“I shall defeat all my enemies with my superpower of being insanely boring!” That statement might be a bit of a stretch. I don’t have many enemies to defeat. I however do spend time cultivating this superpower of being boring. I become more happy all the time to just do boring things. What do I gain when I embrace being boring?
Through boredom I can gain needed repetitions and consistency in all things. Doing the same thing over and over is boring. It is also the path to mastery. I wonder if someone can’t handle a dose of boredom then can they ever become masterful at something? In the past when I have lacked mastery, I have lacked the repetitions needed to gain that mastery. I do feel like being willing to be bored allows you do some extra repetitions of whatever you’re doing. This can be true for learning and mastery but also for execution. Once you know what works and have a proven process, shouldn’t you keep repeating that endlessly? How many businesses fail because the owner just quits doing the things that lead to success? How often is this is due to boredom? On some level I should never be bored doing the things that lead to success. Boredom will still be there, but it is something I know I can endure. Boredom is not the enemy.
Boredom is not the enemy, in fact boredom can be a great ally. Through boredom I can gain space to think. A lot of good thinking is done on long walks or long drives. I think this is partially because they are boring. These things can quiet your mind enough to allow you to have ideas come to you. I don’t know the mechanisms behind this, but I know it works. Have you had more good ideas come to you randomly or when you were trying to think? For me that answer is definitely at random times. The mind can only work on so many things at once, being bored quiets the mind to allow it work in the background on any number of things you have given it.
Since the mind can only work on so many things at one time, boredom can be a way to be more intentional about the things we have to think about. By being boring in my everyday life, I don’t have to think about things. I have autopiloted so many things in my life, which is boring. I eat the same things for breakfast and lunch every day. I wear the same clothes all the time. I work from a library that is rather boring. I don’t put energy into these things so that I can put that energy into things that actually matter. This all works to put my mind into the best state possible for productivity.
Some of the best things I have accomplished in my life have been through being boring. Graduating from college was boring, but I just kept showing up to class and doing the work. There were many things that didn’t interest me, but I didn’t let these things being boring stop me. I have written a book in the last year, well its kind of almost done. There is still editing to do, but it has been super boring. I barely like to edit my writing once, but I have made many editing passes on this book. It can be extremely boring. I don’t mind being bored though, because it is getting me to the point of having accomplished some cool things.
Doing boring things might not be the chief reason for these and other successes. I do think it’s a contributing factor. Embracing repetitions and freeing my mind can’t be a bad thing. I don’t know that I purposely seek out doing boring things. I want novel and exciting things in my life too. Boredom though is not an excuse to me anymore. Boredom is not a reason for me to avoid doing something. Boredom is not a reason to quit doing something. I am finding myself having a better relationship with all that is boring. It has grown my patience. It has helped me finish doing hard things.
How we think about boredom is a step in combatting boredom. It is not a bad thing, it is just a thing. In the end I must make the decisions I make. I must not allow boredom to make decisions, because those are not good decisions. Boredom is just a thing, and I can’t say that it is likely a very important thing.