7 Little Changes You Can Make When You’re Struggling With Hustle Fatigue And Need To Get Out Of A Rut

1. Take a break.

Not to state the obvious, but if you’re worn out you should stop and take a break. Even a professional athlete, who pours every ounce of energy inside of him onto the field, still needs to take a moment to catch his breath every so often. He needs to take a sip of water, sit down, and rest. It is necessary in order for him to continue to perform with the same intensity, focus, and skill that he knows he is capable of. When you’re hustling, sometimes it’s hard to stop and take a break for fear of wasting time, invalidating hours of hard work, or losing momentum, but the truth is that it is necessary to take a break in order to be able to perform to the best of your ability. You are no different than an athlete. You are pouring every ounce of energy into something that is important to you. Catch your breath, drink some water, rest, and recuperate.

2. Keep in touch with those who support you.

When chasing your dreams, it’s so easy to forget about the things you don’t have to chase. The people who are there for you no matter what, whether they’re your parents, your brother or sister, your best friends, maybe all of them, they love you now just as you are. With hustle fatigue comes feelings of loneliness and unworthiness. Remembering that there are people who support you and love you no matter what will make you want to love and support yourself no matter what, too.

3. Reassess your goals CONSTANTLY.

Regularly remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing today. Why are you putting in countless hours of hard work? What is it for? What are your goals? Why are those your goals? What is your purpose? If you find any of those questions difficult to answer, you might be hustling towards the wrong thing, or worse for nothing. When you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to keep going. If they’re easy to answer, then you have just reminded yourself of exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing, and often that is the push needed to motivate you and keep you moving forward.

4. Identify a way to detach.

Listening to music, playing guitar, going for a run, meditating, cooking, whatever it is, find your escape. Being able to detach from the job is just as important as being able to focus in on it. When you detach, you’re not stressing about deadlines or co-workers or how much money you’re making. Find something that gets your mind off of it all, something other than your hustle that you can get lost in.

5. Simplify.

Rid yourself of the extra stuff. Life can get pretty overwhelming when we fill it with unnecessary baggage. Go through your closet and donate anything you don’t wear. Get rid of people who bring toxicity into your life. Stay out of debt. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Small adjustments have big benefits. Keeping things simple and living minimally can help your state of mind tremendously.

6. Try something new or spontaneous.

Establishing a routine is essential to success, but there is also such a thing as too much routine. A lot of the time we might find ourselves in a rut because it. Routines are easy to get lost in. You get bored. You feel like you’re going in circles. You feel stuck. Remind yourself that life is more than overtime shifts or studying 4 hours for a subject you couldn’t care less about. If you’ve been taking the same route to work everyday, take a new one. If you’ve been reading nothing but informational textbooks, read a fantasy fiction novel. Take a class that has nothing to do with what you’re studying. Take up an active hobby. Change your lifestyle diet. Go somewhere you’ve never been before. Don’t wait to live life until you feel your hustle has “finally paid off”. Always remember, life is meant to be lived at all times. Life is now. Live in the moment.

7. Be grateful for what you already have.

Food in your stomach, water in your pipes, a blanket over you while you sleep, a furry companion, a friend, a roof over your head, a stable job, an education, good health- if you have just one of these things, be grateful. The hustle is all about striving for more, which isn’t a bad thing until we forget about appreciating what we already have. Showing gratitude for what many of us sometimes think of as “the little things” can make you feel much better about where you’re at. It can help you relax a little bit. It can remind you that you’re doing okay.