Life can become boring and tedious if we find ourselves doing the same things over and over again. Common activities that we normally find fun and enjoyable can become lackluster if we do them too frequently and never try to add a twist to them. You don’t have to jump out of an airplane or scour the globe for new ideas – just use a little imagination.

A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin may have cracked the code when it comes to how we can make ordinary experiences more fun and enjoyable.

In 3 different studies, researchers demonstrated that doing an old activity in a new way may be the key to spicing up your life more and making any activity more engaging and entertaining.

In one study, they found that people enjoyed popcorn more (rating it as more tasty, flavorful, and fun to eat) when they used chopsticks rather than their hands. In a second study, drinking water was rated as more enjoyable when people drank it in unconventional ways, like out of a martini glass or lapping at the water like a dog or cat. In a third study, people watched a video of a motorcycle ride from the driver’s perspective. Those who watched the video with head goggles on rated the video as more exciting and enjoyable.

In each study, researchers discovered that those who did the activity in a unique and unconventional way reported the experience as more fun and enjoyable compared to people that did the activity normally.

The main lesson we can learn from this research is to be more creative and unconventional with our daily activities (and try doing them in brand new ways). By putting a unique twist on a common activity, we can make even simple and mundane tasks more enjoyable and engaging.

We can apply this to almost every part of everyday life: enjoying food more, keeping our relationships exciting, making work more fun, or just squeezing more happiness out of everyday life in general.

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