Bored? Boring? Try choosing what you do this weekend not on the basis of what you want to do or what makes sense, but by how much fun it will be to tell as a story later. I call it the “story-ability” factor. Factoring story-ability into your decision-making every once in awhile makes for a better life. The next time someone invites you to go to a bigfoot believer convention, go! Someone wants you to cover their shift as a clown at a charity event? Of course!

Now, the key to this is to end up with a fun story. You have to choose something that even if the actual event is a dud the simple fact that you did it will be interesting. Doing something new and fresh will make you use different parts of your brain and give you something to talk about.

Avoid doing something that will result in a bad story. (Choose things with a high storyability factor and a low drama factor.) Don’t pick up hitchhikers, rob a bank with an old high school buddy or say yes to someone who asks you if you want to see a dead body.

But, when a neighbor asks if you’d like see his collection of Charlie Chaplin memorabilia or go with him to get lunch at a restaurant where the waitresses dress like characters from the Wizard of Oz, say yes. Be forewarned, once you start saying yes to these opportunities, they will start coming more often and you will find yourself agreeing to do more and more them. New and interesting experiences can become addictive.

What am I doing today? Reading The Cat in the Hat to 350 grade school kids while wearing a crazy striped hat. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I have to follow a fire chief in full uniform.