How are you going with your Tuesday?
To me Tuesday says, "The week's definitely started, and there's still quite a journey through to Friday."
Are you feeling energised by the plans you have for what's ahead of you in the week? Or are you feeling a bit burdened by the heavy grind of 'the same old, same old'?
Routine and efficiency are admired in our world. And some of us thrive on a highly organised life that is structured and predictable. However, it's also true that, for many, too much routine can become numbing.
Yet, how can we remediate that numbing aspect of routine? Mostly it's not a question of routine or no routine, since adult life makes it hard to escape structure and predictability.
This short talk touches on ways we can marginally step outside our norms to find unexpected pleasures that will nurture and energise us. In this talk, Quercia speaks to the goals of his mapping company: to provide alternatives to the quickest route to any given spot. Their mapping app allows for the happy, the beautiful, and the quiet path.
And, no surprises really. In their tests, participants found these alternative paths to be far more enjoyable than the shortest one. Pleasure and energy was found by just adding a few minutes to travel time.
Quercia highlights the importance of remediating routine: "If you think that adventure is dangerous, try routine. It's deadly."
What can we do to take a slightly different path at some point in our week? Might we actually take a different route home? Go somewhere new? Listen to something new? Or what about simply sitting at the bottom of our own garden? Sometimes stepping outside our regular routine can be as simple as sitting somewhere just so slightly different to where we usually sit.
By shifting just a metre or two away from our norm, we can find a different perspective.
The world, our little world, can be refreshingly different.
https://www.ted.com/talks/daniele_quercia_happy_maps#t-427871