We’re all trying our hardest to become the best versions of ourselves, whether by learning a new skill, putting extra hours at work, investing in our side hustles, or exploring our creativity. We’ve all got our own personal challenges. And these things are what make our lives exciting and motivate us to keep going to see how far we can reach.
However, despite how beautiful and poetic it may appear in theory, reality can often be crude and, at times, even unforgiving. In the context of bettering ourselves, willpower and determination can still succumb to bad days and eventually get you stuck in a rut. A situation where you’re no longer making the same amount of progress even when putting in twice the effort.
Why Does It Happen?
Most people like to blame burnout, and others reason that they just lost interest and intend to move on to the next best thing, and while these things do occur, they aren’t the usual culprit. It could as well be as obvious as the quality and effectiveness of each training session falling off over time.
While these situations are unique to our personal experiences, we want to tackle them from the perspective of self-discipline. And, to help you evaluate your current dilemma, we’ll be learning simple methods where a bit of mental resilience can potentially be the only solution you needed.
Practice And Insight
Firstly, we want to address the need for practice and insight, specifically the quality of practice you’re getting and the amount of reflection and learning you gain. It’s only natural to make a lot of progress when first starting out, but progress naturally slows down and becomes much more well-paced after picking up a thing or two. You don’t want to be demotivated by this slow-down, remind yourself that it’s part of the learning process, and don’t be quick to give up.
- Learning Meta Skills: We’re all guilty of staying in our comfort zones, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it also severely hampers our ability to improve and grow. In the context of learning new skills, it’s straightforward to fall into the routine of sticking with what you find comfortable. To counter this issue, learn meta-skills and continue to challenge yourself.
- Educational Materials: People tend to sensationalize the idea of creating originals and innovation, leading many to believe that there’s nothing else they can pick up from lessons and reference materials. However, working on ourselves and improving our strengths, never forego the opportunity of using educational materials. They help build the fundamentals of any essential skill and serve as your starting point.
- Have A Goal In Mind: To backtrack on practice sessions, you’ll want to have a goal in mind every time you sit down and practice your craft. Being goal-oriented gives you something to work towards and helps you feel accomplished, a feeling necessary for a sustainable learning process and effective understanding of novel ideas.
Create A System
Much like how tight-knit and comprehensive the bail assistance and legal system works, you’ll want to replicate and create your own system of doing things to make it next to impossible to misbehave or act on irrational thinking. More often than not, getting stuck in a rut is usually a product of laziness and giving in to the desire of slacking off, so you’ll want a system in place that trains your self-discipline.
Of course, you don’t have to be super strict with yourself, as there’s nothing wrong with taking a break now and then. But, understand that discipline comes from setting and understanding your boundaries, things that will drastically improve the rate at which progress is made.
Start The Year On The Right Track
With 2021 right around the corner, there’s no better time than now to get a headstart on the new year. And, with what little time we have left of 2020, we strongly suggest that you take these tips to heart and get out of that rut ASAP!
