How To Get Out Of A Rut And Reset Your Life In Short Term

Practical framework to reclaim your focus, build momentum, and create lasting change.

There comes a time when suddenly things are much harder to do and you are more tired than usual. Just a few days ago you couldn’t imagine wasting time on unimportant bullshit, you wanted to stay up late just to go that extra mile and now all that motivation is gone.

Apart from giving you the actionable steps to follow, I will tell you why it's so important to start and how to keep the momentum going.

If you find yourself not very eager to answer all those questions and dive inside your ego, read the part titled “From moving sand to ice — about momentum” first. It will make things much easier (there’s also an editable Google doc at the very bottom.)

Realize & accept

Understand the rut you are in and gain clarity about your current situation.

The tricky thing about the rut is that it’s easy to get into without realizing it.

That’s why now we will go through a set of exercises to gain clarity, awareness of the situation and the direction of the next steps.

Vision and anti-vision. This is the idea I have been familiar with before but I looked into it deeply inspired by Dan Koe’s newsletter. We will take a slightly different approach but based on the same concept.

Anti-vision

A detailed description of the life you don’t want to live, the habits you want to avoid, and the environment you refuse to tolerate.

Basically: how you don’t want to end up. What are potential current red flags for the future? It serves as a warning system—pulling obstacles out of the shadow to make them visible, tangible, and easier to avoid.

Vision

A detailed description of what you want. Frame/compass that dictates daily decisions. A north star guiding your actions and habits. Decisions are easier to make if you ask yourself “Does this bring me closer to my vision?”

Let’s create the vision then.

Reset

Reflect on your current identity and habits, comparing them to your vision.

The first set of questions is for identifying your current situation, the second is for vision, the third is for anti-vision. Take out a journal and answer those questions.

1. Who am I now?

Imagine yourself as a movie character.

• What are the most important scenes in the movie?

• What does the character do?

• What habits does the character have?

• What addictions?

• What obsession?

• What is the first thing the protagonist does after waking up?

• What takes up the most time in a day?

Be honest with yourself — this is your starting point.

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2. Who do I want to become?

Think of the rut as the time between parts of the movie.

This is the same character in the sequel. Maybe not a completely clean slate, but there’s space and time to change, and that’s all that matters.

Ask the same questions + what you would like the climax to be.

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3. The bad sequel.

We want the sequel to be like Godfather II, not like Jaws 2.

This is your anti-vision — how you don’t want to end up. answer the same questions from the 1st point + what you wouldn’t like the climax to be.

Prioritize — One vital activity

Focus on high-impact activities and identify one vital action that will consistently move you closer to your vision.

Write down all your daily tasks.

• Which are day job/school/necessary chores related?

• How can you make them less draining so you have more energy for your stuff?

• Which tasks from your stuff are low leverage and you are doing them to avoid real impactful work?

• Which thing are you putting away for the longest? Why?

A lot of overwhelming questions, I know. If you are thinking “I'll do this later,” let's make a deal.

To make things easier, split to:

• Health

• Wealth

• Relationships

Pick the one you want to work on the most for now and answer only related to the field of your choice. Let’s make the other 2 optional (but recommended).

Now, write down what you spend time on and how much.

• Do you want to spend that much time on those things?

• What specific, actionable steps can you take to adjust the time in the desired direction? Be specific and sincere.

Don’t try to turn your life around with these, it's a starting point.

One vital activity

Now identify one crucial thing that moves you closer to the vision and away from anti-vision. Hint: often the one you often procrastinate the most on.

That’s the thing you will do tired, sad, angry. This is the thing you will do even if the world falls apart.

Every iteration of this thing will bring you closer to the vision and away from anti-vision.

If you aren't friends with consistency and commitment, then (apart from getting my tracker) schedule those prioritizing sessions at least every quarter. Put them in your calendar, and set a reminder. Now.

Remove

Eliminate things that drain your time and energy, prioritize what truly matters.

Which things can be reduced, which completely removed without impacting your life as much?

Which tasks from your list can be:

1. Completely removed.

2. Reduced.

Identify them as (one can fall into many categories, the more, the easier is choice to throw it off):

• Time suckers.

• Unimportant bullshit.

• Not improving you in any way.

• For the comfort of others, not mine.

• Energy drainers.

• Unintentional defaults.

• Neglectable outputs.

Restructure

Create a realistic, tangible routine aligned with your vision to sustain progress.

New routine, new updated you — more aligned with your vision.

After the previous steps, things should be more clear. Let's make a plan then.

We will focus on specific, tangible and ambitious realistic structure so you actually will get things done instead of aiming at the stars and falling in the clouds.

Prioritize by numbers:

1. Vital activity: This is your non-negotiable, the one thing that will consistently move you closer to your vision. It’s your “must do” every day, the most impactful task that will give you momentum.

2. Need to do: Important but not as crucial as the vital activity. They support your progress but can be done after the most important work is complete. High-leverage tasks that need to be tackled soon.

3. Should do: Add value but aren’t urgent. Useful but not critical. You can work on them once you have tackled the first two categories.

4. Would be nice to do: Low-priority activities that could be helpful but aren’t essential. They can be put off or skipped if you are pressed for time or energy.

2 Weeks agenda

Let’s start with a realistic agenda for 2 weeks.

Following the rules from the previous steps (tangible, realistic) set a weekly and daily goal.

Review the week after.

From moving sands to ice — about momentum