How to Get Out of a Rut!

“The first rule of getting out a hole is to stop digging”?— Brian Tracy

Often clients and friends come to me and ask how they can get out of a rut??It happens to many of us at some point in our lives. We are tired, bored, frustrated, and stuck in a place we don’t want to be. My best answer is to break your routine and expose yourself to different sights, sounds, people, and places to rekindle your innate creativity.

Do some things you don’t normally do;

1. Take a different route to work
2. Take a bus, train, bike, walk instead of drive
3. Walk the dog down new streets or to a different park.
4. Read a book or magazine you would not normally read
5. Listen to music you would not normally care to, change pop to reggae, or rap for classical. Try to consider what other people like about this genre even if you never will. Breaking your normal thinking patterns creates better answers.
6. Get away from home for a day or a weekend at least 100 miles away, hike, boat, golf, fish, ride, jet ski, try paragliding. A different country is even better.
7. Eat at a different restaurant and food you have never dared to try like sushi!
8. Invest in your future.?Spend at least one hour a day and two would be better on personal growth. Focus on areas that will be of most help to you in your career, speaking, marketing, sales, leadership, time management. Use books, audiobooks, and online learning to make this easy.
9. Eliminate easy negatives from your life. Do not participate in Facebook or blog debates about politics or personalities you love or hate. Look for positive groups like this one. Fill your head with positive and practical content
10. Help someone else, a friend, a charity or a complete stranger
11. Re-frame your challenges by asking yourself how someone else you admire might handle them?
12. Once you have rekindled your creativity. Commit to taking some small action every day to improve your current situation.?For example: If you need to get out of credit card debit list something you don’t really need or use every day on eBay. If you need to lose weight cut out just 150 calories a day (one slice of bread or one beer) Small commitments daily add up to life-changing events.

We all get low points in our career, business, and life but life is too short to dwell in them. Take some of the above actions today and start moving forward again.