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Some days can feel like an endless battle with trivialities. As you’re tapping away halfheartedly on a routine assignment, with frequent excursions to other websites, the important matters stay on the back burner. The empty conversations you engage in never come close to what’s really on your mind. Dealing with superficial chores or work tasks, it seems, doesn’t leave enough time to address actual goals.
What do you want your story to be? “She always worked hard and consistently met her deadlines“? If you have reached a point where work and life seem to be one endless routine, it may be time to get out of the rut with some ideas for change:
A change of scenery
Getting away doesn’t have to be an expensive trip or a dress-up occasion. Take a few hours and do something out of the ordinary. Experiences that break the mold of everyday routine recapture a sense of adventure and generate fresh ideas. Eat a dish that makes your mouth burn. Go see that tourist attraction everyone always talks about. Finally ask how the intimidating machines at the gym work. In hindsight, it is always the little moments, not the big milestones, that give us a new perspective.
A change of perspective
Even if time is limited, make an effort to hear what others have to say. Call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Look for events near you that address a topic you haven’t given much thought. Move beyond motivational tidbits (“Success is determined by your daily agenda“) and fully listen to someone else’s ideas. Although TED talks and other online materials are great resources, a change of perspective has its most powerful effect in a different location.
A change of pace
Are you giving yourself enough opportunities to daydream and think outside your daily box?
“People hardly ever get their best ideas at their desks, and yet that’s where most professionals spend most of the day. If it’s not the desk, it’s a conference table, and hardly anyone gets their best ideas there either,” Scott Eblin wrote in a recent article.
To find out where your best ideas come from, spend some time exploring different changes of pace. That can be a favorite place to walk or taking a different route to work, riding a bus instead of driving, or talking at times when you are usually silent.
Life is not all about working
A sense of being stuck in a rut is a powerful reminder that life is not all about working, and that we need to dedicate time to exploring the next chapter of our story, the essence that makes us feel alive. Here’s to you!
What are your best time management tips getting out of boredom and routine? Share them here!