Novelty - Day 14
The word “habit” has become quite the buzz word in today’s world. Everyone is talking about creating structure and routine for productivity to maximize everything in life. While I agree that creating a routine can help us get shit done and be consistent, the caveat is there can be too much of a good thing.
The reason your routine might be slowly killing you is because of monotony and the way our brain works. Imagine this: you wake up at 6am every morning smashing coffee and throwing together your wardrobe for the day. You are out the door by 6:45 and get to work by 7:30. You punch the clock for 8 hours, with a short 30 minute lunch consisting of your usual chicken salad. You get off at 4pm, head to the gym and slog away on the elliptical for 30 minutes followed by some core work. By the time you get home at 6:30 it’s dark and you hit a quick shower, eat dinner and watch an hour of Netflix before it’s time to get read for bed.
Rinse, wash and repeat for 5 days a week. How exciting does that sound?
And I’m not looking to knock the 9-5 lifestyle or choices we have to make to create that work life-balance. All I’m saying is before you know it 10 years will pass you by in the blink of an eye and you’ll have no idea. Because we were wired to experience and try new things = NOVELTY.
Novelty is this idea is about defined as the quality of new, original or unusual. It’s about doing something for the sake of it being new and unfamiliar. The best example that I know will relate to everyone is travel. Who doesn’t love going to a new place and experiencing new things through traveling. Every single person you talk to love’s traveling and there’s something energizing about it. Even when the trip get to the end and you are ready to return home you can’t help but feel refreshed.
This is like the steroid version of Novelty because everything you do is new and exciting, from the sidewalk you walk past daily, your hotel room, every restaurant down to the people you interact with. Now imagine that refreshed feeling after a great trip and think what that would be like to feel like on a regular basis - because it’s totally possible!
I get it you can’t travel regularly, but you can add Novelty into your day to day life. This could be as simple as planning to try a new restaurant for date night, take a different route home, go for a bike ride or learn a new skill like skateboarding or playing an instrument. The point is to simply find a way to get out or your routine!
Now this doesn’t have to happen every day, but if you could do one small thing once a week it can be huge for increasing your mood & happiness. And see if you can add in a bigger item like trying a new hike or traveling once a month and then wait and see how much sweeter your day to day “grind” gets!
