LIFE is full of activity. From the time we wake up till we retire to bed we are busy doing one thing or the other. The things we do depend on our position, plans or purpose in life and success in life is heavily dependent on how we can manage the things we do to accomplish set goals and objectives. Each one of us has a method of doing things, whether consciously or unconsciously, and this method becomes a process that we engage in regularly. Every rational human being tries to ensure that whatever system or method he engages in is geared towards the successful execution of his dreams and desires.

The danger we are all susceptible to is that we can get so enmeshed in doing things that our lives get clustered and choked up. We can get so bugged down with the process of getting things done that at the end of the day we are too tired to enjoy the fruit of our labour. The doing of things, the working out of methods and the execution of concepts can get us into a rut. We must be careful not to achieve our goals and hit our targets and not enjoy the process or even the accomplishments.

If we are going to enjoy our lives we must avoid getting into a rut. A rut is a routine or pattern of activity that has become dull but is hard to change. We must be careful that our lives do not become boring and stereotype, doing virtually the same thing day in day out without joy and fulfillment. Due to frequency of the things we do, those things can be engaged in “without thinking”. This is a passport to making life meaningless, uninteresting and tiresome. This might explain why some people love Fridays (they look forward to the work free weekend) and they hate Monday mornings (as it heralds the beginning of a full week of work). We need to be careful when most of the things we do become second nature to us, and if they have to, we must be able to still do them and enjoy doing them. We must avoid being choked with doing things – we need to have freshness into our lives regularly. Getting into a rut drains the excitement out of whatever we do. It stifles enthusiasm and it makes whatever we do become a joyless routine.

We need to regularly review our schedule and our assignments to be sure we have not gotten into a rut. We need to look at how we can introduce new ways, new ideas and creativity into what we do. We must learn to introduce fresh ideas and concepts to the way we do things. We must learn to do old things in new ways. We must be able to provide fresh perspectives to the way we carry out things. Life need not be a boring journey – we can make it interesting by introducing creative changes into what we do.

“Change is always hardest for the man who is in a rut. For he has scaled down his living to that which he can handle comfortably and welcomes no change or challenge that would lift him up,” C Neil Strait said.

Variety, they say, is the spice of life. We all have creative abilities in us and we need to learn how we can use this ability to generate new ideas and fresh concepts into what we do. When we utilize our creative ability we will come up with unique ideas, new concept and new methods that, if well utilized and executed, will bring freshness, enthusiasm and new zeal into what we do. Creative change is like adding fertilizer to a plant – it speeds up its growth and enhances the chances of a better harvest.

“The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.”  Proverbs 18:15 (Living Bible)

Next week we shall look at some ways we creatively come out of any rut we have found ourselves.

FOR COMMENTS/ENQUIRIES PLEASE SEND EMAIL TO This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it