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Is a Fear of Being Bored Holding You Back?
Acknowledging the aversion can help you finally pursue mastery
We say things like “enjoy the process” and “it’s all about the journey” and “consistency is key.”
I agree with those statements. The journey of growth and learning is so important to me.
But there’s something else we need to add to the mix: accepting boredom.
James Clear first introduced me to the idea while I was training for a half-marathon a couple of years back. I was putting in the kilometres and listening to Atomic Habits. Being okay with being bored was the message I needed to get through training.
Then Covid hit. I stopped training, and the concept faded.
I constantly talk about wanting to play Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu on the keyboard. A famous, difficult piece. You can’t master it without dedicated hours of practice. And yet there I was, playing for a couple of bars and then reaching for my phone as soon it got boring.
After realising that my attention had been diverted for the tenth or twentieth time and feeling a familiar surge of self-critical frustration, the light bulb went off.
At even the first hint of boredom, my attention would bounce.
No wonder I wasn’t making any progress.
I realised that my dislike of boredom was holding me back other things in my life, too. I oscillate between excitement and procrastination, and I always thought my obstacles stemmed from deep, personal fears. In that light bulb moment, I realised it was also because I was afraid of being bored.
What happened when I accepted the possibility of boredom
As I started to accept the idea that I might be bored while I did the piano practice I needed to do, I realised that in actuality I wasn’t bored.
I just thought I was.
Doing work on goals that are deeply meaningful to us is altogether different from being bored. It might not be exciting — and there is the trick our minds try and play — but there is a satisfaction that sits in my soul when I play the piano and make progress on a challenging…
