How Novelty Can Unlock Your Potential

Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthy and live a long life, while experiencing a short one….Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives. –Joshua Foer “Moonwalking with Einstein”

Travel changes routines. You’re not at home with all of your stuff and your daily habits and routines change. Your days look different. Maybe you eat different food, get up at a different time, do different activities. A new location invites novelty. Being in a new environment can make us think of new possibilities and new ways of doing things. 

Psychologist Jordan Peterson states that when we’re in new situations new genes code for new proteins and build new neural structures and new nervous system structures (1). Similar to how our muscles adapt to the stress we place on them with weight training. You will unlock your potential and acquire new skills when you experience new things or do things you’re uncomfortable with.

It’s exciting to think that going into unchartered territory reveals more about ourselves but we must find ways to step outside of our comfort zone and put ourselves in new situations.

Here are 3 things you can do to get outside of your comfort zone:

1. Talk to strangers. This is a good goal for introverts. Ask a question to the person serving your coffee, give a compliment to the person loading groceries into your car. Find ways of starting conversations with strangers.
2. Try something new. A new restaurant, a new food, a new meetup group a new hike. If it feels a little uncomfortable and you find yourself making excuses not to do it, it’s a sign you should do it.
3. Learn something new. Find and learn a new app for your phone, learn how to post a story on Instagram. Find something small to learn and bask in the satisfaction that you were able to learn something new.

We won’t always have coaches and mentors to push us and help us realize our full potential so it’s up to us to challenge and stretch ourselves. Document your experience trying new things and see how it changes the perception of yourself and what new things you discover about yourself.

(1) Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson podcast episode #1208