Topic of the Month: Get Out of That Rut!

Life runs smoothly and uneventfully when we follow a regular routine. But when we allow our daily routine to blind us to new ideas or choices, we pay a price. People who make creative breakthroughs are the ones who are continually looking for different ways to do things.

If you'd like to break out of your daily routine, try a few of these rut-busting activities. Below each one, write down one or two new things that you learned or thought of on the day you did the activity.

• Speak to someone you see every day but have never spoken to before.
• Rearrange your work area.
• Take a different route to work in the morning.
• Part your hair on the other side.
• Sign up for an activity you have never done before.
• Use your left hand if you're right-handed, or right hand if you're left-handed, for one day.
• Read a novel, except the last chapter. Then write your own ending.
• Eat lunch in a different place, with a different person. Order something you have never eaten before.
• Draw something you see every day. Don't worry about how good the drawing looks, but how you "see" the object.
• Read a book on a subject you know nothing about.
• Pretend it is your first day at work. What are your reactions?
• Pretend you're a photographer. For one day, look at your surroundings as opportunities for unusual photographs.
• Find a new use for an object commonly found in your work area.

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