6 Ways To Increase Your Spontaneity

Most people are creatures of habit who like to create routines for ourselves and stick with them.

These routines can be helpful in some ways, such as enabling us to get things done more efficiently, or not forgetting to do certain tasks.

However, too much routine can leave you feeling like there must be something more to life, wondering what it is, and how you can add it to your own life.

For example, I know of several families where they always eat the same meal on specific days of the week – Wednesday was the day when they had fried eggs and chips (aka french fries) for their evening meal.

And while this can make things easier, because you don’t need to put any real thought into what to make for dinner each night, you can end up living like an automaton, which is soul-sucking.

Becoming more spontaneous will add spice and adventure to your life and help you to leave boredom behind.

Luckily, there are some easy things you can do to add spontaneity to your life on a regular basis.

Get more out of life by using the following strategies to become more spontaneous:

Look At The World As Though You Were A Child

Children are naturally curious, so rather than saying “no” to everything new, throw yourself into the unknown – just like a child. (Just remember to ensure you are safe first.)

You may well gain a whole new perspective on life.

Make Random Choices

When it comes to making decisions, try something like a coin flip to decide which option to take.

My all-time favourite (fiction) book is The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart, which explores this idea in great depth, but the premise of the entire book starts by the hero writing down a list of things he could do, and then rolling dice to determine which one he will do.

And while the book takes this idea of using dice way too far, with restraint and for decisions that don’t really matter (e.g. where to eat dinner, which movie to watch), it’s a great way to get out of boring routines.

Warning: the book does include a fair amount of sexual activity, because the hero is a psychiatrist who is testing his hypothesis about multiple personalities and behaviour, and sex is one of the great taboos we humans have. However, the book is not erotica in any usual sense of the word – it’s all entirely contextual.

Another option here is to listen to your music playlists in shuffle mode rather than in the order you might have specified. (This may make less sense if you listen to classical music, where the order of the different movements is important.)

This is how I listen to music when I’m working – I have hundreds of songs and pieces of music (which I talk about in part here) and I almost always let my MP3 player choose tracks at random, so I never know what’s coming up next.

Make Small Changes To Your Regular Routines

Being spontaneous doesn’t necessarily mean making massive changes to your life, because even small changes can lead to unexpected discoveries.

For example, you could:

• Take a different route. If you usually jog a certain route, try taking a different route to see what happens. Take the scenic route to work or home. Turn on a different street and see what’s there.
• Do something out of its regular order. When you shake up the routine a bit, it makes you see things differently. You could, say, switch around breakfast and supper. Eat dessert first. Add an extra playtime with your kids, even if it’s just one short game.
• Find different ways to say the same thing, such as how you greet people in the morning. You might say “Good morning” to some people, “Hi!” to others, and so on.

Try Things That You Think You Can’t Do

You likely have a lot of limiting beliefs, most of which came with you from your childhood.

What if you really could do those things? Wouldn’t that please you?

So try some – you’ll find a freedom that you never knew you had!

(I actually have a free report about uncovering your limiting beliefs, which you can find here if you are a member, and here if you are not yet a member.)

Explore New Activities

The possibilities here are almost endless, and include, for example:

• Letting somebody else choose the movie.
• Exploring a place in your city that you’ve never been.
• Visiting your local tourist attractions. It’s likely that, as a resident, you’ve never been there. Do some research into unusual places, like alligator farms or train museums.
• Choosing a different type of vacation or destination. For example, instead of always going to the beach, go to the mountains. Try a new city or country.
• Trying a new hobby, such as salsa lessons, painting, learning to play a musical instrument, or going to a rodeo.
• Reading books in a different genre to your usual fare.
• Eating new foods / cuisines.
• Experimenting with different forms of exercise.

Dare Yourself To Do Something That You’ve Been Afraid To Do

For example, you could ask an attractive coworker out on a date, or learn to dive.

Not only will you help to conquer your fears (and maybe learn how to deal with rejection along the way), but you’ll also discover new experiences that you can add to your life.

Conclusion

Becoming more spontaneous doesn’t mean that you need to stop making plans or thinking long-term.

You simply need to leave a little room for slight deviations and take action to do something differently each day. You’ll probably be glad you did!

This is particularly important if you are in a long-term relationship, where things can become boring and stale. That’s why I published a course on how to keep that spark alive.

So, while there are occasions in life when predictability is a good thing (e.g. in terms of safety), there are also times when unpredictability can be beneficial too, and I think that is best exemplified by one of my favourite cartoon strips, from Garfield. (If that link doesn’t work, try this archive link instead.)