How to Get Out of a Rut

Wondering how to get out of a rut? You’re not alone.

Bill Murray found himself stuck in a rut, as the reporter Phil covering the insanity of Groundhog Day. Every day, Phil awoke at the same time, with the same Sonny & Cher tune playing, within the same hotel room. Not only was Phil stuck in a career rut, he was completely immersed in a life rut. It took dramatic changes to his personality to extricate himself from the rut, but Phil eventually moved on with his life and hence, his career.

One of the most perplexing problems professionals face involves learning how to get out of a rut.

The More, the Merrier

Many jobs require the same mundane tasks performed, at the same time, every working day. You feel like a programmed robot dropping off the office mail at 10 am every morning and clocking out at 5 pm every afternoon. One of the most effective ways to change your routine is to ask for more responsibility. Whether you supervise an assembly line or write code for cutting edge business management software programs, you climb out of a career rut by doing more things on the job.

Ask for a Promotion

Are you going to sit at your desk and sulk about the same things that you accomplish every day at work or stand up for yourself by asking for a promotion? With a promotion, you dramatically alter your workday, as your boss gives you more money to handle tasks that are more complex. You don’t stomp into your boss’s and demand a promotion. You present the evidence of your diligence during the regularly scheduled employee review. If your company doesn’t conduct employee reviews, then pull yourself out of the career rut by moving on to another firm.

Try Something New

How to get out of a rut might involve changing career direction. The enthusiasm that you had for your vocation out of college has waned. Instead of trying to rekindle the career spirit, look elsewhere to apply your considerable talents. An attorney tires of courtroom dramas and decides to switch gears into a hospitality industry career. Trying something new vocationally typically requires at least some additional education. However, the cost of attaining the new knowledge far outweighs the cost of feeling chained to a job you no longer enjoy.

Mentoring Adds Spice to Your Career

The most effective way to learn how to get out of a rut requires you to expend the time and energy for mentoring a worthy coworker. Mentoring brings unbridled professional satisfaction, as you share the secrets of your success to a coworker that demonstrates genuine interest in moving up the hierarchy. By sharing your professional acumen, you feel a sense of pride in your contributions to the company, which considerably mitigates the ho-hum feeling most of us get on the job. You don’t ask permission to mentor a coworker; as Nike promotes, you “Just Do It.”

Is Work All That You Got?

So, your job sucks and you can’t find a way at work to get out of a rut. Well, you can sit stoically all day waiting for 5:00 to roll around or find something outside of work that stimulates you enough to help you learn how to get out of a rut at work. Of course, we’re talking about picking up a hobby or two and not some hobby that keeps your rear end planted in a seat. You want a hobby that gets you out in the world interacting with other people. After all, the best way to get out of any kind of rut is to be around other people.