In publishing, we use “Templates.” They are useful for formatting a boring technical manual, but they are the death of a great novel. If every chapter follows the exact same structure, the reader eventually falls asleep. Your life has templates, too. You have a “Morning Template,” a “Work Template,” and a “Weekend Template.” These routines are efficient, but they are also a form of mental sleepwalking. To feel alive, you have to occasionally break the formatting. 1. The “Small Pivot” Theory You don’t need to quit your job and move to a goat farm in Tuscany to change your narrative. In editing, a single word change can shift the entire…