This is the story about the personality trait psychologists call openness. Like the name implies, openness is the tendency to seek out and enjoy new and unfamiliar things.
On the surface, openness sounds like nothing more than a personal preference. Some people have more, some people have less. So what? But a stack of studies from psychology and neuroscience links openness with a huge range of impressive benefits from increased intelligence, happiness, and creativity to slower aging.
Look at all this research and openness suddenly looks less like a nice-to-have extra and more like a mindset entrepreneurs might actively want to cultivate. And the good news, according to one Harvard happiness expert, is that there are simple steps you can take to nudge yourself towards greater openness and all its attendant benefits.
First, let me try to convince you why being more open to new things is a worthy goal. I could point you to ton of research such as,
This classic study of creative geniuses like author Truman Capote and poet William Carlos Williams, which found they all were super high in openness.
More recent science showing those who were high in openness when they were young seem to age more slowly, leading them to stay mentally sharp for longer.
Neuroscience studies revealing that the new and unpredictable lights up our brains' learning centers.
Research out of NYU finding that if you do something new and unfamiliar today, you're more likely to feel happier tomorrow.
But if you're not interested in clicking through to a variety of journal articles and news reports, here is the bottom line: Openness makes you more curious, playful, and exploratory, all of which can lead to bright ideas, quicker learning, greater joy, and more empathy. Seeking out novelty just makes life better for most of us.
Not all of us are wired to love the new, of course. Much of our preference around seeking out or avoiding novelty is wired into us from birth. If you are an "eat the same sandwich every day for 20 years" type of person, you will never magically transform into a thrill seeker. But while a big part of personality is genetic, science is also clear you can still consciously nudge your personality in new directions if you so choose.
There is also such a thing as too much openness. Those on the super high end of the novelty-seeking spectrum may be prone to dangerous risk-taking or problematic consumerism, as they continually chase shiny and exciting new things. But if that's you, you probably know it.
Even with these caveats, it's clear that most of us would benefit from injecting a bit more novelty into our lives. How can you nudge yourself towards a little more openness? Happily, Harvard professor and happiness researcher Arthur Brooks recently used his regular Atlantic column to offer a handful of easily actionable suggestions:
Reset your expectations. Most of us have known toddlers who loathe avocados or mushrooms one week and eat them with gusto the next. But it's not just little kids' tastes that change over time. Adults' do too. We just miss these shifts more often because no one is coaxing us with airplane noises to try new things again and again. "One common misconception is that our preferences are set in stone and there's no use trying to change them -- especially as we age and become grumpier about new things. The data don't support this assumption," says Brooks. Actively push back against any thoughts telling you you're too old or settled for something new.
Retry things you think you dislike. Once you've accepted you might like new things, it's time to nudge yourself to try them. "Take an inventory of the things you dislike and currently avoid. Then review your list, and try the things on it. Food is a good place to start. You can also try visiting places and engaging in activities that you'd normally spurn," recommends Brooks. Just because you hated opera or Ethiopian food five years ago doesn't mean it won't strike you profoundly differently now.
Choose curiosity over comfort. Another suggestion from Brooks is to "write up a list of new experiences and ideas you've yet to try, and explore one per week." These can be big or small, from picking up a book by a new author to adventuring to a new country. But consciously try not to order the same familiar dish or visit the same old vacation spot time after time.
Tech-savvy readers could even steal this Google engineer's idea to build a tool that scraped local entertainment listings and randomly assigned him to attend some new gathering or event in the area. A low-tech option might be asking friends to introduce you to something they like that you've never tried.
The options are only constrained by your creativity. You don't need special tools or a radical life overhaul. All you need is an understanding that novelty is like a vitamin. It's good for the human brain, yet many of us fall into a rut where we don't get enough of it.
The solution is to consciously nudge yourself towards a little more openness to new things and experiences. You should be rewarded with more happiness, health, and good ideas.