Enduring The Road To Success: Beware Of Boredom!
Image courtesy of uomoelettrico
Last week in this series called, ‘Enduring The Road To Success’, we talked about ‘keeping your feet on the ground‘. This week we are going to focus our attention on the obstacles that lie ahead as we encounter, what I like to call, ‘The dangers of being a quick study’.
If you’ve ever checked out my ‘About Me‘ page you know that I’ve done just about every J-O-B known to man. OK, maybe not everyone, but A LOT! One of the common threads that you’d find if you were to follow me back in time, would be that of ‘boredom after 6 months’. I say six months because that’s about how long it takes to master most J-O-B’s. (Please don’t take offense to my use of J-O-B here. I’m just referring to many of the 9 to 5ers out there. I’m fully aware of the great number of jobs that require huge skill sets and dedication to master. I mean no disrespect.) After you have elevated your skills to a point where you could man the register or the phone or the customers or whatever, in your sleep, with both hands tied behind your back and only using 2% of your brain power (hold on, I need to catch my breath…OK, I’m good!), you will start to get seriously bored. And I’m not talking ‘looking at the clock every couple of hours, bored, but, “PLEASE, let me out of this place” (and it’s only 9:15am on a Monday) kind of bored.
Now these might sound a little extreme, but the fact is, if you are a quick learner and have any kind of initiative at work, you will quickly get to that place where you can choose to stop striving. In my consulting business that time comes and goes. It is certainly much more challenging than anything I had ever done in the past, and running a business keeps you on your toes with regularity, but even all of that can get quite boring as time goes on.
Just after tackling the unforeseen dangers of our previous summit, and right after coming out of our first valley, we are now feeling pretty confident. But this is exactly the problem. Our confidence, if handled improperly, will most certainly lead to boredom and then very quickly, complacency. And it’s complacency that will always bring us mediocrity. The problem is, we tend to seek comfort after all the previous struggles on this long road to success. Like any human being, the first signs of peace make us feel like we’ve ‘finally made it!’ But nothing could be further from the truth!
We need to translate the positive energy that comes from our newly found confidence, into the push we need to make it up our next mountain. But instead, our natural reaction is to start to strut our way along the road. We think, “I could do this in my sleep! I’m awesome!” And you may be awesome (the jury’s still out 
), but being awesome isn’t going to make you a success. Passionate persistence with a side of personality and people skills should be what you’re after. And this only comes in time and with experience. Because the passion and persistence I’m referring to will find it’s way as you get your battle scars and keep coming out stronger than before. A rookie’s optimism is only a small portion of the personality I am speaking of.
How to avoid the wrong kind of confidence as we face boredom.
- View your current skill set as only the tip of the iceberg. If you look at all the successful people in our lifetime and compare their ‘time of striving to improve’, you would likely see this time as open ended. It’s that drive to always look for a better way of doing things that reveals someone who is serious about maintaining momentum. We live in a go-go-go society and it is one that never stops. Those who stagnate in their skill set will most certainly be left behind. And the fact is, boredom stinks! If you want to continue to enjoy your work, it is essential that you keep moving forward in both your knowledge and appreciation for what you do.
- Keep your focus outward. One of the things that tends to occur as we become complacent is that of inward focus. Whether we are over confident, frustrated or just plain bored, it is our obsession with ourselves that can magnify these emotions. It is only when we keep our eyes outward and onward that we can maintain a healthy perspective on reaching the goals we strive for. And it is when we maintain this perspective that we can more easily see the next motion in need of mastery.
- Question your current path. I truly believe that each and every one of those jobs were essential in forming the skills I needed to move forward. But there came a time when that particular path had run out of road. We need to make sure that our current heading is still right for the success we seek. Because if our job has finished playing its part, we need to stop running in place and find the beginning of the next trail.
- Be the best at what you do! I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about saying to yourself, “Man, I really wish I weren’t so good at this!” Striving for excellence for the sake of being the best is something that will always keep you sharp and safe from the blisters of burning boredom. I’m not suggesting you waste your time trying to ‘one up’ everybody, but if you realize your great need to keep learning, keep your focus on the trail ahead, and are certain you are riding along the right road, you should feel confident in seeking your spot at the top of the list. Technically, there will always be somebody better than you, but playing a healthy game of, “I bet I can do it better”, will always keep you on your toes and off the path of mediocrity.
- Diversify your growth. Kind of like multitasking, but without the newly negative notion of ‘system slowdown‘, diversifying your growth can be a great way to keep the boredom at bay. If you are constantly focusing on one area of mental growth, you will find yourself quickly tiring of this tedious tyrant. Our minds crave many tastes and it is essential that we feed them a ‘balanced’ diet. Too much of any particular ‘food’ and we risk negative effects. Not only will you gain a wider range of knowledge, but the single skill in question will benefit from getting a break now and again.
The Bottom line is, human beings are active creatures with highly reactive minds. We constantly need things to react TO as we go about our days. If our ‘day jobs’ aren’t bringing us the stimulation we need to keep a positive pursuit of success, than we need to rethink our path. And if we know we’re on the right road, it’s time we take a good look at the method to our movement.
Please don’t miss next week as we go into the final leg of our race to success and talk about innovation and our constant need to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Note: ‘Dealing With A Catch-22‘ found its way into the next slot in the series and THEN the one mentioned above.
15 Responses to “Enduring The Road To Success: Beware Of Boredom!”
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Ok, the award for ‘best line in this post’ should go to this one:
“Passionate persistence with a side of personality and people skills” !!
I’ve been thinking a lot about this subject lately – boredom vs career path vs success and happiness etc., actually wrote a post yesterday with similar slant… I find for me personally, I’m not satisfied unless I’m challenged and pushing my limits. When I get to that spot where I’m saying “get me out of here!” (as in your 9:15 monday morning example), my personality actually changes. I go from being a generally positive, happy person to one who is more reserved, drained.
“Question your path” is quite a good tip. This is something we can continue to ask ourselves along the way, too – sometimes the best solution is to get out, and start afresh. This is what I did two years ago when I moved to the coast; while it was difficult logistically, it turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made.
Ross´s last blog post..Career paths vs happiness: which road are you on?
Man you said it buddy. With me, it is even the fact that I’ve mastered a job or subject; it’s that I seriously get bored with something unless it is my baby. And by “my baby,” I mean that is is my company or project.
I am simply NOT motivated to work for “the man.” I am sick and tired of being taught to take the easy way out. While going to UCLA, everyone around me was talking about being an accountant, consultant, and i-banker. I was in that exact frame of my as well and I wanted to be a consultant like now other. But when I entered the consulting world after graduating, it was no where near what I expected.
I felt under-utilized and I felt like I was doing grunt work. Is this what everyone has to go through? Do we all have to put in our do’s?
This is why the E-life is for me. Man… I think I wrote an unnecessarily long comment here. Your post was just so relevant to what I feel and teach.
Look forward to meeting up someday.
- Jun Loayza
Jun Loayza´s last blog post..Future Delivery TV: Episode 10 – Live your life like a hardcore gamer
Hi Eric, I think “Question your current path” is an important one. If you feel you learned a lot but there’s not much more in there, change direction. I haven’t done that a lot though, not because I perfectly know which way to go, but I feel I’m on the right way, and there’s a lot of growing potential in what I do.
Hugo´s last blog post..Use the Unschedule to Overcome Procrastination
“Be the best at what you do” is one of the things that keeps me going in my current role. I attempt client after client to give them my best. This motivation is the only thing that keeps me from the “It’s 9:01 get me out of here!”
By delivering excellent customer service and being efficient at what I do I overcome the boredom. It’s the interesting customer interactions that help me enjoy my day and assist in it going quickly.
Neil´s last blog post..Make Saving Automatic
Have you ever heard of the Peter Principle? It states that everyone will eventually rise to their own level of incompetence. I think there’s a variation of the principle that everyone will rise to their own level of boredom. Know when it’s coming and get ready to get out of Dodge.
Writer Dad´s last blog post..Happy Birthday, Pop
Boredom means break time for me. Sometimes we need to refresh (like a website) in order to be into it again. Especially in the creative field that I am in. Without the proper break time and rest, boredom will creep up and our quality of work with creep lower.
I also think boredom has a lot to do with our motivation. If it is money, or something other than passion, then boredom is inevitable. I like to tackle things with little to no expectations. I look for the things that I love to do, and somehow that leads to success. When I look for what I should do, or think I am supposed to do, then it usually leads to boredom.
Great addition to this wonderful series!
Peter James´s last blog post..The Incredible Problem-Solving Power of Intuition
Those are some very good points, Eric.
I think that questioning your path is probably the most valuable thing you can do in life. How else are you be able to steer yourself in the right direction? We need to do this frequently, not just when we find ourselves at a stop. By that time, you will need to make a great turn whereas if you had just checked your path a little earlier maybe you just had to lean a little on the steering wheel.
When you keep on track, the rest will follow to some extent.
Emma´s last blog post..Mule testicles, leeches, infanticide and wild carrot…
@Ross: Thanks! That line kind of slipped of my tongue onto the keyboard.
That’s funny that you mention the personality change. I’m the SAME way! I’m generally an easy going, happy person with a very positive attitude who like people. But put me into a work environment that doesn’t work with me and I start to feel like I’m crawling out of my skin. You could say my happy face turns into a frustrated frown.
@Jun: That’s why I started my own business and why I’ve been working so hard with my online pursuits. I just don’t have the same drive an enjoyment when I’m working on somebody else’s baby. Great point!
@Hugo: Heading in the right direction is always very important. It’s great to know you’re doing that right now!
@Neil: If more people treated their jobs like you, they would not only be more successful, but enjoy the time they spend grinding away. I’m glad to see your dedication to your work. Good for you!
@Sean: I’ve heard of it and I love the way you spin it! Excellent insight!
@Peter: Refreshing is very important. Great job in bringing that point up. A change of thought can really help keep the creative juices flowing.
@Emma: Great point, Emma! Being aware early on can allow us to most efficiently make the right transition when the time comes to make changes. Eric.
This is the story of my life … well, part of it anyway. I get so bored i literally want to scream and then I self-sabotage.
But it’s cool … it’s all fuel for the fire.
Seamus Anthony´s last blog post..The Personal Development Dilemma: Striving Vs Self-Acceptance
I agree that it’s difficult to become bored when you strive for excellence. Settling for average is where boredom lurks.
Hey Eric,
“Because if our job has finished playing its part, we need to stop running in place and find the beginning of the next trail.”
This is definitely a sound advice.
When we are dragging ourselves to work, that is the reminder for us to think about whether the work is contributing to our personal growth. Most probably it is not and it is time to search for an answer about what we really want to do and go ahead and do it.
Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger
Vincent´s last blog post..Product Review: Get Applause Now!
I’m seldom bored. Most certainly, I like your tip on “diversify your growth”. I think I’ve got far too many interests that I can possibly handle at this time. In fact, I find myself having to slow down, to allow myself a chance to explore things. I view life as a journey, with many new and exciting stuff waiting to be discovered.
Evelyn Lim´s last blog post..Law Of Attraction Quiz
@Seamus: Definitely fuel for the fire!
@Vered: “Settling for average is where boredom lurks.”
Exactly!
@Vincent: You’re definitely right about that. Not making the change when it becomes evident that change is needed is a recipe for boredom and stagnant success.
@Evelyn: I’m also seldom bored, but only because I intentionally keep my schedule full almost all of the time. And like you point out, sometimes we need to actually slow down to stay fresh and enjoy the journey. Thanks for sharing. Eric.
Great post and the comments are great, too. I hope all of you will come to my blog about BOREDOM and leave comments if there’s something that strikes you. I’m writing a book about boredom and saying a lot of these kinds of things and more. The famous books about Flow (see my post right below the current one) describe the place where you all are striving to go. Visit me and leave some comments. I’d love to quote some of you in the book, if you’ll give me permission. Please check out ThePowerOfBoredom.com
Letitia
Letitia Sweitzer´s last blog post..Tour Guide Has Overcome Boredom