It would be great if we could all be “at the top of our game” at all times, without ever finding ourselves in a slump, or where we get sidetracked by things that we would really rather not get sidetracked by.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that just about everyone will fall into a “slump” from time to time, whether that’s with regards to losing motivation at work, getting into unhealthy personal habits, or simply losing a sense of direction and feeling apathetic or nihilistic in general.
Every individual situation is different, but there are nonetheless certain general-purpose tips that are likely to prove pretty helpful when it comes to regaining momentum after a slump.
Here are a few of those tips.
Start small with what’s right in front of you
When you feel that you’ve become completely sidetracked, it can be difficult to even know where to start with regards to getting back on the right path, and regaining a sense of direction and agency in your life.
Easily one of the best things to do if you find yourself in a slump is to start making small and consistent changes, with what’s right in front of you.
You might not be able to easily figure out, right off the bat, what sorts of activities and pastimes may put you in touch with your “life mission,” or anything like that, but there are almost certainly things in your home and immediate surroundings that you could straighten up and improve.
Maybe there are things you’ve been procrastinating on for a while, when it comes to spring cleaning and decluttering. Or, maybe you’ve been meaning to upgrade your wardrobe, or get back to an abandoned fitness routine.
Whatever the case may be, simply getting started by improving your life and surroundings in small ways can end up generating a lot of positive momentum, and can quickly lead to very substantial and noteworthy change across multiple different dimensions of your life.
Begin taking action on things that you’ve been putting off for a while
Virtually everyone has a bunch of different tasks, chores, and projects that they’ve been meaning to get to for a while, but have been repeatedly and consistently putting off.
It might be that you need to finally make a decision and move forward with purchasing a new car, in which case it might be a good idea to click here and consider used truck options, for example.
Or, it might be that you’ve been planning to sign up for the gym for a long time but just haven’t got around to it, or have been meaning to do a bit of basic DIY around the home, or even to tidy up your CV and start actively applying for new jobs.
Whatever the case may be, these sorts of tasks and projects that have become “stalled,” can end up having a real draining and stagnating effect, if they are allowed to accumulate and go unattended to for a significant length of time.
In many cases, simply beginning to take action on these tasks and projects that you’ve been neglecting and putting off for a long time, can work wonders in terms of generating momentum and helping to increase the sense of purpose, direction, and vitality in your life.
Remind yourself of what you actually find meaningful, and what you want to achieve
A state of stagnation can easily develop in life as a result of losing touch with what you find meaningful and significant.
If you’re jaded, bored, and disillusioned, you might find yourself in a situation where you aren’t giving much – if any – thought to what’s really “meaningful,” versus what you just need to do as a part of your everyday routine, in order to keep things moving forward relatively smoothly.
Ultimately, though, we all have some kind of innate inner sense of what it is we find meaningful and significant in life, and the more we ignore that sense and fail to pursue those things that we find meaningful, the likelier it is we will feel as though we are stagnating and falling into a slump.
Simply reminding yourself to pay attention to that sense of what you find meaningful can go a long way in terms of helping you to regain momentum and enthusiasm.
Develop regular routines and habits that help you feel balanced and connected to something greater
A sense of falling into a slump often goes along with feelings of general futility, and a sense of being atomised and separated from larger, more holistic, and more meaningful things.
On the other hand, people frequently report feeling far more motivated, optimistic, enthusiastic, and well balanced in life, when they have a sense of connection to something greater.
Whether you experience a sense of something greater by participating in religious services, regularly walking in the forest, or via any number of other means, developing regular routines and habits that help you to feel a kind of transcendent sense of things can have remarkable benefits in all sorts of different ways.
Track your daily habits and try to build up good habit “streaks”
A major part of building momentum has to do with taking small actions, and then stacking them on top of each other until you feel motivated and driven to continue moving forward out of a slump. In fact, that’s almost the definition of “momentum.”
Using a habit tracker to try to build up good habit “streaks” can be an excellent way of generating this kind of momentum, and getting yourself into a situation where you feel far more “on top of things,” and as though you are living your life in the right way, and moving in the right direction.
The key thing is to see how many days you can go without missing a particular habit – whether that habit is working on an entrepreneurial side project, or sticking with a daily exercise routine.
In either case, building up your habit streaks will tend to be very powerful.