Traveling a well-worn road is easy.
In many cases, it’s necessary. In high-stress situations, the well-worn road keeps us from going insane. The idea of “knowing” allows our energy to focus on problems. Focus is far easier to come by when you are comfortable in your surroundings.
Our habits are the well-worn roads of our conscious in our personal lives. Patterns make our lives easier, but because they make our lives easier, models can become a trap.
The way to avoid that trap is when things slow down, change the way you try with a habit. Change something small about what you are doing. If you clean the dishes at night in a big batch, try washing the item as soon as you use it. If you read before bed, try batching (doing it all at once vs. spread out) your reading for the week on a Sunday afternoon.
What happens? Perhaps nothing, or you find a way you approach your habit improves the way you help it. If you read fiction better batched and non-fiction on a consistent basis, then you’ve found an actionable insight that you can spin in different ways.
Instead of grabbing a non-fiction book for a flight, you know it’s far more enjoyable to read that Kafka novel you’ve avoided for years.
Little experimentations like these can lead to serious results.
Exercise:
- Write down your consistent habits.
- Figure out one change you could make.
- Try it a few times, take note of the differences you feel.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 