Years ago I heard two American training experts explain that it’s easy for us to get into a rut, to be on auto pilot, without realising. They went on to say that one of the ways to change your thinking is to change the things that you do without thinking – the mundane everyday autopilot things. If you change those you’ll snap off the autopilot and freshen up your brain and create huge leverage by changing the major things in your life too.

They gave some suggestions on what you can do to change your everyday activities which will get you out of the thinking rut and create a switched on brain that is alive and capable of both creating and acting on new ideas.

• Once or twice a week get out of bed on the other side.
• Once or twice a week clean your teeth holding the toothbrush in the other hand.
• Open up your wardrobe and throw out all the clothes you’re waiting to come back into size or fashion.
• Every couple of months re-arrange the furniture in your bedroom.
• Take that drawer of stuff you’re keeping “just in case” and throw it in the rubbish.
• Take a different route to work every few days.
• Change what you listen to in the car.

And there’s some great news! Here’s another one to add to the list. Having a messy desk also helps creativity! As a perennial messy desk man that’s music to my ears.

So there they are. Some great ideas that can change the way you think and, as a consequence, the results you will achieve. Use them and mine the magic of your brain

By the way I give credit for these ideas to those two American training experts and wish I could remember their names.