My 3-year-old son has a routine of tidying up all his toys before bedtime (ok, it’s actually me who tidies up).

One night, I told him it’s bedtime. Time to go upstairs.

To my surprise, he picked up a few toys and laboriously carried them, walking carefully towards the first step of the staircase where I was waiting.

I stopped him and requested to leave the toys behind as there were already a few toys in the bedroom.

But his response froze me.

“It’s just an idea, daddy.”

Of course. Yes. Nothing’s wrong with it.

It’s common for adults to fall into the trap of being consistent, following the rules, and building good habits — and sticking with them to hit goals (thank you very much, productivity gurus).

Nothing’s wrong with that either. But the downside that almost no one talks about is, it prevents serendipity.

It’s a sad truth how adults’ minds can become frozen over time.

We just stick to what we know works. We don’t want to change things anymore. We become less creative and super boring.

We’re hesitant to try something new. Because if we do, we might make a mistake. And it might lead us to failure.

Is that true? Is that really the case? Or is it just our fears disguised as “trying to be safe”?

In reality, so many great things happen by accident.

Try or introduce something new in your routine once in a while.

Try to think like a kid who doesn’t follow the rules sometimes (as long as it’s not illegal). 🙂

See what happens.