How to ‘Just Start’
Being in a rut is among life’s most draining experiences. It saps motivation enough to keep you in a suffocating cyclical pattern but not enough to plummet you to rock bottom mandating a life change. And when you’ve seemed to pull yourself out of one rut, life always seems to have another waiting for you just around the corner.
The thing about being in a rut is it’s usually a conscious experience. You know that the way you’re living your days is beneath your potential but can’t seem to muster up the strength to do anything about it.
How do you break the pattern?
You might hop on the internet and read an article similar to this one hoping to glean some insight. You might call up a friend who seems capable enough of offering some advice. If you’ve been in a rut for an especially long time you might even drop a few bones on a self-help book or see a therapist.
None of these are inherently bad first steps. I’ve taken all of them myself and then some. Truthfully, many of them work — but only for a short period. Slowly but surely the monotony of daily life grows back in the cracks of your routine until you’re back to square one. Without internal motivation, any progress quickly fades away.
Now if you’re looking for the end-all-be-all solution to getting out of a rut this is not the article for you. To truly get out of a rut you need to design systems for your life that serve you. As easy as it may seem it’s a large task that requires a certain mental appetite that is often not adopted overnight.
This article simply addresses how to muster up to courage to take that first step. The one that everyone tells you is so easy.
Just start!
What are you so afraid of, just do it!
Nobody is going to hold your hand, you’re going to have to learn along the way!
Jump in headfirst and learn as you go!
The first step is the most important!
Don’t think, just act!
A chorus of the synonymous advice expressed in slightly different ways can be overwhelming and more often than not unhelpful. Paradoxically, the statements themselves do hold some truth.
How do you trim the suffocating cliches and determine where meaning lies? If all it takes is just starting, how do you muster up the courage to take that first step? Moreover, if sustained progress requires internal motivation how do you ensure that once you’ve taken that first step it’s been on the right foot?
In my experience the act of starting and starting right simply requires you to make a few concessions with yourself and small mindset tweaks.
- Understand that your current belief system will no longer suffice for the life changes you desire — know this will be uncomfortable. Furthermore, understand that if you try hard enough, you’ll be able to find holes in any belief system. So put the nihilism aside for a second and come to terms that the belief system you’re setting out to build may have some initial incongruencies — and that’s okay. As long as it’s promoting self growth and not harming others it’s doing its job.
- Understand your “why.” Start by thinking about how you got into the rut you’re in and then spend some time considering why you want to get out. Self-reflection is one of the most effective tools in life and coincidentally one of the least used. Be honest with yourself, it should be uncomfortable to candidly evaluate the actions that got you into a rut. It’s hard to end up in a rut with a squeaky clean record of smart and intentional choices.
- Decide where you’re going. This is not a final decision, it shouldn’t be, but if you’re not working toward something you are working toward nothing. Actively working toward nothing is even worse than simply ending up at nothing — you’ll get there faster with misguided intentionality. Think about what life looks like on the other side of your rut. How do you spend your time, what habits do you hope to adopt, and what are some of the steps necessary to get there. Set goals (plural) and adapt as you realize what’s working and what’s not.
- Lastly, you must accept that life ebbs and flows and that ruts are natural parts of life — you cannot rid your life of ruts. Remember what I said earlier, the true solution to getting out of a rut isn’t to get rid of ruts completely but to design systems to eliminate the frequency and duration of life’s ruts. You cannot work against life, only with it. Be kind to yourself, patient with your progress, and consistent in your efforts.
Each of these four “steps” could have a lengthy write ups but you’re here for the quick and easy. Working through these steps requires intentionality and spending time alone with your thoughts. It can also be aided through the power of the written word and visualization. Get yourself a journal and write down your musings, goals, and desired belief systems. Describe in vivid detail the life you’re working toward. Write down affirmations to repeat every morning. Conduct an internal value audit.
Taking the first step can be daunting but doing it properly can give you some peace of mind on your journey to a better self. I hope that this article offered some actionable guidance. If you’re looking to take that first step toward something new and intimidating let me know in the comments and I’d be happy to offer some support and encouragement.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
