How to Dig Yourself Out of a Rut

Wait…I’m in a rut?

I think we can all relate to some of these feelings. Tired. Uninspired. Bored. Distracted. Procrastinating. Irritable. These are all feelings that I know I’ve associated with times that I’ve been in a rut ¹. It’s happened to me a handful of times in my life. One of the most vivid was at my first job out of college, about a couple years into it. I can see myself now, sitting in my cube, answering emails, really just going through the days like I was in a daze. ²

What is funny is that I didn’t hate that job. Sure, there were definitely things I didn’t love about it, but the job was fine. I had a ton of great coworkers, the work could be interesting, and I was good at it. I think what I hated was that I knew if I stayed that course, I wouldn’t be where I wanted to be and where I knew I could be. I saw the older folks at the office, I asked myself, “is this what you want to be doing for the next 35-40 years?” And you know what, the answer was hell no. ³

So, on a pretty frequent basis are you unmotivated? Do you feel the monotony of your daily routine? Are you putting off the things that you know will get you ahead and make you feel better? Is a general sense of blah taking over you pretty regularly?? Well, if so, you’re likely in a rut like I’ve been in. Sucks, right? You hate it, yeah? Good, you’re supposed to. Those feelings are supposed to be shitty. They’re supposed to motivate you get off your ass and fix them. ⁴

How do you get out of a rut?

Getting out of a rut isn’t something that happens overnight or with a quick fix (sorry). I’ve found it’s a series of small steps and actions you take, on a daily basis, to slowly course correct yourself. ⁵. None of these things are going to be earth shattering revelations. They’re all simple things that if you do them every day, whether you feel like it or not, you’ll slowly start to see the changes in the right areas and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll be refocused on the right things.

First step, you need to move more. The body is meant to be moving and if you consistently workout or just keep it doing physical things, you’ll be amazed at the amount of energy you can generate. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, no gym membership required. It can be as simple as going for a walk each day. Need to make a phone call? Do it while walking your neighborhood. Start small, get 15 minutes in before work or after dinner. Build up from there. If you like going to the gym, start prioritizing that. And when the inevitable time comes when you really don’t want to go for that walk or go to the gym, just fucking go. That muscle of overriding your inner procrastinator needs working out too. You’d be surprised how after a handful of overcoming that beast, you can shut it up quickly and get on with the things you need to be doing.

The second step is you need to get some sleep. I suck at this one. I love staying up at night wasting time on the couch watching TV or infinity scrolling after I’m officially done for the day. I’m a complete night owl. But, when you have to wake up at 7am no matter what, it starts to catch up with you and is really just not worth it. ⁶. If you can just get yourself in bed at a time when you can get at minimum 7 hours of sleep, you’ll start to notice a difference. If you can get 8 hours, even better. This is sort of tied to more exercise in that you just create a bit more energy for yourself that allows you to get the stuff you need to be working on done. Try it for a couple of weeks. It really does help and you’ll start to notice how you’re there to get more crap done.

The third step is you need to start to eat a bit healthier and to pause the alcohol/drugs. While these things are awesome, and I enjoy them too, they don’t really help move the ball forward on a consistent basis. For example, if I meet up with some buddies for beers during the week, I can almost guarantee you that I’ll be less productive the next day and most likely be ordering a pizza at some point too. I’m not saying that nights out with friends need to stop. Those are some of the most important things we do as humans. But when you’re stuck in a rut, you need to give the pinball machine a bit of a smack. Being hungover eating ice cream at approximately 11:33am isn’t really going to be of much help. Start eating cleaner and pause the vices. Give it a week or two. Combined with the first couple of steps, in 2 weeks, you’ll really be building some momentum towards ultimately what you need to be doing.

Keeping your momentum

If you’ve stayed with those 3 steps for 2-4 weeks, hopefully you’re starting to see some changes. You’ll likely feel better on a daily basis and be a bit more motivated each day. The hardest part now, is keeping that momentum going. It definitely isn’t easy and you can oh so quickly fall back into your old habits. So what are some ways that you can avoid this?

I’d say first is try and get some help. No, you don’t need a shrink. What I’m saying is to find someone else to help keep you accountable. A spouse, friend, child, or parent. If someone is on their own little journey of digging themselves out of a rut, even better! Being part of a team on something like this will only help you out. You can lean on them when you inevitably need a quick kick in the butt.

The second thing is I’d say is that you need to separate yourself from your phone during times of focus. Hell, I just caught myself being distracted by my phone while writing this post. The buddies text chain was going. It’s all great stuff, but not really earth shattering, must see information in this moment. It can wait. Focus on what you need to be doing.

OK smarty pants, what is it that I really need to be doing??

To be honest, I don’t know. Don’t have the slightest clue. But I do know that it’s probably not video games, scrolling Instagram, or binging a new show. YOU know what you need to be doing. I’m positive that there are a few ideas you need to be chasing. Sit down and make a list of the top 3-5 things that you should be doing to move your life forward. Look at this list and try and prioritize the main one or two things that really should have your full attention.

The rest isn’t really rocket science. You just need to start working on it. Break these things into smaller tasks and get going. Even if the work you start doing is utter shit, if you keep at it, you’ll quickly find that you’re getting better. Learn that thing you need to learn. Take an action that will help you get better. Have an extra 20 minutes to kill, do some work. Just block off 30 minutes a day to get this stuff done. The progress will really start to stack. You got this.

Summary

So how do you get out of a rut?

1. Admit to yourself that you’re actually in a rut and be real in that this is not a place you want to be.
2. Get out of the rut. Start moving your body and exercising. Actually get the sleep you need each night. Eat better and push the pause button on alcohol and drugs.
3. Keep your momentum. Get a buddy and hold each other accountable. Separate yourself from your phone for parts of the day where you need to be productive.
4. Start working on the things that will move your life forward.
5. Just keep going!!!

1. There are a lot of names for a rut. A few might be stagnant, uninspired, mildly depressed, weighed down. I’m sure there’s varying degrees of all of these, but it’s a feeling of just not loving where you are but you’re also not really doing anything to get yourself out.
2. I even battled a little carpal tunnel from working at a keyboard so much…haha…WTF???
3. Now don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with working an office job and climbing the corporate ladder. It can be a pretty straightforward path to a good life. Hell, anyone from 50-100 years ago would kill to be able to sit in a comfy office chair, in a temperature controlled office, and do work that really doesn’t require any physical exertion. We really have come a long way. Sometimes the super zoomed out perspective can really help see things more clearly.
4. Don’t even get me started with boredom and how modern technology doesn’t allow you to be bored. I think this is one of the most detrimental things that has happened to people in our day and age. We’re supposed to be bored. It forces our mind to start working on ways to not be bored. You come up with some of your greatest ideas in these moments. Our modern technology is hampering this and I think it’s a tragedy. Definitely another post here.
5. I hate to say it, but there really aren’t many get rich quick schemes that really work. You can get lucky or take advantage of people, but most good outcomes are the result of consistent hard, well focused work.
6. I’m 1000% going to stay up till 1am and sleep till 10am when I’m retired