How to Break Out of a Rut, According to Science

Habituation is a psychological phenomenon where repeated experiences lead to a diminished emotional response over time. Call it diminishing returns, call it getting stuck in a rut — whatever you call it, Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist, and Cass R. Sunstein, a Harvard law professor and behavioral economics expert, wrote the (literal) book on how to rediscover your joy by fighting back against habituation. The solution is a lot simpler than you think.

Speaking with NPR, the pair discussed how their book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, can help their readers overcome habituation. The key to “dishabituation,” they say, is to intentionally change your routine or perspective. Constant familiarity, even with something you adore and hold dear, can lose its charm over time.

In the book, they reference an episode of The Twilight Zone wherein a criminal is killed during a bank robbery and then, in the afterlife, has unlimited access to anything he could ever want and still can’t find happiness. It turns out he isn’t in heaven, he’s actually in hell.

Obviously, that’s a highly dramatized version of the problem, but the core lesson remains the same. Our brains desire some shakeups to the routine every once in a while. Sharot is a big proponent of taking breaks from even the activities you find most enjoyable so you can regain your appreciation for them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that. A little distance helps you cultivate gratitude and rediscover why you liked the things you like to begin with.

Novelty leads to positive emotions, so the pair encourages people to discover new experiences, learn new skills, and challenge their brains with anything and everything that can be considered new, all so they can eventually fall back in love with or remain in love with the old.

One of the simplest measures they recommend for fighting habituation is changing your environment. If you’re feeling stuck in a rut, maybe working in a different location is all you need to change things up. Bringing your laptop with you into the backyard, or in a park, or a coffee shop might rejuvenate your creative process. Your brain got tired of the old ways of doing it. Nourish it with some new stimuli.

As much as we desire the comforts of our routines, we need to offset it with change and growth. Our brains languish in stagnation. The authors argue that if you just switch up your routine even a little bit, you’ll find yourself being more creative and see improvements in your ability to problem solve, all of which will enrich both your personal and professional life.