Are You Finding Your Groove Or Stuck In A Rut?

According to Webster's, a groove and a rut are technically the same. Both are "sunken tracks carved out either by a natural process or a tool".

If that's true, then why do they feel so different from one another? When describing the experience of being in a groove or in a rut you'd swear they are complete opposites. But are they?

What do they have in common?

Oddly enough, they both begin the same way: as a journey to get somewhere or achieve some thing. On your first trip there may be no marked path to follow so you blaze your own trail. If others have gone before you might recognize signs where the earth is tamped down or obstacles have been cleared away. There are clues to follow!

Sometimes you might have a guide who shows you the way. The more you travel this route the deeper the impressions along the path, the easier and quicker the trip. Repetition etches a channel of behavior; a habit is being formed.

A Groove and a Rut are Both Carved by Habit

Habits help us become more effective and efficient. In time what used to require serious focus and concentration becomes automatic and nearly effortless.

If you can drive a stick shift you know what I mean. The first car I ever drove was a Volkswagen Beetle. It seemed to take forever to master the clutch, gearshift, brakes, and gas pedal... and then there was the issue of the choke on the all too frequent occasion of flooding the engine. Yet after much practice, driving that car eventually became second nature.

Getting in the Groove?

Practice builds certainty, but because the behavior is still fairly new there's lots of opportunity to notice and experience different things. As you grow in confidence and ability you become more valuable to yourself and/or others. Your sense of importance expands, as does your capacity to make a contribution to someone else.

All six human needs (Tony Robbins, Human Needs Psychology) are being met at a very high level. They are the needs for

1 - Certainty
2 - Variety
3 - Significance
4 - Connection
5 - Growth and
6 - Contribution

When this happens you are in the groove. You're purring like a finely tuned engine.

Digging a Rut?

Some ruts take years to dig. When the groove is too familiar there's no challenge or newness and boredom sets in. The need for variety is no longer fulfilled though certainty remains high. The rut begins to form. Behavior becomes habituated to the point that growth stops. When growth stops in any living organism death and decay begin. It might start with the death of enthusiasm, excitement or curiosity all of which renew energy. Declining energy diminishes performance and usually the quality of results. The perception of being insignificant can follow quickly. The rut deepens.

Stuck in a Rut? Why Do You Stay?

The only reason you stay in a rut is that it meets some of the six human needs at a pretty high level. Mr. Robbins research shows that anytime three of these needs are met at a level 5 or above you have a compelling reason to stick with that behavior. A rut gives you lots of certainty.

It can also give you with a strong sense of connection to yourself, your work, others who rely on you or the environment. You are usually able to see or feel that what you're doing is still making an important contribution to someone. With 3 needs met the rut is comfortable enough to stay in even though you know something is missing.

Through mindless habit and absence (not presence in the moment) you carve out ruts that can confine and restrict your life.