Stuck In A Rut? Do The Opposite

There's a saying that goes something like "do what you've always done and you'll get what you've always got". I've noticed that when people reach a crisis moment in their lives often they do exactly that - but bigger, harder, faster. They are kind of panicking, desperate to create change, shift their circumstances, leap forward... and yet they are doing what they have always done just MORE of it. Logically, then, whatever it is they have had before is still what is going to come their way: just more of it (or bigger, harder, faster versions).

Are you with me?

Now, do you think that approach is going to work? Will that person be able to create that shift in their circumstances? Maybe, maybe not. It may be that what they have always done works pretty well for them, and they just kind of lost momentum. Or it may be that the reason they are panicking is that it HASN'T been working for them.

What if you could take a clear enough view of your usual approach to notice exactly what it is you do: get drunk, get defensive, get busy, get argumentative, enrol in a course, move house, take offense at what your partner says, call your mum, go to the beautician, eat or stop eating, make a risky investment, spring clean, withdraw from the world, exercise fanatically, buy something big and expensive, drive too fast, stay in with a DVD, cry, yell, laugh, whatever.

What if you could then take this information and consciously choose to DO THE OPPOSITE?

Do you think that by doing the opposite you might create a space for change? If the way things have been going, or "what you have been getting", does not satisfy, would the absolute opposite be better?

What if, instead of seeing red, you saw blue? What if instead of getting angry and yelling, you made choices that create greater intimacy with the person you were cross with? What if instead of re-categorising every slip of paper in your filing cabinet you left your house in a mess and went for a "devil may care" walk instead? Wore pink today instead of green?

Whatever your thing is, if you're feeling stuck in a rut, to give change a kick start, try doing something completely different. At the very least it will probably be a fun experiment.



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