People are very much creatures of habit, we feel comfortable doing the same type of thing in the same type of way. This can be good; it's efficient and reduces the need to think about everything, a kind of human autopilot. It's also numbing, you can easily be left behind while the world changes around you.

To mitigate this, I like to intentionally introduce what I call jitter to some decisions; that is to say, if I become aware that I'm doing something only because I always have, or if I just feel like it then I'll change it slightly, the vast majority of the time the outcome is identical.

I was reminded of this recently while out walking. I was walking along a street which I had walked many times before, this time it was a particularly hot day and crossed to the other side of the street to be in the shade. In doing so, I noticed a side street which I had never even noticed before and turned off. It turned out to be a much nicer way to walk than the intended route. A small change led to new options which I had become numb to.