For Fresh Perspective Do It Backwards

One of the biggest benefits of vacation is the fresh perspective that it yields. Each time I leave the office for a week, I return with a fresh perspective on my life and all of its normal routines. I’ve often wondered if there was a way to bring the feeling of vacation-generated fresh perspective into my daily life without having to take a vacation first. Well the bad news is, that I don’t have a perfect answer yet.  The good news is that I’ve been experimenting with one simple way to shake up the daily routines:

Do things backwards.

That’s right.  Doing routines backwards.  Not everything, just the things that make sense. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to turn on your car first before unlocking it. However, there are plenty of routines that we go through in our daily lives.  In those moments most of us, if you’re like me, just drift through the moment like a pre-programmed machine – barely awake and hardly conscious of what we’re doing.  Here are a few routines that you too can practice doing backwards:

• The shower routine.  Do you wash your hair, then arms, belly, legs, and feet?  Mix it up.
• The whole morning routine – (breakfast, coffee, read the news, pack a lunch)
• Daily exercise routine
• Cleaning the house.
• Arriving at the office routine

If you want to start getting more creative you can step up the game:

• Sleep in your bed backwards (head where your feet normally go)
• Lay on your back underneath trees.  As I’ve gotten older I realize I don’t spend nearly enough time laying on my back in a field, underneath a tree.  Everytime I do I’m thankful.  There’s so much to look at from this view.
• Turn your head upside down and look at the horizon, a lake, or the ocean.  This helps you see how big the sky really is and how we normally block that out from our “that’s amazing” section of the brain.

I know some of these ideas seem silly and they are. In fact the whole idea is silly but by switching things up it’s forced me:

• To be mindful of my routines again.  Rather than drifting through the moments mindlessly it has made me think about each step in order to do it backwards.  Doing it backwards jostles me out of my rut.
• To look at the world for that moment with fresh eyes.  For example, on my daily walk in the woods, I actually see things from new angles when I walk my normal route backwards. In fact even though it’s the same terrain I barely recognize it.  I can’t help but think that’s a metaphor for the rest of our routines.

Next time you’re feeling the need of a vacation-generated fresh perspective try filling your day with backwards routines.  If nothing else it will make you appreciate routine!