The story is told of a professor who stumbled upon a revelation.  He was buttoning his vest one day when he discovered that some wouldn’t button.  It turns out that his young daughter had sewn up some of the buttonholes.  His fingers were doing the usual motions of buttoning until he ran into one he couldn’t button.  Then everything stopped.  He had to actually use his mind to recognize the problem.

As long as his fingers could go through the routine actions, there was no need to think.  Have you noticed any tasks like that – maybe riding a bike, typing on a keyboard or driving home from work?  It’s like your brain is on autopilot and you don’t even remember doing it.

This professor experimented with his students to prove what he had discovered.  He found that when the students could continue doing what they had always done in the same way they had always done it, their minds experienced minimal use.  However, when he “sewed up their buttonholes” by upsetting their routine, then they would think creatively to resolve the issue.

What routines can you change in your life that will trigger your creative mind?  Sew up some buttonholes so you can live! . . . your life to the fullest.