Flex_ Do Something Different - Ben [16]
Do your friends and acquaintances have the same values, interests and ways of looking at things? How similar are they in background and views? Do you have a one-size-fits-all approach? Are you missing out on good relationships, good friends and valuable input simply because some people aren’t picked up on your ‘radar’? Can you be responsive to life’s needs and those of your family and friends if your decisions are hampered by stereotyped assumptions? Less habitual thinking brings with it a greater ability to take an objective view of a situation.
Although it can be useful to have habits and routines – after all, they help us to manage the basics of life – they can also mask opportunities that lie just beyond the range of our immediate view. Being behaviourally flexible can get around this tendency.
A drawback to being too routinised can be a reluctance to let go of something that’s no longer working or appropriate. There may be a tendency to keep investing time and energy in long-standing relationships that no longer warrant it, when it might be better to simply keep them ticking over or even move on.
If you sometimes find life or work uninteresting, stressful and lacking opportunities for development and growth perhaps you could benefit from flex and from doing something different?
flex yourself – Do Something Different
The easiest way to break old habits is to try new behaviours. Using willpower won’t work but substituting new behaviours for old ones will.
And when you’re doing something you don’t normally do, it goes without saying that you can’t stick to your old ways. This is when the law of unintended consequences starts to work. You may not know what’s going to happen when you break a habit. But if you can be open to new experiences and new opportunities, who knows what will come your way?
If you hang on to your old habits and your old ways it’s likely that life will just stay the same. And if there are bits of that life you’re not happy with, there’s a danger that the present will become permanent. So, as your first venture into opening up the other 9/10ths of your personality, why not just try a few simple things from the following list … and see what happens:
Leave your watch off for a day.
Make the first move to repair a broken friendship.
Go for a walk and take photos of what you see.
Pick up some litter or rubbish.
Watch birds or clouds for ten minutes.
Sit in a place you’ve never sat before.
Make up a quiz.
Come up with three good conversation-starter questions.
Sing with your granny.
Tell a joke to a stranger.
Spend time with someone much older.
Ask advice from someone much younger.
Tell a friend why you like them.
Smile at people more.
Do something nice for an older person.
Buy an unusual magazine and read it.
Change radio channels or start listening to one.
Let another person choose from the menu for you.
Get on a bus and see where it takes you.
Wear odd socks for a day.
Communicate by painting or drawing.
Contact a long lost friend or relation.
Write an impressive CV.
Learn about a ritual from another religion.
Read a different newspaper.
Dance under the stars.
Play louder music.
Give a gift, without expecting to receive anything.
Get a temporary tattoo and wear it somewhere visible.
Repair or renew something that’s broken.
Sleep on the other side (or end) of the bed.
Pick CDs at random and play track 8.
Do something you enjoyed doing as a child.
Go barefoot.
Turn up at the cinema and watch the next film that’s starting.