This past weekend my family celebrated our 100th geocache! If you’re not familiar with geocaching, it’s essentially a real-world scavenger hunt that is web-based. Using an app on your phone that works via GPS, you can go on a scavenger hunt from literally anywhere you are in the world. My family has done this on our travels across the country and as well around the world. My wife and I have done it together but it is also something we really enjoy doing as a family with our 12 and 3-year-old children, as well as our family dog. We follow the directions (via the app) on our phone to find cool and unique treasures.
What has also been great about it is that not just the fact that it has brought my family together, or just because its something fun to do on the weekend, but it is something that gets you out of your normal routine. Something unique and funny about geocaching is that it has lead us to look for geocaches in cool places we never would have gone. It has taken us to local parks, woods or forests we had not explored, even unfamiliar towns and cities – places we probably would not have found otherwise.
Geocaching has forced us out of a routine and allowed us to get always from things and get a fresh perspective. It has also allowed us to live more mindfully because you have to pay attention to your surroundings and not distracted by other things. It has been a great reminder to have an awareness of where you’re at and what you see, what you smell and where it leads you.
Once you have found your treasure there is the experience of great joy in solving the puzzle. That is when I also find myself allowing my mind to wander a bit and I start to think a bit more freely again.
There is a book that I have mentioned before called The Artist’s Way At Work, and one of the things it talks about is called an ‘artists date’ as a way to unleash your creativity. Basically you have a date with yourself, where you go out and visit a park, church, museum, etc., someplace that is outside of our normal routine where you can experience something new. Something I have discovered is that some of the coolest things that I have done professionally and personally over the last few years have been the result of these artist days because they have were outside my norm and my routine.
The name of my blog, Market Misbehavior, came to me while I was out walking my dog. We have a long walk around our house in Cleveland and the name came to me when I chose to go in a new direction one day. Starting my YouTube channel, my content on Twitter, ways I have changed my personal and professional business decisions I have made, all have come from these artist days.
While I am not going to send you out geocaching, I want to challenge you to think of something you can do this week that is outside of your normal routine. Take an afternoon walk in a new direction, check out a new museum or library, and see where your mind goes. Find something totally new that you can do this week to shake up your routine and see where your mind goes. Hopefully what you’ll find is you will dig into some creative parts of your brain that may not have been active because it has been caught in your routine. As investors, routines are such a good thing, however, you need to remember to have time to review your routines and find inspirations to upgrade them.
RR#6,
Dave
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