photo credit: fauxto_dkp via flickr

It’s Just Not Working

You wake up for the 100th day and feel what’s the use.  It’s just not working.

You try your best, but all efforts seem thwarted.  Nothing ever seems to work out in your favor.  You look at others in similar situations and have to admit you’re  a bit jealous.  How come they can do it and you can’t?

Have You Settled?

I know you are very smart and creative, even if you don’t think so right now.  I know you have infinite potential.  What I also hear is you’ve put those on the back burner and settled for mundane.

That’s why it’s not working.  Whatever it is for you changing careers, painting, photography, raising kids, growing tomatoes or building a business, when you are stuck in a rut, nothing will work.  Think about it, you’ll never make it to your destination always traveling in the ditches on the side of the road.

Ruts might look different than you think.  When I think of a rut, it means doing the same thing over and over, an unending routine.  But a rut could be always going to the same source for inspiration or trying “new” ways of doing things that are just variations of what you’ve done in the past.

If you run off the side of the road, you know you’re off track because you slow down or can’t move.  The same happens in your life.  When things slow down, you’ve hit a ditch/rut/whatever you want to call it.

What do you do?

You need to step outside of the rut, outside of your comfort zone to see things differently.  Here’s a list of 50 ideas to get yourself out of a rut and back on the road.

1. Read a completely new author.
2. Drive a different way home from the office.
3. Ask for advice from a source you admire, but have never approached.
4. Go to the art museum.
5. Listen to new music.
6. Take a course that interests you, but has nothing to do with your rut.
7. Schedule a personal day and go somewhere you’ve never been, but that’s close to home.
8. Go to the ocean or mountains.
9. Visit a cathedral.
10. Take a yoga class.
11. Go for a long hike.
12. Meet an old friend for lunch.
13. Follow an unconventional idea you have even if your rational brain says it’s silly.
14. Journal.
15. Spend the afternoon with small children or animals.
16. Volunteer to read to kids or at your local animal shelter.
17. Plant seeds and watch the unfolding life process.
18. Choose a book, audio book or movie that you haven’t seen that captures your eye without thinking too much about it.
19. Make dinner for someone who can’t and deliver it.
20. Read an inspiring biography.
21. Move furniture in the house.
22. Take a nap.
23. House sit for someone.
24. Read a quote or inspirational paragraph and think about it during the day.
25. Sit in a different seat at a meeting.
26. Let someone else cook tonight.
27. Work from home if usually in an office, or in an office if usually at home.
28. Buy a magazine and rip out your favorite pictures.
29. Join Pinterest and find pictures that inspire.
30. Create a vision board.
31. Job shadow someone doing your ideal job.
32. Interview people in places you want to be and write an article/blog about the interview.
33. Find 2 blogs that inspire you and read them regularly for a month.
34. Take a long ride.
35. Do something artistic even if you don’t think you’re artistic (paint, take photos, sketch).
36. Take a vacation in a new place.
37. Go for a run.
38. Read a book you loved as a kid.
39. Write a letter to yourself as if it were next year at this time and tell you what’s going on.
40. Get rid of clutter.
41. Take a test drive in a car you want to buy.
42. Put all your knick knacks in a storage bin and live without them for a week or so.
43. Wash your sheets and hang them outside to dry.
44. Go see live music.  Choose something you wouldn’t normally listen to; jazz, classical, celtic.
45. Go on a picnic.
46. Sit in the sun for an hour.
47. Change the pictures on your walls.
48. Go to a farmers market.
49. Visit people in an assisted living home.
50. Hug someone you love.

Doing any of these small things can help you course correct.  The key is doing something completely new to stimulate new thoughts and ideas.  Soon you’ll find yourself out of your rut and heading down the road in a new convertible.

I’m sure you have ideas of your own.  What do you do to get things moving again?