Ruts
You know when you aren't productive for some time, so you start feeling guilty, so you procrastinate more and then you're in an unproductive cycle? That's what it means to be in a “rut”. Not fun.
I’ve been in many ruts and here are a couple techniques that have worked for me.
Build momentum
When you're in a rut, you're stationary — you aren't doing anything. In fact, you probably have negative momentum, moving you backwards as you procrastinate.
To get out of a rut, all you need to do is flip the sign of your momentum. To do this, start with super small tasks — “momentum builders”. Do the laundry, exercise, go on a walk, clean up, meal prep or do other low effort yet useful tasks. This stops you procrastinating (so you eliminate your negative momentum) and adds some small momentum in the positive direction.
Once you've got some small positive momentum, you don't want to lose it. As Newton's first law of motion says, if you don't do anything, you’ll return to rest because you have the external force of friction acting on you.
So when you're moving — keep moving. Start with small dominoes until you feel ready to topple some bigger dominoes.
Change your environment
Sometimes when you're really stuck you just need to switch up your environment.
I like to head to a coffee shop, grab a good drink and crack out some work.
Doing something that feels novel like going to a new coffee shop can give you a sense of excitement and relieve your feelings of guilt and anxiety.
Know when you're falling into a rut
It's much easier to get out of a rut if you recognize it early. The main cause of ruts is the combination of being unproductive, unmotivated and, as a result, guilty. If you start seeing those signs, quickly take steps to avoid blending those ingredients into a rut smoothie.
But how? As if you're already in a rut, build positive momentum, using similar techniques to before.
Be intentional about breaks
Sometimes a rut is a sign that you need to properly take a break else you may risk burnout.
If you think that's the case, take an intentional break. And a real break. Usually that means not just watching Netflix for a day — that might just make your rut worse. Get outside, spend time with friends or family, take a long nap or do whatever really rejuvenates you.
Ruts are hard to deal with but try applying some of these techniques and see if they work. As with everything in self improvement, experiment with a bunch of different solutions and see what actually pulls you out of ruts. Then keep note of it and try it the next time you're in a rut. Also think about how you can prevent yourself from falling into ruts in the first place.