A little space to think

The Unstick method and the research behind it

Unstick is a short thinking tool. Its sequence is a product design, not a clinically validated treatment. You can skip the feeling and breathing steps, and your next move can be to gather information rather than make a final decision.

1. Check in, if it helps

Choose a feeling, choose “Not sure”, or continue without a label. Experimental research on affect labelling suggests that putting feelings into words can affect emotional responses. It does not show that selecting a feeling in this app reliably improves decisions.

Lieberman and colleagues, 2007: Putting feelings into words

2. Make room for a pause

The optional breathing exercise offers three comfortable cycles without a breath hold. Follow it only if it feels comfortable; you can skip at any time. The pace is a usability choice, not a proven optimal prescription.

A 2023 randomised trial studied five minutes of daily breathing practice over a month. That is different from Unstick’s brief pause, so its findings cannot establish the effect of this exercise.

Balban and colleagues, 2023: Structured respiration practices

3. Name the decision and consider its context

Write in whatever words work for you. Consider reversibility, the real deadline, the main risk and what you can control. These prompts help organise the situation; they are not a diagnostic scale. “Not sure” is a valid answer.

4. Explore a couple of options

Two options are enough to begin. Add a third if useful. The safe, bold and easy prompts are optional ways to generate ideas. Research on choice overload is context-dependent and does not establish three as a universally optimal number.

Scheibehenne and colleagues, 2010: Choice-overload meta-analysis

5. Choose a next step

Consider which option fits what matters to you. Feeling confident is not proof that a choice is sound. You can instead find out one missing thing, ask someone for perspective, or choose when to return to the decision. Significant or hard-to-reverse decisions may deserve more information and appropriate advice.

Kahneman and Klein, 2009: Conditions for intuitive expertise

6. Make the first move concrete

An optional action and timing cue can turn an intention into a usable plan: “After lunch, I’ll ask for ten minutes to talk.” Research on implementation intentions examines this connection between a situation and an action. It does not guarantee follow-through.

Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006: Implementation intentions and goal achievement

Your answers stay in the page’s memory. Copy your plan if you want to keep it; Unstick does not save a history.