Plan your way out of the rut
Well-being 🌿 | Build resilience 🌊 | #Plan #TakeAction #Rut
TL;DR
Accept the situation and commit to changing it, showing compassion to yourself.
Communicate with those affected, managing expectations for yourself and others.
Learn from the situation to prevent similar experiences in the future, extracting a positive lesson.
Remember your identity and reconnect with your goals and aspirations.
Create motion with activities that bring joy and tasks that need to be done, prioritising self-care and gradual progress.
Repeat the process if necessary, being mindful not to let the plan lead to procrastination.
Seed
We've all experienced those days when we feel like we're stuck in a rut. It's a familiar feeling and unfortunately, it can be tough to get out of it. But if you have an emergency plan, it will make it easier for you to break free from the slump and start feeling like yourself again.
So let's lay out this strategy. Ideally, you will want to work on it ahead of this situation. And you will keep it in a safe place, so you can grab it as soon as needed, to get started quickly.
Let me leave the key points of this plan here in case you don't have time to read through the whole Seed:
Accept the situation and commit to changing it
Warn the people who should know
Learn from the situation
Remember your identity
Create motion with something that feels good
Create motion with something that needs to be done
My out-of-the-rut plan
Accept the situation and commit to changing it
The first step in your plan should be to acknowledge and accept the situation. Sometimes we try to push through that low phase, ignoring the fact that it's actually a signal from our body. We all have down times. So be honest with yourself. Show compassion for yourself. And make a commitment to yourself to get out of the rut kindly and progressively.
✔️ When it's done, congratulate for taking the first step to getting back on track.
Warn the people who should know
As we will see in other Seeds, communication is key. You might need to let people around you know that you're in this strange phase and you'll need time to get over it. Manage expectations, both for yourself and your entourage.
✔️ Give yourself a pat on the back for helping others to understand where you're at and what to expect.
Learn from the situation
The next step in your plan will be to take some time to look for the reasons that led you into that mood. No need to dwell on it. The point is to take note now, so you can prevent it from happening again in the future. Extract one positive thing out of this situation.
✔️ Now compliment yourself for making this effort and learning something.
Remember your identity
Read through the list of your goals and mantras (we will talk about this in more detail in another Seed). In this step, you want to remind yourself who you committed to becoming back when you set your goals. Here you want to kindly rekindle the flame of your motivation. You had an ambition and a brief moment of low mood will not be enough to break this commitment you made to yourself.
✔️ Felicitate yourself for remembering who you want to be.
Create motion
The goal of this plan is to create motion and start doing something. Even the tiniest thing, because something is better than nothing. What's important is to be mindful when you choose to do something. Do not let the rut lead you.
Create motion with something that feels good
Here the idea is to create motion quickly. If you go for something you know you usually enjoy doing, it'll be easier to start than going for something you dread.
You can make a list of all the things that you know help lift your mood. It could be something as simple as listening to a specific album, talking to a special someone, doing some physical activity, or cleaning up your workspace. Anything that you know will make you feel better once it’s done.
On the day you need it, instead of wondering what could possibly help you, you'll have a list of suggestions from your best self, and you'll just need to pick one.
✔️ Praise yourself for practicing self-care when you need it.
Create motion with something that needs to be done
Now that we have started to lift the mood and have some momentum, it's time to tackle some work. List the tasks you need to accomplish in the short term and rank them by difficulty. Pick the easiest one that can be done straight away, and do it. Again, the most important thing is to take action and get motion.
✔️ Mindfully celebrate your accomplishment.
Repeat
If necessary, go back to a previous step. Otherwise, keep cracking on your task list, going for more complex ones. You can also start planning longer-term tasks.
Just remember to be kind and progressive. You cannot expect to accomplish as much as you do when you're at your best. There's no need to feel guilty about it.
One last tip: don’t let this plan drag you into procrastination. If something on your list is urgent, make sure to prioritise it in your list as soon as possible.
In the end, remember that planning your way out of the slump is a great way to get back on track. Even if your plan doesn’t follow those steps. The important thing is to get an emergency action strategy. And by taking small steps, you can gradually lift yourself out of it and start feeling like yourself again.
Example
Here are some examples for the different steps of this plan.
Accept the situation and commit to changing it
Warn the people who should know
I’ll let my partner know that I’m not at my best and will need some time.
I’ll let my colleagues know I might miss a deadline this week.
I’ll warn my parents that I won’t call them as I usually do.
Learn from the situation
I noticed it started after I worked late too many days in a row. I must have exhausted myself.
I lost track of my personal goals. I got too busy with X, Y, Z and lost the motivation for my own development.
I recently had bad news in the family. Although I tried to keep my head on my shoulders, it affected me more than I thought it would.
Remember your identity
I am an active person. I exercise every day.
I am a good pet guardian. I spend time taking my dogs out and training them.
I am a musician. I want to learn to play this set of songs by the end of the month.
Create motion with something that feels good
Let’s listen to my playlist “Pure Uplifting 2000 Teenager Skatepark Punk Dope”.1
Let’s call my best friend because I know they’re always happy to help and they love me unconditionally.
Let’s clean up my desk. Too much clutter makes it uncomfortable to get started with work.
Create motion with something that needs to be done
The laundry is long overdue. It’s easy to do and I’ll feel better wearing fresh clothes.
The fridge is empty. Let’s get out and buy some real food, that’ll help keep my head straight.
My work email is getting out of hand. I can start by curating what I have here and prioritising my replies.
Bonus
Getting out of the rut is a popular topic online.
Here’s the view on this topic of a couple of YouTubers I like:
I’ll admit it, this one is a real-life example. Thank you, Stevo for helping me create this playlist.