The Gift of Boredom

It strikes all of us no matter how busy or engaged we might seem. At some point it shows up...we're bored. Bored isn't the same as tired and needing a break. Those are intentional pauses we take to re-energize. Boredom is the opposite...a reactive mental state of being unchallenged. We have a space to fill, capacity to do more.  Some people are bored more often than others. Beyond being busy (some busy is actually an extension of boredom to make us feel like we are being productive), those which seldom face boredom are usually more deeply committed to something, have a clear purpose, and are grounded in solid habits of forward motion. They're committed to doing the work necessary to achieve the change they seek to make. Bored isn't part of their program. There's simply no room for it. But, even for those people, this form of resistance occasionally shows up. 

Here's a tip...deal with boredom before it shows up. Decide now. Choose to act towards something when the resistance of doing nothing appears. The action might be to take a break. But, it might also be to dive into something more deeply, to solve a problem which has been put off, or to create a new problem to solve. This, like all habits, take practice. It's easier to click on the next Seinfeld episode or open Instagram. This is what the resistance wants us to do. The habit we need to form is to do something else instead.

What we do when we're bored is a choice. We can settle. Or, we can treat it as a gift, an opportunity to make headway, perhaps in a new direction. Choose wisely.

Tediousness

...is the enemy of the habit.

The interesting part of starting something new is that it's new. The excitement we feel with a new endeavor, even if it's physically or mentally hard, is the fuel we need to keep us coming back. Once the new wears off however, boring and tedious take its place. It becomes work...a slog. The best time to rationalize our way out of a habit is during the slog because hanging right over there, in plain view, is the excitement of something new, something different, something more interesting. Something seemingly more worth doing.

There are two ways to deal with the tediousness of work. Make it ever more interesting, which is almost impossible to do. Or, bring the slog forward. Determine up front what we'll do when we reach the point of being bored. This is the hard part of work. Not necessarily the work itself. But, the enduring nature of it...the sameness. We need to decide if the slog is worth it, before we start. Then, we can decide whether to start in the first place.

What would happen if we stopped our work? What would happen if the sum of our habits, the work, was left incomplete? Would it be missed? The paradox is we can't be certain of the answers until we've started...and endured the tedious slog. And then, we need to remind ourselves why we already decided to keep going.

Happy New Habit season. Choose wisely.