How to "Escape" the Loop ?
Two Simple Ideas
Wake up.
Work out.
Write.
Work.
Do some activities.
Sleep.
Start again.
Some days looks like a loop.
Impossible to get out. A settled routine.
Reliving the same days, one after the other, with no sense of surprise.
The quest for productivity makes us plan our day down to the minute.
We know in advance what we’re going to do.
Our days are expected and have no flavor.
In fact, when we picture the rat race, we think of that hamster stuck in its barrel, rolling, rolling, rolling without ever being able to escape.
I remember when I was a teenager, free. Without the Internet. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’d get on my bike and the afternoon would be a whole adventure. I’d find myself in the most unlikely places in the most unlikely situations. All those unique days are stories I have to tell.
Today’s life seems to take away this ability to wander, to explore.
As if everything had to make sense, every minute, every second.
As if every moment wasted not producing was a moment wasted.
Taking time for oneself can even create anxiety.
For a long time, I felt this sense of loss.
And I found two remedies.
Very simple to implement, they enabled me to breathe life back into an existence that had become too monotonous.
They allow us to break out of our cages and rediscover a quest for meaning in this infernal loop.
First: Every week, do something new
Every week, try something you’ve never done before.
A new hike.
A new restaurant.
A new walk.
A new visit.
The key word is “new”.
It can just be a new walking route.
It’s about exploring an uncharted place.
Make peace with our inner pioneer.
And allow luck into our lives.
In fact, this is one of the active ways of provoking luck.
If you go through the same things, with the same friends in the same activities…
You can never expect to change things if you want to.
It’s all about allowing the unknown into your life, so that you can experience new things.
The new opens up new avenues.
You may meet THE person who will change everything. Do the activity that will change your path.
Don’t wait for fate to happen.
Put yourself in its path.
Go and meet it.
The second: Break your records
This isn’t easy to do every week, but it can be spread out over the month.
Instead of mechanically playing your life. You can track all your metrics.
And try to beat your previous records.
Whether sporting, productive, artistic…
Self-confidence isn’t about impressing others, it’s about impressing yourself.
By trying to beat your old record, you’re constantly beating yourself.
This sets off a domino effect: your days automatically have more meaning as they are emulated by a nearby challenge.
You feel the excitement of building the achievement of that challenge.
That’s how I was able to take on numerous sporting challenges in a wide range of disciplines.
The only goal was to push myself to my limits: to say to myself “I can do it”.
And if no record emulates you, you can take on new challenges.
It has to be something hard enough for the difficulty of the achievement to generate pride.
Pushing your limits is a way of discovering yourself.
And to make yourself happy.
A person who is constantly better than his previous version is a person who can feel his progression.
Who is happy to see himself evolve.
A shorter e-mail this Sunday.
If this week's mail has sparked in you the desire to do something new.
Tell me about it in comments.
I'd love to hear about it.
Take care