Are you stuck in a rut right now?
Did you recently lose your job?
Are you fighting with your spouse?
When was the last time you were passionate about what you did for a living?
If you’re not currently in a rut, that’s GREAT!
But I’m sure you’ve been stuck in a rut before, and you may find yourself in a rut in the future.
Do you like ruts?
Probably not.
They’re depressing and painful.
So let’s make a pact, right now, to either get you out of your current rut or to prevent future ruts.
I’m going to give you 11 tips on getting out of your rut and turning your luck around, one turn at a time.
Now, let’s get INTO the tips to help you get OUT of your rut.
Tip #1 – Understand That Feeling Stuck Is Normal
You are NOT alone.
Everybody feels stuck at one point in their lives.
Sure, it’s not a pleasant feeling, but it’s a universal phenomenon. Your friends and family know what it’s like to be stuck in a rut.
So instead of feeling alone when you’re stuck, you should open up to your circle and seek out others’ advice.
This way, you can get a better idea of how other people get out of their ruts. More importantly, you can use their insights to help you get out of YOUR rut.
Most importantly, you can get out of your own head and fight through your challenges alongside your group of friends and family members. You are NEVER alone.
Tip #2 – Change Your Perspective
What’s your perspective like?
If you keep seeing your rut as negative and depressing, you won’t be inspired to get out of it. Instead of looking at your rut as a valley in your life, look at it as a side road that can help propel you up your mountain!
If you view your rut as an opportunity to grow, you reframe your rut from something negative into something positive.
And remember, your positive thoughts will lead to positive actions, which will create positive results in your life.
Change your perspective – don’t look at your rut as a failure or as a test, but look at it as a chance to learn and grow. And you’ll soon start to see yourself get out of your rut and climb even farther up your mountain of success.
Tip #3 – Identify The Source Of The Problem
You can’t kill the fly that you can’t see.
Similarly, you need to know WHY you’re stuck in a rut so you can get out of it AND ensure that you avoid that kind of rut in the future.
If you’re not happy at your job, is it something related to the work itself? Do you not like the people you work with? Or do you love what you do, but you don’t like the lack of upward mobility?
If you’re fighting with your spouse, is it something related to a comment you made? Did your spouse have a tough day, and she’s frustrated that you’re not listening to her? Or did you forget about date night?
Once you figure out WHY you’re in a rut, you can pinpoint the causes and come up with a solution to get yourself unstuck.
Let the problem become part of the solution. As you become more self-aware, you become more self-reliant in getting out of your rut! When you're stuck in a rut, use anything and EVERYTHING you can to overcome it.
Tip #4 – Change Something Up
DO something! Anything. Even if it’s just something small.
When you take action, you’ll create the necessary momentum to take more action and get out of your rut once and for all. Actions speak louder than words, right?
Change your hairstyle. Order something new at your favorite restaurant. Exercise four days a week instead of two.
Just make sure to do something, no matter how tiny of an action, and you’ll see yourself start to progress and take the necessary steps to escape your rut.
Tip #5 – Break It Down
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by how large of a rut you’re in.
At the very least, it certainly FEELS like a large rut.
You won’t do any good if you’re overwhelmed or worried. Instead of looking at the size of your rut, I want you to break it down by focusing on small goals that you can accomplish quickly. That way, you can continually motivate yourself and feel good about what you’re doing.
Focus on small actions and small goals that compound, and you’ll soon see the light at the end of your rut.
And celebrate your victories along the way! It’ll keep your spirits up and encourage you to keep going strong.
Tip #6 – Focus On The Process, Not The Outcome
I know you want to get out of your rut. It’s the outcome you want, and it’s the outcome that is most important to you when you feel stuck.
It takes time to progress when you're stuck in a rut. If you keep thinking about the outcome, you’ll get impatient with yourself and start to doubt your efforts.
Instead of worrying about the outcome, you need to KNOW, without a doubt, that you’ll get out of your rut.
Focus on the process of getting out, like your actions and your small goals, and you will see daily improvements in your life that will motivate you to keep up your process and let the outcome crystallize when it’s ready.
Tip #7 – Surround Yourself With Oddly Positive People
You are the average of the five people you most associate with.
If you want to stay in a negative headspace, you’ll hang around with negative people. If you want to grow and become more positive, you’ll hang around with collaborative, positive people.
Especially when you’re stuck in a rut, you NEED as much positivity as you can get.
Hang around with the oddly positive people in your life, and you can ride their wave of positivity all the way to the end of your rut.
And when you DO escape your rut, don't kick these oddly positive people to the curb! Keep them by your side as a way to nurture your mindset and keep you afloat during future challenges.
Tip #8 – Remember To Be Grateful
An attitude of gratitude will always benefit you when times are tough.
In fact, some people would love to have your “rut.” All over the world, people are facing worse circumstances than you, and can only dream of being exactly where you are, in your life, right now.
Plus, if you’re able to show gratitude for the little things in your life, like your ability to walk around or observe the world around you, you can instantly shift your perspective and turn your rut into something positive.
Gratitude will ease your burdens and put you in a much better headspace, as you’ll always have something to appreciate or look forward to, even in the worst of times.
Tip #9 – Practice Being Your Best Self
When you’re stuck in a rut, are you in a position you want to be?
NO.
But, if you envision the ideal version of you, and imagine how your best self would get out of your rut, you can help yourself get unstuck even faster!
If you can see it, you can achieve it.
And if you can see how your ideal self would act during a rut, you can become more like your ideal self in the process of becoming unstuck from whatever is holding you back.
Embrace the ideal you and use it to kick your rut to the curb!
Tip #10 – Figure Out Who You Want To Be
It’s hard to see the need for change unless a crisis comes and smacks you in the face.
But, on the other hand, a crisis makes people more resilient and resourceful. It allows them to become better at overcoming different challenges and adapting to future circumstances.
Similarly, whatever rut you’re facing will reveal how you respond to adversity.
When you’re stuck in a rut, you can figure out what you want to be more of, and what you want to be less of.
And when you get out of your rut, you can build on what you’ve learned about yourself and be confident battling anything else that comes your way.
Tip #11 – Engage With Very Successful People
We talked earlier about associating with oddly positive people, which will help you keep a positive headspace during tough times.
Likewise, I encourage you to associate with very successful people when you’re stuck in a rut. These people can be successful in business, in love, or in life itself. The type of success doesn’t matter, but the level of success is what’s important.
These people can teach you about their experiences and provide you with unique insights to help you get unstuck.
Every successful person has faced a rut or a challenge along the way to success, and you can further motivate yourself by leaning on the lessons learned from successful people. And as you do this, you’ll not only get out of your rut, but you’ll become even more successful yourself!
11 tips. 1 you. And 0 ruts that you can’t escape when you apply these tips to your life.
Stop letting your rut dictate your life. And use your life to overcome your ruts, liberate yourself, and embrace the person you KNOW you were meant to be.
