It's Groundhog Day. Again.
A technique to get out of a rut.
I think at least some of us have been living in our own personal Groundhog’s Day for the entire year. I certainly have.
In fact, I’m currently in a rut. I hate ruts. Ruts are those patterns or habits that you know aren’t ideal but you’re stuck watching yourself do them anyway.
Ruts are deep. When you try to pull your wheels out, you just slide back in. Ruts don’t always respond well to slow, gradual progress—a productivity tactic I’ve been pitching for a very long time in my writing.
Sometimes, a good rut needs a good jolt of something different to knock us out of it. Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re not guaranteed to fall right back in, but a good jolt can work.
This could be as easy as some time off—but if you’re like me, time off can sometimes actually increase anxiety because it feels like you’re not addressing the root problem. That’s not always true, but it’s true sometimes. You have to calibrate your own anxiety radar on this.
I’d also like to point out that there’s a subtle flavor of perfectionism built into the whole “rut” thing. When we say we want to “get back on track” that suggests that we’re not really thinking of our path right now as part of the journey. We’re thinking it doesn’t really count. We’re either “on track” or we’re “off track.” That kind of black and white thinking doesn’t really help us build a healthy mindset to challenge ruts.
It just reinforces the deep lines of the rut. It makes us feel like we’re either pointed at our goal or not.
Quick, overused but relevant example:
When NASA sent the first moon rover into space, it had a navigation system that helped it stay on target and get to the moon. Slowly, as the ship moved through space, it would be pointed a little too left. The ship would adjust and recenter. Then, the ship would be a little too far right and it would adjust and recenter.
Over the course of the journey, the ship was “off track” something like 80% of the time—yet it still hit its target. It never needed to be perfectly aligned, it just needed to continuously adjust the course.
So, yes, a big jolt of change or a different routine can help us snap out of our current, short-term mindset. But that’s sort of like Bill Murray trying to ‘hog-nap Punxatawney Phil and drive off a cliff. Yes, that happened in the movie.
The bigger theme is around perfectionism and realizing that every decision we make, every rut we’re in, and every attempt to improve ourselves are all equally part of the journey.
The long-term solution is that we realize that we’re neither on- nor off-track, we’re just adjusting the course.
The trenches of the rut are a little less deep than we think.
Great post, thanks Chris