This is a guest posting by Lise of Frugal in the Fruitlands. Her blog is a fantastic resource for plumping your wallet through inventive saving techniques. (subscribe to her feed here)

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Finding Flow suggests that we are happiest as humans when we pursue tasks that are challenging, but not so challenging that they discourage progress. This is a challenge when you consider that human beings also crave routine. Nothing is wrong with habit - but it can discourage the kind of supportive challenge that leads to flow experiences. In other words, if mental stimulation is lacking in your work or home life, it will be more difficult to bring new ideas to the table.

Nowhere is our craving for habit more apparent than in the morning, when we arrive–sometimes zombie-like!–to work, slurp down some caffeine, and try to make sense of our email and to-do list. Many people use caffeine to make the transition from slumped proto-human to functional worker, but here are some non-addictive ways to jumpstart your mental day:

Start your day with a puzzle. I freely admit stealing this from Trent of The Simple Dollar. Delve into your local paper; do the New York Times crossword puzzle, or check a puzzle book out of your local library. You don’t even need to opt for a dead-tree variety, either: pull up WebSudoku and pick a sufficiently challenging puzzle.

Work on your vocabulary. I recently spent several months studying for the GRE, including a solid vocabulary workout. If you wonder how knowing that taiga is an arctic forest will make you happier and more productive, consider this: English is a language that “runs down other languages in dark alleys and goes through their pocket for spare words,” and so the process of learning new words will teach you how to take words apart, attribute them to their source language, and learn a little bit about other cultures. You can pull out your old standardized test review books for this, or you can visit FreeRice.com, where you can “learn free vocabulary and give free rice.” Eradicating world hunger AND learning new words? That’s the kind of multi-tasking I like!

If you’re more of a contemplative, start your day with Poetry Daily. I enjoy reading the poem slowly, picking out phrases that catch my eye, and considering the meaning. If your only exposure to poetry has been high school English classes, then this resource will definitely broaden your horizons.

Learn a language while you commute. Audible.com has a good selection of language courses to purchase in audiobook format, but I wouldn’t be fit to run Frugal in the Fruitlands if I didn’t suggest that you try your local library or look for free language podcasts first. Natalia Worthington’s Spoonful of Russian is one that I enjoy, and is available free in the iTunes store.

Doodle. I wonder sometimes if my employers are offended by my doodling in meetings. I wish I could explain how it works for me - if all I have to do is listen (and not take notes), it’s actually really good for keeping me on target so that my mind doesn’t wander. It also seems to keep new ideas churning to the surface - something about doing something with my hands triggers a learning response. Maybe it’s a throwback to taking notes in high school and college.

When I was in college, I would start my day with Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast. There’s something about playing a fast-paced, highly reflex-based video/computer game to get the blood pumping in the morning. I don’t have a Wii, but I understand that that’s exactly what it’s good for. Hint: Don’t do this one at the office, unless maybe you work for Nintendo.

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