But what happens when you get a whole string of those off-days, maybe lasting weeks, months, or even years? Too many of us say that we’re in a rut, feel stuck, fed-up, or bored, and admit that we don’t want things to be that way, but we don’t know what to do to change. That’s the problem, when you’re in a rut, you don’t have the energy or motivation to change things for the better, and it’s tough to find the insight or resources you need to make that jump.
Here are five fun and easy ways to climb, or better still, leap out of the rut feeling great about yourself again.
- Do Something Differently
Life tends to run smoothly when we establish systems and routines for things, but the problem comes when things run too smoothly and we become blinded to any ideas or choices outside of our routine. All the stuff we do every day becomes the norm, running on auto-pilot, and it becomes our whole world.
Start with making one or two simple changes to your day – be it at breakfast time, your radio station, gym routine, route to work, lunch routine, etc. Just start making a couple of simple choices that will serve you well.
Doing something differently or changing parts of your routine, instantly takes you out of the norm and allows you to shake off the things that make you feel confined. Step out of your routine and you’ll be in a position where you’re able to make different choices, see things differently and get a different result.
- Use Your Intuition
Your intuition is a powerful ally, and we all have it even though you might not recognize it. The dictionary says that intuition is:
1.a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; is an immediate cognition.
1.b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.
- A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.
One of the best friends you’ll ever have in life is your intuition, and tuning into it and learning to trust it is something that can cause a remarkable effect. Accessing your intuition is a bit like working and developing a muscle, but unfortunately, it can be harder to locate than a bicep or quadricep, which tends to stay in the same place. Here are a few quick tips for accessing and trusting your intuition:
- Practice maintaining an open-minded, playful, experimental, non-judgmental attitude. This is the most fertile ground to tap into your intuition.
- Practice making wild guesses in your everyday life. Guess what a salesperson’s name is, what a new person or place will look like or who’s calling on the phone. Don’t worry about getting it wrong, you’re just working that muscle.
- Try a few simple observation exercises in your daily life. Whether you’re in a restaurant, on a train, in a bar, or out shopping, try noticing non-verbal behaviors in others. Look for shifts in posture, eye movements, vocal tone or tempo, etc. Guess how they’re feeling or what they’re talking about.