This blog is about becoming more productive, but too much productivity can add rigidity to your life. I sometimes find myself pushing away cool things for the sake of becoming more productive, which works against the idea of productivity, which exists so you can make more time for the things that mean most to you!
That’s why every so often it feels great to break from routines and be a bit impulsive. Not carelessly impulsive or anything (no, that would be a little too crazy for this 80 year-old man trapped in a young man’s body), but impulsive enough to not feel trapped by the routines you have.
To serve as a bit of a launching pad, here are a few very small things that have helped me break from my routine and explore my humanity a little more:
- Lend $25 to a third-world entrepreneur on Kiva. (You get it back in the end.)
- Define the very next action you have to take to accomplish the thing you least want to do.
- Shut off all of your electronics for 15 minutes and enjoy the silence.
- Take a half-hour walk through nature to soak in some vitamin D and refresh your mind.
- Smile at yourself stupidly in the mirror for 10 seconds (this legitimately might be the most difficult thing on the list).
- Order a bouquet of roses for your mom (online – it only takes a few minutes).
- Treat yourself to a 30-minute nap (you deserve it!)
- Only check your email twice today. And if the day is almost over, only check your email twice tomorrow.
- Play a slow song and romantically slow dance to it with your girlfriend (or boyfriend).
- Think about what your biggest time-waster is, and write down an action plan to stop doing it.
- Sit for an hour of meditation instead of the usual 30. Or meditate for the first time!
- Start reading a book that’s entirely outside of your comfort zone.
- Watch one of Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm’s YouTube talks about life.
What do you say? How about shaking things up a bit today?
Image source: Brandon Warren.
