How To Get Out Of A Rut

If you’ve been following along with my social media these last couple weeks, you’ve see that I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately. I haven’t felt great about where I’m at with my workouts or with my business, and I’ve been having a hard time getting myself motivated to getting back to where I want to be.

It’s a mindset I’ve been in before, and there are a few things I’ve learned from this go round that I think will be helpful to share.

So here are the lessons:

Don’t try to get everything back all in one swing

I went golfing earlier this week and hit a shot into the rough. My ball was surrounded by trees and rocks and I needed to get around all of that plus get shoot it about 200 yards to get onto the green.

My options were to:

a. Play my ball from where it was, and hope that I could get it all back in one swing, or

b. Chip my ball out of the rough, taking one extra swing, in order to get a clearer shot.

I went with option a, and at no surprise to myself, the ball hit the rocks and rolled back about 12 yards. So take it from me, smaller swings to get closer to your goal is better than trying to get it all back in one big swing and failing.

Motivation is a momentum game

Getting it going is the hardest part, but once it gets going, it’s hard to stop. Little habits lead to big changes as long as you stick with them. So pick one thing (that you’re actually going to do) that’s going to create some positive momentum for you. This will lead to the next thing and the next and before you know it you’ll be back on track and moving towards your goal.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast

When we expect results impossibly quick, then don’t see results at that speed we tend to give up on ourselves. Understanding that getting back to a better place is a slow process will allow you to embrace the boring, set better expectations and not be so hard on yourself. Because if you give up when things get hard, you’ll never get to where you want to be.

Just keep swimming.

If you’ve been in a rut too and feeling stuck on your nutrition journey, I recorded a podcast episode with my buddy and fellow nutrition coach Bryan Fitsimmons that I think could be helpful.