do something crazy and break out of that rut
It’s gut check time.
It’s 1:53 in the morning and instead of being sound asleep in my comfy bed I’m sitting at a 24 hour cafe with my headphones on, a steaming coffee by my side, TextEdit open on my laptop, and a beehive of activity swarming in my head. I was at my apartment twenty minutes ago, actually. I was ready to go to bed, to get a couple hours of good sleep before I have to get up and go to work– but I changed my mind.
I’ve grown complacent in my quest to grow this blog. Coincidentally, my blog is stagnating at the same time I feel like I’m stagnating as an individual. Part of the problem is the myriad of projects I have competing for my attention. Every time I sit down to work on some blog posts I feel like I should be working on my ebook. Every time I sit down to work on my ebook, I feel like I should be preparing for the upcoming hockey season. And, you guessed it, every time I begin planning the hockey season I feel guilty for not trying harder to find a teaching job. I’ve got too much going on and therefore, I have nothing going on.
I haven’t written anything substantial in weeks. It’s amazing how little writing you can do to just “get by” when you have a blog that gets even a little traffic. There are plenty of comments to respond to, other blogs to comment on, plugins to download, themes to tweak, networks to socialize and brainstorms to conduct. It’s easy to seem busy, to look busy, and feel busy while accomplishing nothing at all.
It’s time to decide if I’m serious about writing, about personal development, and living consciously. This spontaneous all-nighter is going to serve a couple purposes:
1. Shock myself out of my normal routine: I haven’t pulled an all-nighter since college. Something about the mix between fatigue, caffeine, a different environment, and the solitude of the night has always been conducive to my productivity. I’m a fan of routine, but sometimes busting that routine is what you need to break out of that rut as well.
2. Quiet time to knock out my most gnawing commitments: Twitter is quiet. Facebook is dead. My email inbox is empty. There is very little pulling at my attention right now other than what I need to get done.
3. Force me to decide how serious I am: If I’m passionate about my craft then staying up all night and working at it should not be tough. Especially when my commitment has been weak as of late. I want to be a great blogger. I want to be a great coach. I want to be an amazing individual. I am willing to sacrifice sleep to accomplish that.
It’s 2:15 and I’m not tired. I’m exhilarated by the thought of accomplishing something worthwhile tonight. I’m excited to be doing what I love doing. My body is alert and wondering why my routine has been altered.
Have you found yourself in a rut lately? Do something, anything, to shock yourself out of complacency. Stay up all night, change your environment, or do something different. The change in routine might be exactly what you need to get the wheels turning again.
Photo by eekays photography
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July 8th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Great post. We all get in ruts where we thing we are accomplishing things by staying busy but in realty we are just spinning our wheels. What works best for me are Media Fasts. I will take a whole weekend or day and just go hiking with my , perhaps a friend, and a notebook for writing. That usually brings balance to my life. The hard part is knowing when you need it.
July 8th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Dude, I think there is something in our collective water – I just had a mind rocking post about how I want to bring it over on Grokkery http://bit.ly/d6R8Qx. Thank you for the inspiration Sam. Now I'm searching for a way to do something different and to empower my actions.
PS. Don't forget to take care of yourself in the long run. No sleep is great for a few nights, but can be detrimental to your mission if done for too long.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Isn't it funny how we can always find the energy/time to do that which we truly love once we're committed to doing it? Buckling down to focus for a couple of hours on something I'm not engaged in is a struggle, but pulling a 10- 12- 16-hour day or longer for Stir the Embers is a piece of cake. It's that fire in the belly that makes it so.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
This is really fantastic. It's unbelievably easy to fall into a rut, especially blogging, when you only have to answer to yourself. Finding all sorts of busy work (email, twitter, etc) is such a tempting trap to fall into instead of creating content.
Thanks for such a great post!
July 8th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Wow, inspiring to say the least! I haven't pulled an all nighter since University and its not the best experience, but it does hold one huge benefit – a feeling of satisfaction that cannot be rivalled, especially when it is productive and you get the work juices flowing.
Thanks for throwing this post out there, and BTW I can totally relate on the difficulty of getting down and writing!
July 8th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Hey sam, I've totally found myself in a rut, though I think it is related to being on vacation then returning to a day job I'm not supremely fond of. At the same time though I am also experiencing something of a writer's block. When I've just been freshly inspired by a trip to Oregon, a love for the countryside reinvigorated, and I still can't get myself to write about it. I'm not completely sure how to break out of this rut, but I'm feeling #1 for sure – need to shock myself somewhere, somehow.
July 8th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I am constantly getting stuck in creative ruts and running out of ideas, thanks for the inspiring post Sam.
July 9th, 2010 at 9:02 am
[...] speaking of changing things up, we are going biking camping this weekend to celebrate 7 years of marriage. It will be a tiny, yet [...]
July 9th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
This is SUCH good advice. Thank you! (and thanks to rowdykittens.com for posting a link to it.)
July 10th, 2010 at 4:24 am
Dude, you totally hit me right between the eyes. Between my job, blogging, creating a new site, and an ebook, I relate so well to what you said. I think I need to set my priorities, plan ahead, and work diligently on one thing at a time. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:04 am
[...] written about this recently and this article brings up some other great ideas that I did not touch. [...]