Lender Technology: Get Out of Your Technology Rut

Do you feel like you’re living a Groundhog Day experience? My husband’s birthday is February 2^nd, and for several years we watched the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. In the movie, Murray’s character does the same things over and over until he realizes he has an opportunity to use the experience for good purposes rather than staying stuck in his old ways.

Working from home for months on end can feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over. But you have more power to change than you realize. Every day is an opportunity to be aware of the choice you can make – do it the same way or pivot 5% in a new direction.

Question 2: How do you get out of your technology rut?

This brings me to Question #2 (explore Question #1 here): how do you get out of your technology rut?

When it comes to technology it’s incredibly easy to fall into this pattern:

1. Pick a new technology and try it
2. It doesn’t work as you expect or has a huge learning curve
3. Go back to doing things the way you’ve always done them

In today’s world, if you aren’t moving forward, you’re backing up; there is no middle ground. So how do you get moving forward?

Take a moment to think about driving up a mountain in an off-road vehicle. The trip starts with a gradual incline and progress is easy. As the incline gets steeper, the vehicle works harder to keep going. Then a barrier, a rut, pops up and one of your wheels gets stuck. And the harder you hit the gas, the deeper the rut.

So how do you get out? Rock back and forth, one step back, one step forward. Two steps back, three steps forward. It takes time and patience, but it works.

The same goes for getting out of your process and technology rut. If you continue to have the same issue on every loan, you’re in a rut. If you avoid using a particular piece of your software because you don’t like it, you’re in a rut. If you haven’t even opened the training video that came out last week, you’re in a rut.

Steps to getting out of the technology rut

If any of the above statements resonated with you, let’s talk about how to remove yourself from the rut:

1. Make the decision to get out – only you can do that.
2. Phone a friend – talk to someone that’s doing what you aren’t and learn from them.
3. Try, try again – once you make the decision to get out of the rut, stick to it. Something that works for me is I make a list and decide how many times I am going to try that day. Every try gets a check. Once I hit my goal, I’ve either gotten it or I go back to Step 2 for more help.
4. Celebrate – tell your friend how you did and share your experience with a co-worker that is also struggling.
5. Make the decision to keep going up the mountain.

There is no easy path out of a rut. It takes hard work, determination, practice, and commitment. Just like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day, you too can learn new skills, change your attitude, and discover what it is like on the other side of the paradigm.

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