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  |  Succeeding & Surviving  |  Personal Development  |  Get unstuck from the rut
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Get unstuck from the rut

by Caro Handley
Career going nowhere? Worse, is your rut turning into a trench? Caro Handley on how to dig your way out without going over the top.

Stuck in a rut means ticking over, existing rather than living, working just to earn money rather than for real job satisfaction. If you want to know whether you’re in a rut, answer these three questions:

  1. Does your job excite and interest you?
  2. Does it demand the best you are capable of giving?
  3. Do you actively look forward to going to work most of the time?

If you answered no to any or all of these then you’re in a rut and it’s time to get yourself out of it. Why? Because, comfortable as a rut can be because it’s familiar and undemanding, you actually pay a high price for staying there. Hang around in a rut for too long and you’ll begin to believe that it’s actually all you deserve and that life has nothing better to offer.

Everyone deserves a job that is challenging, interesting and rewarding. If you’re thinking ‘everyone except me’ as you read this, then you’re in a rut too. Yes, that does mean you.

Pulling yourself out of a rut is not as hard as you might think, even if you’re well dug-in and have been there for ages. The only real requirements for changing are that you want to badly enough and that you’re willing to put in some effort. So here’s what to do:

1. Decide what job you really want
‘But I don’t know,’ I hear you wail. Well, I don’t believe you. We all know, deep down, what we want to do. What keeps us from admitting it is the belief that it’s unattainable. We tell ourselves we couldn’t possibly run a company/write books/sail the world or whatever it is that you dream about. Dig around for a few minutes and I think you’ll find your answer. But if you’re still not clear then write a list of ten things you love doing. Narrow it down to three. Now think of a job involving those three things.



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