Routine or Rut?
Are you living life as it comes or is life passing you by?
Life goes by fast. This is true whether you are an employee or self-employed. I remember being an employee and watching my days go by and my kids get older without my permission. Now, as a self-employed individual, I sometimes catch myself looking up to find the workday is done and I wonder what I did all day? Did I make any money? Just how much of my time did I invest generating revenue and how much time did I spend putting out fires?
I think life is that way for most people. If you’re not careful, life will pass you by and you will wonder what you have done with the days you had. The trouble is life kind of winds on, day by day, without much fuss. The sun comes up, you dress and rush off to work, do your job and come on home. Squeeze in a little family time and you start the process again tomorrow.
If this is how your life goes, I want to ask you a question and I want you to be honest with yourself. Is this a routine or a rut? If it’s just your routine, then carry on as usual. Good for you. If it feels more like a rut, it’s time to plan your escape.
How do you break out of a rut?
The French used to call this cycle of the typical day “Metro, boulot, dodo.” Train, work, home. It’s not super easy to break out of a cycle, particularly if you have family obligations, social obligations and financial obligations. People come to expect certain things from you. But it’s not impossible to break a cycle either. If the life you live is stagnant and your habits counter-productive, it’s actually in your best interest to go ahead and break out of the norm.
The key to breaking out of any cycle is to redirect your focus. Set your sights on achieving something outside your typical goals. Your new goal can be anything – a fitness target, a financial target, a personal or professional achievement. Regardless of what your new goal may be, just the act of redirecting your attention to something else, even if just for an hour or two, can help you break free from your regular routine and start a revolution in your own life.
Do it. Add something new, bigger, better to your day-to-day and watch how it impacts your mind, mood and quality of life.
