This boring exercise is making my life extraordinary

The Boring Tax.

As a kid, I hated being bored.

I’d do anything to avoid it. Including seeing how high I could pee while pooping on the toilet. Explains a lot, right Mom?

I’ve gotten slightly more sophisticated in my ability to evade boredom, thankfully. All of us have. It’s expected to avoid it, even in public. It’s normal. That’s when I realized a harsh reality. Let me know if you think this is true or not. If it’s true, as I believe it is, we have some uncomfortable decisions to make.

To be extraordinary, one must master the ability to do boring tasks for long periods of time.

Send this quote to someone and see if they agree with it 👆

Here are boring tasks that extraordinary professions require.

• Bodybuilding requires boring meal prep, boring workout routines, and boring weight lifting.

• Being a successful YouTuber requires boring script writing, boring editing, and boring thumbnail design.

• Novelists have the boring process of editing, publisher requirements, and plain old typing.

Just because it’s boring doesn’t mean that they hate the process, often the contrary. I don’t hate script writing. But sometimes I do. But not usually. My point is this.

We mistakenly believe that the process and the result are exciting and impressive.

Matthew Dicks says this: “The making should be ordinary and the result should be extraordinary.” He said this after saying that his writing advice wasn’t well received. His writing advice?

Sit your butt in a chair and write. No latte, no cabin in the woods, no cute coffee shop.

So many people associate “writing” with sitting on the beach with a laptop, living the dream. Then on day 3, they realize that writing is actually quite boring. So they quit and jump to the next thing.

Why are boring things so important?

There’s something I call the “Boring Tax.” Here’s what it looks like. 👇