Exercise, even just walking. Do it in a chain of 7 days in a row. It makes a huge difference.
Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
111–120 of 178 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#112There might not be any issue, but since it's wasn't brought up, I'll add that you might want to ask your doctor if running a quick blood check for iron might be a good idea. It's probaly nothing, but low iron levels can make you very tired.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#113Do something you enjoy, you need to feel better in order to be productive.
For me (typical overworker) lifting weights, binge watching anime, vaping weed, baking bread, dating girls and playing videogames all helped me to escape depression at some point in life.
The same things could cause you to become depressed, so understand when it's time to stop or put them in the background.
Besides plenty of leisure time, do the bare minimum you need to survive in your professional / academical career while you fix yourself and keep a physical exercise routine so you don't end up physically unhealthy.
Don't fix it with antidepressants; sure they may help temporarily but an addiction is the last thing you need.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#114Do the things that give you joy in life and stop worrying about the grind.
Travel, go camping, join a meet up group, go to the pub, etc.
You might be able to find something which provides motivation - e.g. if you're studying French you could go and visit France, if you're doing software development, you could buy a few single board computers and muck about with them.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#115I'm 23, so I'm likely less wise than many commenters, so grain of salt!
I used to worry a lot about this, but over the time I noticed that I should expect to have slumps and peaks! It would be pretty unnatural to expect my performance to be completely consistent with no variance! Now when I'm in a slump, I know that I will eventually get out of it and that I shouldn't let it bother me too much. As long as the overall trajectory is upwards, I worry less about the monthly variance.
I have also worked out some fundamentals I always try to meet. Exercise, good sleep and a healthy diet are constants for me that I don't compromise on. I expect to slowly add more to this list as I grow older.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#116> 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…
I’d start with making the bed in the morning with a mindset of mind over matter. It gives the feeling of being in control.
Also, buy a cheap ticket a couple weeks out and fly to a new city for a weekend, if in the US, Austin, New Orleans, or San Juan PR. Stay at a hostel and interact with people having fun.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#117If you're anything like me, or anything like 90% of humanity, you can't rely on motivation to progress in life (whatever your idea of progression is). None of the platitudes or self-help-shaped advice you read here or on Reddit will help you with that. You can't trick yourself. What works for me is, as much as I don't like the word, discipline. I take an hour every week to review my routine and plans, when I'm inspir…
Just curious, why don’t you like the word discipline? Ut seems to work for you.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#118Once someone told me to do this exercise to find meaning:
Write a Meaningful Obituary of yourself. You just died. Old age. Your life was an absolute success in all the aspects you care the most. You had all your virtues shining and dominated all your vices and you write about why and how that happened through your life. You write this as the voice of the interviewer even asking details to you "afterlife-self" that is full of joy of leaving Earth in a loving state and peace of mind.
From time to time you can use that to remind yourself of what's really important or re-write the exercise as you mature psychologically as time goes by (your present self might care most about different things that your future self 2 decades from now).
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#119> 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…
You make some excellent points! Anecdotally I find getting out of ruts to be more of a muscle you train, rather than a skill you learn. Picking up on when your mind drifts, and figuring out how to get it going again, will take a lot of practise and experience. Exploring life in between our scholarly/work duties seems to me like best way of figuring this out.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?
#120> 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…
I agree with the above advice but it’s not immediately actionable for someone in OPs situation.
You have given a how but it’s hard to do without a why.
Burnout and lethargy are due to both physical and mental health factors that feed into each other.
A two track strategy is needed. First for your physical health
- Increase the amount fresh fruit and veg in your diet. Reduce sugars and carbs.
- Go for a run in the morning get some fresh air.
- Have a nice warm bath before you go to bed have some soothing tea and get good sleep.
This alone will not be enough if you’re seriously burnt out. Next we move to psychological factors
- Introduce noise and variety into the system. This can be as simple as visiting an interesting new place to a full blown crazy experience.
- Start meditating and learn about how to use it to calm your mind.
- Think about the kind of person you want to become and why you want to do it. Your current ideal you and your strategy to go about getting there aren’t working or providing you with satisfaction. Be honest with yourself about where you went wrong, what your strengths are and what you can bring to the world. Once you do this you have a vector pointing all your actions towards a new ideal you informed by your past mistakes.
Your physical health should provide you the foundation to go for it.
Happy to discuss further over email / DM if interested.