This is about the balance between being flexible and what I call “efficiently lazy.”

I have certain things that I prefer consistent. Where I leave my keys, where I park, the motions as I climb out of the car. When things are their norm I can run on “auto pilot” and let my feet do their thing until I am where my car should be before paying attention to where I am. This automatic behavior frees my mind to do its own thing.

So what happens when these patterns get interrupted? Those are those “character building” moments I heard about from my parents. This week I drove a different car than usual which was fine until I climbed in at the end of the day to go home. I had left the headlights on and the battery was fully drained. Fine. Until I did it again the next day. I decided I needed to interrupt what was beginning to develop into a pattern so I turned my headlights off several blocks early.

What about the flexibility side? Typically I listen to music and non-fiction on my MP3 player while I drive. Today my batteries were fully drained in my MP3 player. (Do you detect any patterns in my life yet?) Since I’m not a fan of listening to just road noise I turned on the radio. After reprogramming my presets (since the battery had drained and cleared them) I flip switched through the stations to which I always listen. On a whim I decided to check for an NPR station and tuned in just as a show was starting talking about the mind, body, and their connection — a topic that I find fascinating. (I’ll report back when I find and listen to the rest of the show.)

The moral of the story is that some patterns can be very useful while exercising your flexibility of behavior can often bring unexpected windfalls!
What patterns do you have that could use interrupting? Or establishing?