One Apple A Day #681 - practice boredom
My country is on full lockdown. People are confined within their houses, most businesses are closed or operating at reduced speed, kids are home from school. All the things with which we were used to filling up our days are no more available. I heard many friends talking about boredom and the struggle to find something to keep them and their loved ones, in particular children, engaged.
"The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom."
This quote comes from one of my favourite book of the last year; Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I think we all agree that practice is the way to achieve mastery in anything. A lot of practice.
The problem is that the more you practice something, the more it becomes boring. What was exciting at the beginning, after a while becomes a tedious routine. Our interest fades away, and we become easy prey for distractions.
Learning to deal with boredom can make the difference in becoming who we want to become.
That is why, as Clear says, "you have to fall in love with boredom."
Now we have this unique opportunity to practice boredom and learn to love it. Something that will probably make a significant difference in the new normality in which we will all live after this extraordinary situation.