Seven Keys To Get Out Of A Rut

Rut — a routine procedure, situation, or way of life that has become uninteresting and tiresome… And not surprisingly, unprofitable.

They say a rut is a shallow grave with two open ends. The good news (good news?!) is that the ends ARE still open, which means if you act fast, you just might out of it. How do we get into these ruts anyway? Who would voluntarily lie down in that grave, shallow or otherwise?

Dr. Edward Debono suggests that thoughts are pathways literally “etched” in our brain as electrical connections that get strengthened each time we think them — thus limiting our mental options. Just like cow paths. It all begins when one of the cows wanders home from the field along a new path. Being cows, others naturally follow, nicely beating down the grass. The next evening our intrepid cow is a bit less bold, and follows her own freshly trampled path, fellow cows in lockstep behind her. And so on, night after night, widening the path into a footpath, which over time becomes hardened into a dirt road.

More time passes and the road is paved into a street, then an avenue, a two-lane highway, and ultimately an interstate. By...