Ten ways to break out of a rut

I get them. You get them. We all get into ruts. Sometimes the ruts are temporary. Other times you have to do more work to get out of them. Here are ten things I've done to get out of personal ruts.

1. Get 8 hours of sleep

There's nothing more magical than getting a good night's rest. I might be in a rut at night. Stressed. Freaked out. Worried. Anxious. But after a good night's rest, I feel like I can conquer the world. If you're in a rut, you probably haven't gotten a good night's rest.

2. Exercise

Similarly, if you're in a rut, you probably haven't focused on your personal health that much. Get active, even if it's just walking outside for 5 minutes. You can go to the end of your driveway and back if you don't like going outside as I do.

3. Call your parents

We don't do it enough. And calling my parents always makes me feel better.

4. Journal

I know when I'm in a rut, I write it out. Why store all those negative feelings and anxieties in your head when you can get it out onto paper? Just like how you might save something to dropbox to save it securely, you can journal as a way of downloading everything from your head so you don't need it there anymore.

5. Practice gratitude

Okay so the world isn't treating you well. You're stuck. You don't know how to move forward. How does being grateful help you? It moves you from "this world doesn't care about me" to "hey, this world has already done a lot for me". You move from a scarcity mindset to an abundant one.

6. Read a book

Any book will do. I like fiction. But if you're a non-fiction book fiend like I am, I like the following:
Poke the Box by Seth Godin (which will get you into action)
Discipline is Freedom by Jocko Willink (all you need to make a change is within yourself)
You are awesome by Neil Pasricha (because you ARE awesome)

7. Create

This can mean many things for many people. It could mean working on Lego. It could mean writing. It could mean making art. Make something. Give it away or sell it. Let people react to it. Or not. It's hard to feel bad when you're in the flow of creating something new and intersting.

8. Hang out with a friend

It might have been tough in the COVID days to hang out with friends but you can always find a way with your friends. Maybe it's going for a socially distanced walk. Maybe it's monthly Zoom calls. Even if you haven't kept in touch as often as you'd like, contact them now. Make the first move.

9. Give yourself a high five

From Mel Robbins The High Five Habit, give yourself a high five in the mirror. Sure nobody else might but the funny thing is your mind doesn't know the difference between someone giving you a high five and you giving yourself a high five in the mirror. It feels silly but trust me, it'll make you feel better.

10. Be creative

Roger von Oech in his book A Whack on the Side of the Head says that to be creative, we have to introduce the element of play. You're in a rut because you likely don't feel like you have a lot of options. So be creative. Brainstorm. When you think you only have two or three options, you're wrong.

Imagine for example that you have a family and your company decides to move you through an internal transfer to another office on the other side of the country. You think that your options are:

A) Turn down the offer and stay where you are, giving up the chance to be promoted and rise within the company

B) Accept the offer but be split from your family.

Those aren't the only two options. For example you can:

C) Work out an agreement to work from where you are but to work for the other office remotely
D) Quit and start a new job
E) Accept the offer and move your whole family to the new city
F) Use the internal offer as a way to pivot yourself to a competitor for an even better job

Obviously there isn't just two options. We think that there is because we want to make it easier to decide. A or B. Not A or B or C or ... or Z.

Wyip