Do it the annoying way, once a week

Given a free choice, people reliably pick the option that asks less of the brain, even when they haven't noticed the difference. Evidence: decent Not because thinking burns much fuel; hard thinking adds only a few per cent to the brain's energy use. The brain avoids effort because effort has costs and risks, and it has learned to route around it. Evidence: decent

Left alone, that routing shrinks your week down to the familiar. Choosing the annoying way once is a small, deliberate act of not letting it. Untested as a habit, cheap to try. Evidence: worth trying

The new route home is the classic. Satnav off.