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I was 25 years old when my wife and I got married. We honeymooned in Italy. It was the first time that either one of us had traveled overseas. It's been almost 20 years, but from the sights and smells to the sounds and textures, I remember almost every moment of that trip in vivid detail. I can still imagine the taste of the fresh olives, gelato and seafood.

My trip last year to Florida, on the other hand, is a bit of a blur. Some memories are clear, but I have a hard time distinguishing my 2019 spring break trip from prior ones.

On the surface, this situation seems odd. After all, one trip was 20 years ago, while the other was 11 months ago. So what's the difference? Why does one experience leave such an indelible mark in my memory?

It's likely due to the same reason that time seems to slow down when you're young and speed up as you get older. The novelty of an experience impacts how your brain perceives it.

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and author who studies how our brains perceive time. In an article in The New Yorker, he explains that our brains process familiar information quickly. But when new information is introduced, it takes our brains longer to organize and synthesize the data, making the experience more memorable, and time (appears to) slow down.

"This explains why we think that time speeds up when we grow older," Eagleman said. "Time is this rubbery thing." He adds, "It stretches out when you really turn your brain resources on, and when you say, 'Oh, I got this, everything is as expected,' it shrinks up."

In a similar vein, a concept called "proportionality theory" employs mathematics to explain this phenomenon, asserting that a year feels like it goes by faster when you're 40 than when you're 8 because it represents one-fortieth of your life rather than an eighth.

Don't Get Stuck in the Time Trap

As a young lawyer, you can easily fall into a rut of routine. One day blends into the next. Billable hour requirements start to reshape your perception of time from something as a resource you can use to engage in new and novel experiences to a commodity you're always running short on. There are fewer future milestones, like graduating from college and going to law school, or graduating from law school and getting a job, to look forward to.

If you're not careful, time will start moving so fast that the next decade of your life will become an indistinguishable blip marked only by fuzzy memories of late nights at the office.

We all have the same 24 hours in the day, but how we experience time is deeply individualized. When we break free of routine, and experience new and novel things, time seems to slow down. Joshua Foer, author of "Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything," writes: "Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it."

The Oddball Effect

A great deal of research has been done to try to explain why "new and novel" seems to slow down our interpretation of time. One study gave rise to what is known as the "oddball effect."

During the study, subjects were repeatedly shown images of a simple brown shoe. After the subjects were sufficiently accustomed to the routine and repetition of the same brown shoe image, an image of a flower was inserted into the image cycle. Despite the fact that the flower image was on screen for exactly the same amount of time as the shoe images, subjects perceived that it was displayed for far longer than it actually was. They became so conditioned to the shoe image that a novel image shocked their brains into a wholly different perception of time. Brown-shoe monotony made them hungry for change, and their brains latched onto a different experience that was introduced into the mix.

Most days at the office are brown-shoe days. However, if you're interested in living a life full of rich, colorful and memory-filled experiences, you need to find ways, both big and small, to break routines and introduce more novelty into your days.

As English poet William Cowper famously wrote: "Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour." It seems counterintuitive, because we work so hard to establish good routines, but breaking free of the very patterns that give our lives structure is what gives our lives "spice." While we may feel most comfortable when things are routine, we feel most alive when they are not.

I've been in your (brown) shoes before. I remember the monotony of endless, seemingly indistinguishable days at the office. I resigned myself to the idea that adulthood as a practicing lawyer was not a time to explore new hobbies, meet new people, and pursue new and novel experiences. And, thankfully, I realized the errors of my ways. Over the last five years, I've fundamentally changed many aspects of my life, and the perception of time has, indeed, slowed down. I wish I had come to this realization 20 years ago.

Some Ideas to Slow Things Down

Want to add more "new and novel" into your days? Here are a few ideas that you may want to consider.

Plan for spontaneity. On its face, the idea of planning for spontaneity sounds contradictory. However, it's necessary if you want to open yourself up to new experiences. Schedule a few open blocks of time for yourself each week and use the time to try something new.

Read great books. If you want to try new things, you need to open yourself up to new ideas. Fiction, nonfiction, history, biography—all kinds of books are chock full of explorations of the human experience. They're rich sources of inspiration for new and novel ways to get more out of life.

Switch up the small things. One of the reasons many of us have a hard time breaking free of our routines is that we aim too high. We want transformational change and immediate gratification. But change happens incrementally, not all at once. By focusing on making small changes—biking to work once a week, for example—we can create momentum for ourselves. After all, transformation happens one small change at a time.

Take vacations. According to a recent Vault survey, only 74% of law firm associates indicated that they felt comfortable taking vacations, despite the fact that vacations have been shown to reduce stress, increase productivity and improve sleep. The perception of time also slows down while on vacation, because you're introducing new stimuli, people and experiences into your routine.

Pursue outside interests. If you're going to enjoy your job enough to put in the long hours required to get ahead, then you need to have something to look forward to outside of the office to act as a counterbalance. In fact, outside interests aren't just helpful distractions from the rigors of work; they can help fuel a successful career. Humans are creatures of habit, and if your habit is work, then it will become harder to break the habit as you progress in your career. Find something outside of the office that you love and can't wait to get back to, which will lead you to become more efficient and effective with your time in the office.

Practicing law is a fast-paced endeavor. While we can't stop the passage of time, we can mold our perception of it. We can interrupt the patterns of our work and lives by introducing more novelty and new experiences into them, and create more memories and meaning as a result. Do something new every day. Look forward to something every day. Life is short, yes, but we have the ability to make it feel much longer.

Read more – Minds Over Matters: An Examination of Mental Health in the Legal Profession

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Jay Harrington is an executive coach and trainer for lawyers and law firms and is the author of the new book, "The Essential Associate: Step Up, Stand Out, and Rise to the Top as a Young Lawyer." He is the owner of Harrington Communications and is associated with Simier Partners. Contact him at [email protected].