The Power Of The Mundane

Great accomplishments happen only after doing an activity so many times that you get bored of it. You'll get so bored of it that you might want to throw up if you keep doing it. But once you get to that point, you know that you're on the right track. Why? Because if you start getting bored of it, that shows you're being consistent with an activity. Consistency, at the very least, leads to maintenance. At the very best, it will lead to progress.

Brushing your teeth isn't exciting -- well, at least not for me anyway. Brushing your teeth everyday won't make your teeth stronger or healthier. Consistent brushing just enables you to keep your teeth. Brushing your teeth in this case would only lead to maintenance: as long as you brush, you will maintain your teeth.

Exercising, on the other hand, can lead to progression if you keep doing it. Now, coming to exercise classes and doing the same thing over and over would simply lead to maintenance. But the good thing about exercise is that you can make it harder, which means you would get better results. For example, if you've been doing squats with no weights for the longest time, you would at least keep your legs in shape. But once you add weight, then the squats would become harder and you will get stronger and more muscular legs. You're still doing the same ol' squats, but this time, you're making the squats more effective.

But whether you want to maintain or to progress, you still have to continue your activity even if you get bored of it. 

Let's say that you stop brushing your teeth. It won't take long to see the consequences! First, the breath starts to stink. Second, food will build up around your teeth. Third, you'll start getting plaque. Fourth, you'll get tartar. Fifth, you'll get decay. If you continue to not brush your teeth, your teeth would just rot out, leading to all sorts of oral infections. Brushing your teeth is a mindless, boring activity, but once you stop doing it, the consequences would be disastrous!

Or take squatting. Let's say that you got bored of it and just stopped. Well, first your knees would start hurting. Then you'll gain weight, then the legs would lose strength, and eventually you'll develop arthritis in all the joints of your legs and hips. Then the simple action of sitting on the toilet or walking up a few steps would be a nightmare!

Yes, the activity might get boring, but at least you'll maintain what you've worked for. If you stop doing what you're doing because you got bored, then you could quickly destroy what you've worked so hard for.

Boredom shouldn't be in our vocabulary. In fact, I've forbidden my children to use the word "bored" or "boring." My son, like a typical child, picked up a new word and started using it over and over again. What was this new word? Boring. He even changed the words to the song: "It's Raining, It's Pouring." Instead of, "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring," he would sing, "It's raining, it's pouring, everything is boring."

Getting aggravated, I told him that smart kids don't get bored. Smart kids always find something to do. In fact, I have never used that word around my kids, because I always find things to do. So, I forbade both him and my daughter from using that word "boring" again. As harsh as it sounds, if you don't want to feel stupid, find something to do instead of lazing around staring into space.

But here's the thing about getting bored: you would just simply stop what you're doing, even if what you're doing is helping you. Again, brushing your teeth is boring. It's a very mundane activity. Getting in the shower, cooking food, cleaning the house, and going to work could all be so horribly boring that you just feel like puking at the thought of doing them. But here's the question: are these activities helping you maintain what you have? If they don't at least help you maintain, then you need to stop doing them simply because the activities are useless, not because they're boring.

Learning a new language could be extremely boring! But guess what? The more you do it, the better you'll get at it. Pretty soon, you'll be able to speak one language to one person and quickly speak another language to a different person without thinking about it. That's what mundane activities do for you: they not only help you maintain your skills, but they would help strengthen your skills.

You need to stop thinking that everything needs to be exciting. This is how children think: everything needs to be fun, and if it's not fun, then they don't want to do it. You can't function that way when you're an adult. Whether it's fun or not is not as important as if it actually helps you.

Most things in life will not be exciting. For the most part, you'll spend your life doing mundane activities. But you need to stop looking at your activities as fun or boring: look at them as either helpful or destructive. If what you're doing isn't building you up or at least keeping you together, then it's tearing you down.

I give my children math work almost everyday, and it's usually the same stuff. It could get pretty boring. But you know what? My kids are finishing their work faster and faster. My fourth-grade daughter is now doing basic level algebra, while my second-grade son is doing long division. I don't concentrate on making school fun. I focus on being repetitive. Sometimes school could be fun, but most of the time it would be mundane. It could wear out a teacher trying to make everything fun, and trying to make everything fun simply teaches kids that they only need to engage if an activity is fun.

Let me tell you, having fun all the time would eventually get mundane. Don't focus on what's fun or not fun. Don't look at your work or any activity that you do as either exciting or boring. If it helps you maintain, then it's good work. If it builds you up, it's good work. Who cares if it's exciting? I don't get excited for brushing my teeth, but believe me, I appreciate that I still have my teeth!

You may get bored of your job, but I'm sure you appreciate coming home and not seeing a padlock on the door with an eviction notice from the sheriff's office! You're able to get inside your house because you got a boring job that's enabling you to pay your rent or mortgage. 

Before you decide to quit because of boredom, ask yourself what would be the consequences. Also, how quickly would those consequences happen.