Routines are the worst. That’s right. I said it. Why? Because I am a human and I can say things. Oh, sorry, why did I say that first thing? Because doing the same thing over and over is boring, repetitive, and eventually no longer productive. When you first did that thing, maybe it was a sketch show or a stand-up joke, it was great. That’s because it was new and fresh. You found it exciting and you were eager to share it with people who wanted to hear it. Then you did it 50-100 times. The excitement and passion you had in the beginning has faded. It got boring.

It’s important to start over or start fresh sometimes. If you want to push yourself as a performer or a writer, you need to change it up. If you’re an actor, doing the same thing over and over, will most likely get you typecasted. Sometimes that can work in your favor (we need a guy who does physical comedy) or in your detriment (he just throws his body around the stage). By changing it up, you are constantly challenging yourself and telling the world, “Hey I’ve got more ideas than that one thing I showed you I’m good at.” You need to be a mover and a shaker. Here are 3 tips on how to successfully break your routine so that you can keep challenging yourself on a consistent basis:

Recognize it.
The best course of action is to recognize what you’ve been doing, how long you’ve been doing it, and to…stop doing it. If the routine has been going on for a while, try doing something different. This pretty much applies to everything in life. If you haven’t picked up a book in the past year then pick up a book and read something for God’s sakes. Like Amy Poehler’s new book “Yes, Please” which is great. Let’s say, for example, you’re an improviser and you’ve found that for the last 6 months you’ve consistently played straight-man characters every show. Then for your next show plan to play a wild outlandish character. I don’t mean PLAN in the sense that you have a character monologue and you walk out during an improv scene and steamroll everyone as Anastasios Papagologis, The Pastry King. (This is my wheelhouse character and I’m only using it as an example for this article. Don’t get any ideas!) As I was saying, no, don’t plan, instead, just know that at some point during that show you’re going to do something unlike what you’ve done before character-wise. That could be anything from a new physicality to a voice. Sames goes for the contrary, if you’ve played ridiculous characters all year, take a step back and play it straight. If you never do object work then start the scene holding, grabbing, or touching something. If you’re a writer and you’ve only written satirical jokes for the past 4 months, try writing something new like non-fiction or a short story. Change is good. Change is your friend. Changes opens the door for more creativity.

Throw it away.
Literally take what you have been doing and throw it in the trash. If it’s a page in a notebook, tear it out and throw it away or turn the page and literally write ‘new routine’ on. If it’s something you refer to such as an online document, create a new folder entitled OLD, and drag the document into it. The physical act of moving it from one place to another or throwing it away is key. That act is in itself refreshing. It’s like throwing an ex’s stuff they left in your place in the dumpster. Out with the old and in with the new. Make room in the cupboards for creativity by throwing away the reserves you’ve been relying on to get by.

Write something new everyday. That might seem daunting, but it’s not. I said write something. That means anything whatsoever. It can be a brief summary of your day or an idea that pops into your head on your commute to and fro. There is no limit and there is no restriction. If you’re not ready to jump into 3 mandatory pages a day as prescribed by The Artist’s Way then write whatever you can. But, it has to be every single day. You can either buy a notebook and literally write or draw in it, use the note-taking app on your phone, or download other cloud-based note-taking apps like Evernote, Google Keep or Google Drive so you always have them backed up and stored. With those apps, you won’t have to worry about losing all your ideas if you lose your phone or your notebook. The constant act of writing everyday will eventually get you into the habit of having new material to draw from. You’re probably thinking, wait a minute, isn’t that a routine? Well, smarty pants, yes it is. However, it’s a good routine to help you break out of your bad routine. In addition it’s something NEW you haven’t been doing already. Think of it as a routine to generate new material rather than a routine that stalls your creativity. Sure, 90% of what you write each day might be garbage, but that other 10% is gold and you better mine it like it’s 1848.

In the end, the goal is to continuously challenge yourself. Not only as a performer, but as a person. Routines can be good, but they can also stall us and leave us too comfortable to be productive again. Doing the same thing over and over is soul-sucking and exhausting, but starting something new can be exciting and rewarding. Now, if you’ll excuse me, back to writing my Anastasios Papagologis, The Pastry King, monologue.

Ryan Nallen is a writer and performer in Chicago. He is a graduate of iO, Second City Conservatory, and the Annoyance. He plays with his independent team Risky on the Rocks, with the Harold team Denver at iO Chicago, and with the Incubator team Desperado at The Playground Theater. He is an Associate Producer for Big Little Comedy, on the Marketing Committee at the Playground, and a Midwest Representative for the National Improv Network. You can also follow his online ramblings at @TheRyanNallen.