What if .........?

What if you feel like you are stuck in a rut?

Leo at Zen Habits has written a great post on "The Rut, & the Way Out". 

This left me asking myself a few "What if?" questions this morning in bed & provided some much needed momentum.

Sometimes I have such a lack of motivation that lethargy just takes over. 

Setting goals etc is ineffective, telling myself to shake up doesn't work and all I can see is the mountain of things to do. 

Leo has a great starting point if you are at this same spot with me.

Ask yourself a few "What if?" questions. 

No action required just ask the the question.

 I tried that in bed at 6am today and these were my posers:

1. What if I decided to write in my journal every day for the rest of this month? Yes, I want to do this, I want to get back to writing creatively. No excuses. See I am doing this as I sit here.
2. What if I sew one stitch (minimum) everyday? I cleared my sewing table yesterday, so it's all set.
3. What if I did 5 minutes yoga every morning? Well, that is a bit more radical for me ... but I like the thought and it doesn't mean I have to do headstands.

Leo goes on to ask more scary "What if's?" such as:

"What if your life was a blank slate and you could fill it with only things you love?" and "What if you tossed out all your excuses?" and "What if you tossed out your to do list and only did one important thing each day before doing less important tasks?"

I find it helps being invited to think differently about my set ways.

If you want to go further, you should announce a major challenge. Just announce it.

Here goes:

 "I am going to challenge myself, Ingrid, to write and publish 3 blog posts a week for the next month."                                                                                  You'll know if I keep to it!

Saying it aloud creates a momentum and I feel committed.

Here is the blog that proves it - if you saw all the draft blogs I half write and never get round to publishing, you'd know how easy it is for me to leave things unfinished!

Hope you read Leo's post and hope it helps if you, too, are in a dip.

Me? I'm off to do 5 minutes yoga, no time like the present. Maybe later sew something for the table ... after all that is what this blog is supposed to be about.