Try Something New
“If there’s only one thing you do every day, make sure you finish your shower with a minute of ice cold water.” A former student is into “biohacking,” and this was her recommendation for the hack that would deliver the biggest bang for the buck. I’ve never been one for icy showers, but when I read about Victor Hugo’s routine, it tipped me over the edge: “At 11 A.M., he stepped out onto the rooftop and washed from a tub of water left out overnight, pouring the icy liquid over himself and rubbing his body with a horsehair glove.” (From Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals)
So for the last two weeks, I’ve ended every shower with a minute of ice cold. It’s brutal, but I have to admit that it’s incredibly invigorating. I can’t say I’ve had any epiphanies yet, but I believe in the underlying principle: there’s value in making a practice of trying new things. That’s one way to overcome the associative barriers that limit our ways of thinking. Tiny changes, like using an off hand to brush your teeth, or taking a different route home from work, can shake up your thinking just enough to let some light in.
Steve Jobs explained the phenomenon simply: “Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind. You are really etching chemical patterns. In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them.”
A simple way to “get out of the groove” is to try your hand at new things. Beyond trying new physical experiences, I’ve been trying new things conceptually, too. After hearing enough mind-bending, totally incomprehensible conversations about web3, crypto, etc, I’ve dabbled in minting a collection of NFT’s inspired by my first year of blogging. Again, the purpose is primarily to stretch my thinking and practice looking in new boxes, so to speak.
I’d love to hear what others have tried to skip out of the groove.
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The fine folks over at Section recently interviewed me about some common mistakes I’m seeing folks make when they use AI. One of the biggest ones? The tendency to expect too little, and get just that.