Boredom
Boredom
Ever wonder why some people achieve greatness while others don't? The answer might surprise you - and bore you.
Boring is good.
Boring is right.
In our modern world, we've fallen into a "cult of busyness." We wear packed schedules like badges of honor, thinking constant activity equals productivity. This obsession with busyness is a problem. It leaves no room for valuable boredom and often leads to burnout. We fill every moment with stimulation, fearing stillness and viewing unstructured time as wasted time.
Ironically, this devotion to busyness often makes us less productive, not more. We mistake motion for progress, activity for achievement. In contrast, strategic boredom - those periods of deliberate stillness and repetitive tasks - can lead to greater creativity and productivity in the long run.
Exciting and fun things, with enough repetition, become boring. But boredom doesn't mean something doesn't work. Often, it's a signal that these are things we need to do more.
Think about it:
Eating healthy is boring.
Exercising is usually boring.
Homework is boring.
Working is often boring.
Jim Collins, the famous business thinker who wrote "Good to Great" and "Built to Last", once said, "mediocrity stems from chronic inconsistency."
Greatness stems from consistently doing boring things.
This consistency often involves repetitive, seemingly dull tasks. But research shows these 'boring' activities can lead to surprising benefits. A study published in the Academy of Management Discoveries found that boredom can spark individual productivity and creativity. People who did a boring task (sorting beans by color) later came up with more and better ideas than those who did something interesting first.
Boring things create stability, and stability is the foundation for growth and risk-taking:
You want a stable family to work on your career.
You need a stable mind to think creatively.
Most great things in life stem from boring things. To take more calculated risks, we need more stability.
Look at successful people:
Warren Buffett reads for hours each day.
Stephen King writes every single day, even holidays.
Bill Gates takes "Think Weeks" to just read and think.
These aren't exactly thrilling activities, but they've led to extraordinary success.
However, not all boredom leads to greatness. You don't want to be bored because you're not motivated to try.
Nothing can turn laziness into greatness. You want to be bored because you tried too hard, not because you don't bother to try at all.
Boredom only turns into greatness when you learn to appreciate and harness it.
Often when we want changes, we're trying to run away from reality. Reality is boring. But life is a series of trade-offs. When we run from one problem, we run into another. We need to learn to face our reality, embrace boredom and stillness.
With time, our boredom might turn into something good.
So next time you find yourself doing something repetitive or mundane, remember: you might be laying the groundwork for your next big breakthrough.
Boring isn't bad. It might just be the key to your success.
Be bored 80% of the time, so you can focus your energy on the other 20% of life.
This is a great read Cammi! It sort of reminds me of how people I know come up with their best writing ideas in the shower. Or it reminds me of the pomodoro method of studying in which you study for a period of time and then take a few minutes for a break in between and repeat. As a writer myself, doing it consistently can be boring, but if I keep doing it, plus I gain more self awareness from writing, it will yield great results. Thank you so much for sharing this! Your newsletter is awesome by the way! Just subscribed! :)
Woww.
To be successful in life, we need to embrace boredom.
One thing about boring activities is that we always to not feel like doing it.
We would want to satisfy our dopamine and the brain naturally tilts towards "interestingly brain-dead" activities.
But the beautiful thing is that we can rewire it.
How?
By engaging in boring activities. We time. The brain will get accustomed to it.