I often feel like I get into a bit of a slump with my performance shorties. I feel that I'm able to reset my surfing, when i jump on something very different than the standard 5.10 ish, 19 1/4 ish, 2 9/16 ish 3 fin board.
If I just mix it up with variations of the "ish" above it does not yield the same result as surfing my Rasta Torus twin for example, in conditions you'd not usually associate with such a board.
I used to do the same thing when I used to race downhill mountainbikes. The DH bike is like a sofa and you can trust it to grip for days, and get you over sh!t you're not supposed to ride out of. When I used to get into a bit of a slump where I feel slow, I'd whip our the hardtail and ride the same gnarly tracks to tune up my base skills, instead of relying on all that suspension to do my work for me. I think the same applies to surfing.