This months theme: Novelty in the Local
Novel experiences don’t have to be large, expensive, or far away. We can start our search by sticking close to home.
“Novelty in the Local” is January 2026’s 30-day challenge for the Novelty Experiment
Finding novelty in the things already in your community can be an easy way to start shifting your mindset to search for novelty.
That could be your street, your city, your state, or your “third place” group. Novelty doesn't have to be large, expensive, or far-away, which is why we're starting with local. The opportunities to do things that are out of the norm are all around us.
When we're stuck in autopilot with the same commute, same routine, same weekend plans, we stop noticing the world around us. We stop being present. And when we're not present, we can't build the kind of community, connection, and joy that makes life feel full. Novelty isn't about collecting experiences. It's about practicing the skill of paying attention to your life.
That’s why January’s challenge is starting at home, where ever that is for you.
So let's start where you are. Week one of the challenge: Make a list of potential local novelty experiences you can try at some point in January.
There are lots of ways that we can search for a novel experience in our local communities:
Look at local newspapers or publishing sites
Tourism boards (most towns and cities have event calendars)
Search the name of your city or area into a social media search bar and see which account populate who are already offering ideas of things to do
Ask someone. It could be a friend, barista, bartender, server, shop owner… anyone might have something to share.
But it can be even more simple. You can also decide to make a list of things you do all the time, and ideate on how to make it something new, unusual, or interesting. Here’s a couple examples:
Go on daily walks? Try doing a novel thing on your walk like picking a color to look for the entire time and counting how many things you see with that color.
Daily commute? Ask a friend for a podcast episode that they particularly loved, or an album they secretly are obsessed with and listen to it on your way to and from. Or don’t listen to anything and see where your mind goes.
Cooking meals? Pick a random ingredient at the store that you’ve never cooked with/seen before and experiment with it once you get home, trying to make something with it.
Novelty is about intention as much as it is about what you do. There’s more than enough interesting things that can be done in your local community, if you’re looking for it.
What are you thinking about doing? Is there something interesting that immediately comes to mind?
Talk soon,
Rachel
Leadership trainer, novelty junkie, and human being
P.s. Do you want to hear more about what exactly this novelty experiment is? Check out this post and read more in-depth about the Novelty Experiment.
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