By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Routines can be comforting.
They reflect the habit of action that yields a result we want.
They become a habit.
A habit reflects a behavior we want to have that serves us.
Routines and habits sometimes go on to autopilot.
We stop reviewing the outcome of our habit and develop a rut.
If you think about what a rut looks like, the wheels of countless vehicles have driven in the same spot of the road for what seems like years, wearing it down in the same place.
We do the same thing.
I do the same thing.
I tend to be up at the same time each day. I like that.
The house is quiet. My wife is still sleeping.
I enjoy the quiet of the early morning before sunrise to powder and right.
For many years I would go to the gym before sunrise, get on a treadmill and jog for an hour. That became 30 minutes. Now, after work, I get on an elliptical machine at my house — two days on, one day off. I feel great afterward.
These days, after breakfast, I get online to share my thinking.
I spent most of my life thinking and trying to help people. That’s a great routine.
When I feel like I’m in a rut is happened a lot during the Covid year, I would change things in small ways.
It helped me see things differently.
Another example from earlier in life was when I went for my Masters. I was working as a headhunter and thought of making a change to being a therapist in private practice.
I had the incredible fortune of meeting my wife in graduate school and screwing up that plan so that we can get married and start a family. That was a big change from my routine! Later on, I did coach training which, like going for my Masters, “thinking in different ways.
Between my work as a headhunter and the work I had to do for my Masters and coaching program, I put in an enormous number of hours. I felt great!
Each way — making small changes or massive ones — allowed me to lose the routine/rut.
In both cases, I started to think of what I could do differently consciously.
Now, as a coach, I do the same for others.
I help them turn the vehicle’s wheels ever so slightly to elevate their side of the car so they can see above the rut.
Turning the wheel and elevating yourself let you see things differently.
I love it!
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2021
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2000 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, Amazon and Roku, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smartsets.
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