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Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#101

Post by mucholove »

Because you’re a student: join a sports club.

Exercise cured SOOOOOO much.

Now, if you’re a little older and have some money you can do what I did: hire a personal trainer. The social part is important. The returns to this investment are obvious. Do it even if you are already athletic.

If you don’t have money and can’t join a sports club—rearrange your room, set it up for yoga. I also did this. If you’re really really bad, try DDPY. They even have a bed workout!

And if you can / need—do all three! I’ve actually sort of done all 3 over the past year and I feel so much better. :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#103

Post by sebiw »

Leaving your usual context (work setting) and maybe getting some fresh air while doing so worked for me. Buying a bicycle and regularly taking some short-ish tours around my neighbourhood/city feels really nice.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#104

Post by endymi0n »

"The next layer of your unfolding purpose may make itself clear immediately. More often, however, it does not. After completing one layer of purpose, you might not know what to do with your life. You know that the old project is over for you, but you are not sure of what is next. At this point, you must wait for a vision. There is no way to rush this process. You may need to get an intermediary job to hold you over until the next layer of purpose makes itself clear. Or, perhaps you have enough money to simply wait. But in any case, it is important to open yourself to a vision of what is next. You stay open to a vision of your deeper purpose by not filling your time with distractions. Don’t watch TV or play computer games. Don’t go out drinking beer with your friends every night or start dating a bunch of women. Simply wait. You may wish to go on a retreat in a remote area and be by yourself. Whatever it is you decide to do, consciously keep yourself open and available to receiving a vision of what is next. It will come. When it comes, it usually won’t be a detailed vision. You will probably have a sense of what direction to move in, but the practical steps might not make themselves clear. When the impulse begins to arise, act on it. Don’t wait for the details. Learn by trial and error what it is you are to do.

[...]

And then, one day, a few years later, it is finished. This layer has dissolved. And the cycle begins again, and again, until you have penetrated all the layers into your deepest purpose. Then, you act fully, until that purpose, too, is dissolved in the bliss of the love that you are."

— David Deida

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#105

Post by p0larboy »

I was literally in a rut a few days ago. Super lethargic. Didn't want to reply to email, didn't want to make plans for the business...

Then I started surfing amazon books because, you know, anything to procrastinate working.

I came across one of Tim grover's book (Michael Jordan' trainer) and I downloaded the sample to read.

It's a little OOT but something he said rang a bell. He talk about humans overthinking especially in tough situation and gave a pep talk on being relentless. My takeway was "don't think, just do". Suppress the negative voice and just work on it. Nothing is easy. If you want something bad enough, don't think. Just do it.

I think it triggers my inner motivation on why I started my business and being hyper aware of the negative self talk.

So I put myself in robot mode and just started doing things.

I'm not sure how this is healthy for my mental health but it worked.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#106

Post by jhoelzel »

p0larboy wrote: post #105

I was literally in a rut a few days ago. Super lethargic. Didn't want to reply to email, didn't want to make plans for the business... Then I started surfing amazon books because, you know, anything to procrastinate working. I came across one of Tim grover's book (Michael Jordan' trainer) and I downloaded the sample to read. It's a little OOT but something he said rang a bell. He talk about humans overthinking especi…

motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going. ;)

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#107

Post by surfpel »

ActorNightly wrote: post #26

Gonna be unpopular answer, but drugs, specifically psychedelics. Shrooms has been a game changer for me, I do one medium trip pretty much every year as a "reset" - during the trip, the current life that I live becomes a superficial layer of patterns that I can clearly see, and I can go through thought journeys on doing things different and see how I feel about them. I don't know if they will help you, but generally i…

This is exactly what I do. I recently had a really awful rut that didn’t end until after I dropped acid. I don’t do enough to get hallucinations but it really does help break me out of whatever pattern of thinking / behavior I’ve gotten stuck in.

I actually completely forgot about how much it helps me until I did it again that last time, and it gave me the strength to completely change my life around. I’m sure everyone’s experience is different though and if it isn’t proven in countless journal articles or endorsed by enough VCs, I don’t think the majority of this site would want to try it out.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#108

Post by sol_invictus »

nnoitra wrote: post #86
sol_invictus wrote: post #52

Usual culprit - your brain's dopamine circuits are fried by your daily activities like endless phone browsing, video games etc. Cut down on dopamine junk and you'll find motivation without any effort.

Is there any evidence to this? Why is browsing the internet so bad for motivation?

By now it's fairly well known the most addictive apps & sites exploit your dopamine system to keep you hooked in:

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones...

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#109

Post by bluehatbrit »

oliwarner wrote: post #90

> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening Wait, isn't that what daytime is for? Get out. Play games. Read. Write. Ride a bike. Build something with your hands, with code, whatever. Hit the gym. Cook complicated dishes. Go to restaurants. Join a club and make some friends. Even sleep more. You need to find what you like to do with your time, and truth is it's probably not what you want it to be. Picking up h…

Completely agree with this, getting variety into your day is also really important for your brain to properly rest. I can't remember where, but a few years ago I read that the brain rejuvinates not by doing nothing/sleeping/watching tv but by switching contexts and working on something new.

If you've spent all day in university with a heavy day of lectures (sitting, listening, staring at a screen / whiteboard) you're probably not going feel ready to sit down and crack out an essay or project in the evening. You need to spend some time doing something that takes your mind in a different direction, getting active is a great contrast to lectures for instance.

You need to be well rested for motivation to take hold, and if it doesn't you'll at least be rested enough for discipline to get you going.

>> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening > > Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?

This is also a really great thing to pick out. I started doing a lot better at university when I treated it as a 9-5/6 thing. I'd spend the day on campus either in lectures or doing assignments. At 6pm at the very latest it was time to do something different. I broke that sometimes if I had a nasty combination of assignments, but on the whole this gave me most of my evenings and weekends back in my final year while doing my dissertation. It was a huge quality of life improvement, far bigger than anything else I did during university.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

#110

Post by sol_invictus »

unfocussed_mike wrote: post #54
sol_invictus wrote: post #52

Usual culprit - your brain's dopamine circuits are fried by your daily activities like endless phone browsing, video games etc. Cut down on dopamine junk and you'll find motivation without any effort.

Two things really help me: 1) acknowledging that deciding to watch a movie in the background, or be "kept company" by anything distractingly visual on a second screen, is a subconscious avoidance of the thing you aren't focussing on. Admit it, move on. In reality, I don't believe it is possible to work and watch a second screen. Work and listen to music or the radio? Yes, absolutely. 2) centralise your distractions.…

Mastering the subconscious is definitely a top trait for attention management / discipline and quality of life in general.

I noticed this pattern not too long ago: was reading a technical book, felt compelled to drop it and browse Twitter or similar. I "dug" into my head internally to find out a reason why (much like you do in meditation) - I wasn't tired or bored, the book was interesting and I didn't really want to quit it - and I simply couldn't rationalize a reason. It was purely a dopamine-driven habit which I was simply not in control of, it was automatic.

You hear a lot of talk how humans are just as programmable as anything else, and that was one of my personal come-to-Jesus moments.

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