Cultivate a childlike curiosity and sense of fun by taking breaks from daily obligations and responsibilities, as playfulness is a huge part of leading a psychologically rich life and can protect against burnout.
Actively seek and be open to random moments and spontaneous encounters, as they are a springboard for interesting experiences and psychological richness, even if it means being a little pushy and accepting rejections.
Expand your horizons and experience different lives vicariously by immersing yourself in novels, movies, art, and other aesthetic experiences, which allows for mental transportation and dramatic emotional experiences hard to achieve in person.
Introduce variety into your daily life by exploring new things, such as changing your commute, getting lost in a new town, or simply taking a different route, embracing the mindset of letting yourself go and deviating from schedules when possible.
Reframe disappointments, setbacks, and even everyday failures as opportunities for psychological richness by learning from them, identifying positive lessons, and seeing how they change your perspective, ultimately adding texture to your life story.
Cultivate a ‘richness mindset’ to become less afraid of negative emotions or events, accepting them and learning from them to avoid rumination and depression, and becoming more adventurous.
Embrace uncertainty and unpredictability as inherent parts of life, as this attitude maximizes the possibility of adding psychological richness to your experiences and prevents rumination when things don’t go perfectly.
Resist the urge to over-schedule every aspect of your life, as this deprives you of spontaneous encounters, conversations, and readings that are crucial for psychological richness.
Keep your curiosity wide open and avoid specializing too early, as an open mindset allows you to find interesting connections, prevents burnout, and fosters major discoveries in professional arenas.
Avoid the cultural pressure to always feel and express happiness, especially when not genuinely happy, to prevent rumination and potential depression, and to naturally accept minor bumps in life.
Do not equate happiness with success, as this mindset can lead to feeling like a failure when not happy, which is an unfortunate and dangerous trap that fosters rumination.
When seeking a meaningful life, avoid focusing too narrowly on the well-being of only close others, as this can lead to antagonism towards out-group members and limit your impact.
If hesitant to try completely new things, delve deeper into your favorite familiar objects, music, literature, or even conversations with familiar people to discover new aspects and enrich your experience.
Seek out friends who are open to new experiences and will encourage you to try unfamiliar things, as they can be a conduit to psychological richness by dragging you to interesting experiences.
If you have friends who suggest new activities, be agreeable and try them, even if you wouldn’t initiate them yourself, to expand your experiences and foster psychological richness.
Introduce novelty into your routine by changing your commute; drive through different neighborhoods or get off the train at an unfamiliar stop to explore, even with a packed schedule.
Actively try to construe something positive or identify a lesson learned from everyday failures and negative events, as this adds texture and enriches your life by changing your perspective.
Adversity can reveal unexpected pro-social and altruistic behaviors in others, leading to a regained sense of confidence in humanity, which contributes to psychological richness.