Psychological Life Hacks

Innovation can be summed up as doing things differently and doing different things. 

Sometimes we get into routines that we feel comfortable with and dread the prospect of change. By sticking to the same pattern all the time, you’re reducing the chances for cool (and also uncool) surprises and that innovative spark 🔥 

 

There’s psychological evidence that doing something different to what you’d normally do increases your creativity. Something as simple as choosing a new route for your journey to work could increase your ability to innovate.

 

When there’s no obstacle in your path, there’s no need to come up with new ideas or try anything different.

 

So, here’s my psychological life hack for this week. Stimulate your hippocampus (that’s where we store long-term memories). When you leave home for work, why not head completely in the wrong direction? Keep on driving until you’re about an hour from your workplace. Even go further…drive until you’re in a different city. Enjoy a drive off the beaten track. Pull into the parking lot of another business establishment. It could be a gas station, a bookstore or coffee shop. It doesn’t matter. Walk in with confidence and tell them you’re going to be working remotely from their office into your regular office. Set up office in their manager’s office. Clear the desk and get comfy. You’re somewhere completely foreign and different. Your mind is blown, literally and figuratively, and you will grow so much. Challenge yourself to be brave and spontaneous. The manager whose office you’ve occupied may eventually call the police on you, but for a few moments, it was so totally worth it. You’d also remember the day more with greater emotional depth and connection.

 

Learn to forge new neural pathways in your brain and fire up your synapses in the process. 

 

Change your name: You’ve been called Ayo, Nkechi, Omo or Adebayo all your life. How has it helped you? Do not to get too ingrained in the habit of keeping one lame name for a lifetime. Try a different name to break the monotony of your usual habits. Change is OK and actually helps you grow. People calling you over and over again by the same name gets you in a rut. A different name gives you a different perspective. 

 

Tell everyone at your workplace that your new name is Tom (not to be confused with tomfoolery). They will respect your choice and right to a different name. Some smart Ass might call it a midlife crisis but what do you care? Naturally, you won’t respond when they call you Tom because you have not fully internalized the name but that is A-Okay. Your work colleagues will think that Tom is just a bit quieter than Ayo, Nkechi, Omo or Adebayo and they’ll respectfully keep their distance. 

 

I will be back soon with more psychological life hacks.