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

I am regularly frozen in place by these.

Here is the only solution that works for me: ignore the big picture unless your heart is clearly telling you that you are in the wrong place. The big picture is a mosaic of smaller pictures.

1) Focus on one small thing you can do right now that you can complete before you next feel the urge to, just as an example off the top of my head, play WEC Le Mans on an emulated Amstrad CPC again despite it having no productive benefit.

2) If you're not getting _anything_ of your many tasks done, it kind of doesn't matter much if the "one small thing" isn't from your most urgent project; any work is progress out of the rut.

3) at the same time, if there is one thing causing you major anxiety, address it productively, even if that means acknowledging that you are delaying it and someone else is a better fit. Sooner or later if you delay it too long it'll be taken out of your hands anyway.

> AFAIK the brain releases endorphins or something when you exercise

People tell me this all the time, but when I exercise I just feel tired afterwards?

Maybe it only happens to people who are fit who have a history of exercising regularly?

I'm like 80% sure there was a study on this and not all people get an endorphin rush from working out.

And some people get a huge rush - these are the people who start to do Ironmans, Triathlons and extreme running (100km+ runs)

To be honest, the best advice you could receive will probably come from yourself. You alone know the details of your life. You alone have access to your mind, your emotions, your worries, your insecurities. You'll get out of this rut so long as you believe it's enough just to do it however you want, in your own way.

That all said... :)

Put down the phone. Close the laptop. Turn off spotify. Stare at the ceiling for 2-35 minutes with as little possible external stimulation. Listen to what's already being planned inside of your head. Unsuppress the background thoughts. You'll quickly find there's a lot of advice in there.. I've found that being intentional about doing nothing usually leads to something.

Here's a neat little algorithm to get some insight: maybe ask, "in the past, why did I feel motivation whatsoever?" Write down your answer. Then ask (like an annoying kid) "why?" to the answer you gave. Do this 7 times until you come up with an ultimate explanation - it'll probably be far removed from the first - which is a great thing!

Let's face it - you probably already know exactly what to do, have spent countless hours already worrying about your lack of motivation. Since worrying = thinking + pressure, you're already probably off to a great start to your personal solution! Many times in life the answer was sitting in front of your face all along.

Seems you need reassurance that maybe you don't have to keep avoiding the work, because it's not that scary after all. That said it's ok for it to feel daunting. For quite a few people, college really is.

Maybe external help is good too. Maybe there are people (who are already in your life) who will make things a lot easier for you but the only reason you aren't getting help from them is probably something like "since I haven't done it yet, it's too late to start!" which is often false :)

For instance, a professor who would - if only you'd just send a tiny 2-sentence email conveying "I just don't know where to start" - would give you the answers. Within reasonable academic integrity limits, lol.

Or maybe you have ADHD and are overwhelmed by the disconnect between how easy it is to set super high expectations for yourself but not really get invested if it's not interesting unless there's urgency? Real high expectations, and then getting caught in a cycle of disappointment and self-guilt-tripping. Maybe, maybe not, I don't know your life as well as you do :)

Oh! And one more thing.. the room you're in will change what you want to do. Library, cafe, blanket on the grass in a park. Move your body and your mind will follow.

Start slow and build a habit.