To really become proficient in something, you will inevitably have to embrace boredom
Improvement requires behaviors to remain novel in order to maintain engangement, but no habit can stay truly interesting forever. At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom. We all have goals that we would like to achieve and dreams that we would like to fulfill, but it doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.
If you manage to start a habit and keep sticking to it, there will most definetely be days when you feel like quitting. But stepping up when it’s annoying or painful or draining to do so, that’s what makes the difference between a professional and an amateur. Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life. When a habit is truly important to you, you have to be willing to stick to it in any mood. Professionals take action even when the mood isn’t right. They might not enjoy it, but they find a way to put the reps. The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.
References
- Clear, James. (2018). Atomic Habits Chapter 19. The Goldilocks Rule How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work (Location 2942). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Self-improvement Status:☀️