Episode 11: Ruts
Hello my friends Thanks for joining me today. In episode 7 I talked about change and how we fight against change it makes things harder for ourselves. And after that podcast a friend of mine asked me, the question is resisting change ever a good thing? And this mind management work has made me a big believer in paradoxes. Where we can have to seemingly opposite ideas and they can both be the right thing. I think these paradoxes exist everywhere and we just have to be able to analyze the situations that we find ourselves in to see which of the opposite ideas would serve us in the particular situation.
I think this totally applies to change and resisting change.
When we have things change that we have no control over like the construction on our favorite road to work then resisting the change and grumbling about having to take a different way to work or deciding that if we can’t drive the way we want to then we just won’t go to work probably isn’t serving us in the situation we find ourselves in.
But is there any issue with doing things the same way we have always done them.
Is there any problem ordering the same thing at your favorite restaurant every time you go there?
Is there any issue with flying the same airline every time you fly?
The answer to this is no.
And your brain likely loves you to do the same thing every time.
And actually, this repetitive behavior is likely conserving energy and even helping to reduce decision fatigue. This may even allow your brain to be able to use the conserved energy for something else and to think about a new idea or make other decisions that are more relevant or important.
So, in some cases we need to step out and embrace the change and in other cases sticking to our well patterned ruts is serving us very well.
Now this is very similar to cross country skiing. When they track set for us, they literally build us ruts for our skis to run in. and it makes it easier to ski.
With cross country skiing only your toe is latched down to the ski so your ski can go all sorts of directions so having it track set can save you so much energy because it keeps the ski in line and you no longer have to use your muscles to keep the ski going straight as well as propel yourself forward. When the trail is track set, the rut keeps your ski going the correct direction and then all you have to do is put I the energy to propel yourself forward
In some instances our ruts are serving us so well Just like they do in cross country skiing. I Love me a good track set trail, it makes that 20 km ski a heck of a lot easier. So I am not having to hold my skis in place because the snow is actually doing some of the work for me! It is the same for us as we approach the different things in life, some things when we standardize them so when we build the rut, when we know our way around the airline booking system, the airport procedures that that airline particularly uses, when we know the restaurant menu and know what we like. Then there are less details for us to focus on because some decisions have already been made and our brain can almost autopilot some actions for us. This allows our brains to be able to focus on different details and not be worried about the ones that we have taken care of with “ruts” as it were. As we become busier or when our lives feel out of control then these ruts can keep us held in place. They can hold us and help us through challenging times. They also make us more efficient.
Work flow at work. you need to be able to really get into a process, where you do specific procedures in a specific order because it makes it work out in the way you wanted it to. It allows you to summarize what you are working on and have a product that is predictable and ultimately easy to make and correct.
It helps you to not make mistakes because you have a process and a mental or physical checklist that you go through. So, you can get things done faster and have them done correctly because you stick to the ruts.
This is also very similar to when you are preparing to fly. I had the opportunity a few years ago to fly in someone’s private plane and it was so interesting to have them explain the checklist that they went through before the flight to make sure we didn’t have any problems. They went through that checklist meticulously so that they were confident that everything was in working order before we took off so we wouldn’t have any issues on the adventure.
I think this is where our ruts are really serving us.
They serve us when we ski.
They serve us when we fly small planes.
They serve us when we need to be efficient.
There may be some really good reasons to have some ruts. And then sometimes life throws us curve balls and we have to have the ability to adjust to the curve ball instead of fighting against it to keep the rut.
Skiing is the perfect example of this too. There are times when stepping out of the track set is absolutely necessary. To deal with the different things that come our way. So, when I am going downhill on a track set cross country ski trail, it can get a bit crazy because I can’t slow myself down when I am in the ruts. I can try to use my poles which are very awkward and not very effective where as if I can step out of the track, I can change the position of my skis so I can snow plow with my skis to effectively slow myself down.
Sometimes we don’t want to step out of the rut when we are in a situation but we really need to. This is a place where the ruts are not serving us and resisting the change is just causing more trouble and issues for us then stepping out of the rut and getting creative in addressing the change. So we all need to look at the situations we find ourselves in and see if our ruts are serving us or if we need to step out of the rut, make the adjustment to your ski position to prevent you from going too fast down the hills and crashing at the bottom.
They say that good habits will make you and bad habits will break you. These habits are the ruts that we build in our lives.
Habits can pull us through tough times.
Habits can increase our productivity and allow us to accomplish so much more than any one thinks we are capable of.
But habits can also prevent us from trying new things or considering new ideas.
Habits can prevent us from expanding and growing if we are too attached to them and are unwilling to adjust when adjustments are necessary.
Where are your tracks really supporting your life?
Where are your habits serving you?
Where are your habits not serving you any more?
Where do you need to step out of the ruts and get really uncomfortable as you get your snow plow on so that you can get down that hill safely instead of being stuck in the ski tracks.
It will be fun
Have a wonderful week