Table of Contents
What is Beyond the Rut?
No one really grows up wanting to get into a rut. Many dream of a successful career, large income, and comfortable life. Instead, we find ourselves in a 9-to-5 repetition, sandwiched by a commute. Somewhere along the line, you may have found yourself wondering if there is more to life. This routine is not what you signed up for.
If you have ever said, “I feel like I’m stuck in a dead-end job,” or, “Life looks nothing like I thought it would at this point in my life,” then you are NOT alone.
What you really want is adventure, mystery, to build and create, to do something significant that matters, and to leave a legacy. Deep down inside, you know you have dreams to do amazing things. It may be that you struggle to take that first step, or you have hit a plateau.
At Beyond the Rut, we are all too familiar with feeling trapped. We’ve spent the better part of the past seven or eight years (collectively, over two decades) trying to figure out how to design the life we have each dreamed of living.
The life you want does not just happen. You have to take control of your life to make the life you want to become a reality. We are here to help you make your own path one step at a time.
Where Are We Going with Beyond the Rut?
Beyond the Rut will inspire you and equip you with tools and courage to pursue your dreams. In our podcast, we talk about five key areas that impact the life you want to live: faith, family, fitness, finances, and future possibility. Each area impacts the others. To get unstuck and out of your rut, you will need energy, focus, desire, and know-how to face your fears and failures.
Going Beyond the Rut means you will need to get out of your comfort zone. It won’t be easy, and it will be worth it and feel rewarding.
Who We Are: The BtR Team
Jerry Dugan, Co-Founder, Host, Producer
Meet Jerry Dugan: The Work-Life Balance Leader
Jerry Dugan is a public speaker, author, and the host of Beyond the Rut, a podcast about helping you achieve your dreams and thrive in your faith, family, and career to experience a life beyond the rut.
Jerry’s own life growing up through divorce, his dad’s attempted suicide, and combat have built within him resilience and the perspective that life is too short to live it stuck in a rut.
Since 2015, Jerry has been the voice behind the Beyond the Rut podcast, a source of empowering narratives and actionable insights that propel listeners beyond stagnation and towards more fulfilling lives. In 2023, he encapsulated his transformative philosophy in a book of the same title, using the R.U.T. framework to redefine success and breathe purpose into everyday existence.
In the dynamic world of corporate transformation, Jerry Dugan stands at the helm of BtR Impact, LLC as its CEO and Senior Leadership Consultant. With a focused mission, he guides leaders to amplify employee engagement, ensuring they achieve peak performance while crafting a seamless blend of work, life, and personal values.
Jerry’s pragmatic leadership approach, known as the T.E.N.T. framework, stems from a rich background that includes commanding roles during Operation Iraqi Freedom and corporate healthcare endeavors. This framework is his compass for cultivating leaders across all tiers, fostering teams rooted in trust, collaboration, and transparency to yield concrete business outcomes.
Jerry’s vision doesn’t stop at breaking free from life’s ruts; he envisions a life lived expansively. Residing in Dallas, Texas, he savors the tranquil ’empty nest’ phase with his partner, Olivia, after raising a son and daughter into adulthood. They now share their home with three feline companions and a loyal dog named Oreo.
Follow Along and Make Your Own Path Beyond the Rut
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Email [email protected]
Voicemail or Text (469) 608-0355
Guest Appearances
(Retired) Brandon Cunningham, Founder and Host
After three failed Presidential campaigns, I decided to focus my attention on podcasting and helping people find their own path.
“You have to choose your own path in life or someone else will.”
I am on the pastoral staff at Grace Community Church in Flour Bluff, Texas, and bring 20 years of project management, marketing and process management experience in government, franchising and the financial industry. I am married to Renee’ and have a blended family with five children, Nick, Jacob, Avery, Matthew and Maddy. We also share two miniature schnauzers named Reagan and Tator. I’d like to say that I have been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize four times, but never won. Other than the Academy Award for fiction in bios, my trophy case is rather small.
(Jerry’s disclaimer: The Nobel Peace Prize nominations and Academy Award for “fiction in biographies” are obviously not true. Everything else about him in this bio is true. He really did try to run for President three times as a ballot write-in at the poll. One vote is better than zero votes.)