you’d be surprised, but sometimes with a few new details you add, the obvious solution will surface - almost like magic
Other times, your listener will spot a few missing gaps or root causes you left out in your story that could explain your dilemma
Those gaps could stem from you thinking those details were too trivial, unimportant, you missed them, or you were simply locked under some false narrative and didn’t consider them essential
Research supports this.
In a study of university aviation technician students using Think-Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS), the talk-aloud pair group solved 93% of troubleshooting problems vs 72% for the comparison group.
Looking to up your story-crafting skills? Book your Storytelling Workshop
Simulating your problem
When you think about it, airing out a problem with someone is nothing but a simulation game.
In essence, you only share a 2-act story: Act 1: the Setting (what happened), and Act 2: the Conflict (problem). And need help with Act 3: the Resolution.
Simulation games are super effective in facing various “dragons” and practicing response strategies.
In business school, you may have participated in business strategy games to run various what-if scenarios against competitors.
And in defense, multiplayer wargaming simulations do the same thing to achieve a decision advantage over adversaries.
I’m a great believer in simulations, as it gives participants a role and ownership in shaping the outcomes.
It’s learning by doing.
That’s why I run simulations in my storytelling workshops, and also in my Brand Storytelling course at the University of Miami’s Business School.
I break a 50-student class into startups of 2 co-founders tasked with launching a new product to market while applying a brand storytelling framework.
It’s personal, hands-on, and producing fantastic stories.
In short, feeling stuck? Don’t keep it to yourself. Talk about it with someone.
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
P.S. Loved this story? Take your visual storytelling skills to the next level by upgrading to a paid subscription as a Narrative Partner.
You’ll get:
The “Top 10 Business Storytelling Formulas” eBook—practical frameworks to craft marketing that captivates and converts.
Exclusive content + bi-weekly Sunday insights to sharpen your narrative thinking, decode trends, and apply visual storytelling with confidence.
Full archive access for endless inspiration, fresh ideas, and proven techniques—ready whenever creativity strikes.
