Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 2: Learning your routines
• Part 2 of 2: Changing your routines
• Tips

Having some structure in your life can be a comfort, but if the barista is preparing your drink before you even ordered it, it may be time to shake things up. Get out of your comfort zone and bring some spontaneity into your routine, it can keep things unpredictable and fun.

To step

Part 1 of 2: Learning your routines

1. List your routines. Before you start to change, point out the areas of your life that are somewhat rigid and could use a little more freedom. What patterns do you repeat?
   • Start by getting up in the morning. What's the first thing you want to do in the morning? When does your routine start?
   • On normal days, keep a notebook with you and write down any act that feels like a routine. When you walk to work, do you walk the same way every day? Are you always in the same place during the lessons? Do you always bring the same things for lunch? Do you always order the same dish at a restaurant? Do you always go with the same bus? How about your clothes?
2. Identify your fears. Often times, repetitive behavior is the result of deep-seated fears and limited beliefs displayed in unexpected ways. If on any day you start to notice the content of your routine, consider the option of changing each item.Does it make you nervous to consider NOT ordering a drink from Starbucks? Or taking a bus instead of walking? What's scary about the idea?
   • Write these down next to the steps in your routine. Try to be as specific as possible. What's scary about sitting next to a stranger and getting involved in a conversation? What's stopping you from visiting that new restaurant?
   • Ask your friends and family for help. Often times, your friends will know you better than you know yourself. Just ask, "Am I predictable?" If you suspect it is you, they will likely have very elaborate patterns that you are not even aware of.
3. Record free moments. Part of spontaneity is being active. During the day, make notes of times when you have nothing special to do at home or times when you are bored. What do you choose to do with that time?
   • When you list it, make a note of it as well dream days. If you were to do something with that time, given unlimited resources and opportunities, what would you do? What would give you the perfect evening after a day at work or school?
4. Select changeable behavior. Look back at your list and decide what you would like to change. Some routine is good - having habits can keep us productive and comfortable. But some routines are the result of our limited beliefs and fears that keep us lazy and keep us from opening up and experiencing new things.
   • Make sure to write down things that you are ashamed of on your list. If your perfect evening consists of going out to dance, but you spend it mostly playing video games and you feel guilty about it, that's a sign that this routine can be changed. If you always order an American coffee because you love this coffee and because it's the cheapest on the menu, why change?

Part 2 of 2: Changing your routines

1. Start slow. Just mix up your patterns a bit, based on your list of changeable routines. Take a different route to work. Bring your lunch instead of going to the cafeteria. Call a friend and meet for a drink downtown instead of going straight home after work. Study in the library instead of a café. Does it make you feel better? Feeling more anxious?
2. Rejoin people. A lack of spontaneity often leads to feelings of loneliness. We think everyone else is out to have fun and you just sit at home. But when you think about making plans, you go alone.
   • Invite people to simple things. If for you drinking a few beers on the porch is an average night, it can suddenly become a big event when it's with an old friend from high school. Catch up and make plans to do more together.
3. Embrace the riddle. Spontaneity implies keep people guessing as long as it continues to amuse yourself. The next time someone asks you about your weekend, try saying something like, “It was very tiring. And your weekend? ” Cryptic answers to questions will make people curious about you and how you spend your time, offering you more opportunities for spontaneous adventures and question coloring.
4. Follow your desires. If you develop a desire to eat pizza late at night or become a vegetarian on the weekend, what's holding you back? It's easy to come up with reasons for not doing things. Instead of worrying about whether or not you'll fail in the end or whether you'll regret eating after 10pm, just do it.
   • If you find yourself regretting not responding to these quirks, primarily learn to recognize and respond to them.
5. Make immediate plans. While talking to friends, it can be easy to make vague plans for the future: "Let's go camping" or "Let's meet up for lunch soon." Instead of doing this, decide on and schedule a date and activity, change "I hope we'll do something over spring break" to "Let's book a flight now."
   • If you are normally already a complicated planner, you can alternatively decide to actively NOT create a plan. Maybe say you'll meet someone later, but don't think of anything to do together just yet. Meet in an unfamiliar part of the city and discover it together.
6. Trip. Sometimes it's easy to be locked in a routine if you stay in the same place all the time. Especially if you live in an average small town, you can exhaust the options for activities relatively quickly.
   • Spend time planning a trip, but also make sure to leave a few unfilled days in between for new plans and opportunities. If the worst scenario is wandering aimlessly in a new city for an entire day, then you're in pretty good shape.
   • It doesn't have to be expensive. Even hanging out at a cheap cafe in a neighboring town can be a new sensation compared to a normal Friday night in your home town.

Tips

• You don't have to overdo things or take things to the extreme to be spontaneous. You can be spontaneous without eating out every night or spending too much on a new wardrobe. It's a state of mind. Be spontaneous can also become a routine.