YOU DON’T LEARN INTERESTING, YOU UNLEARN BORING
Swimmers or runners log huge boring mileage
When my son started soccer 4 years ago, when he was 7 years old, their team was smoked by better and more seasoned teams. They would lose 8–0 and the referee ends the game early citing the mercy rule (I didn’t know that kind of rule exists).
After losing to better teams when he was 7, they used the experiences of failing and losing to learn and get better.
Past forward last weekend, their team accomplished a three-peat. It was a culmination of all the hard work they put in though the years. It wasn’t easy though.
In 2017, they won the championship by only one point (1–0). In 2018, it was again 1–0, this year, they won 2–0. I’m not accounting here. What I’m showing you is the 4000 feet overview of the garden. What I didn’t tell you however, is that there were times when some of the kids thought of soccer as boring and wanted to quit.
The 4000 feet view of their accomplishment was perfect, but if you zoom in at the garden, you will see weeds. Some of the weed that you may see is that some of the kids quit because they thought soccer was boring.
Same with my son.
But the good thing is that I studied motivation (self study) and used some techniques to push through the barriers.
Because I know he like basketball, I told him you can use soccer for conditioning. I told him one time that his basketball coach use him more, because his coach can see he was conditioned compared to the other kids. I also re-iterated that soccer can be used as cross training.
He became more enthusiastic now when I told him these stories. I lovingly reminded him that if you stop now, you will never be good in soccer and basketball.
Nobody becomes elite because they quit something. I always advise my kid, give it a year before you quit. If the easiest decision is to quit, and it’s because it’s comforting, have a pact with yourself to not quit for another year. After a year re-evaluate your options.
I don’t think he will quit.
This is the bad part of a society that wants instant gratification, there are things in life that needs time in order to accomplish it.
What I taught to my kid, I took it too. I applied the advice I gave to my kid to myself, especially in building my business.
I tried eBay, stocks and options for a while, without any luck. Although I broke even in stocks or gain some, it wasn’t enough for me to quit my job and work in front of my computer while in my pajama.
That’s the goal though, but right now, I’m not there yet.
So how do you motivate yourself to continue amidst the boring endeavors?
Pull yourself to the goal.
My mentor would always asked, what is your “why”? What makes you get up in the morning and grind?
It’s my family, my kid and my wife.
My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, and we been working hard and trying hard not to be exposed with chemicals again (we are both chemists).
They are my “whys”, they are the reason I wake up early and work on my sales funnel. You may probably be asking what I do? I am infopreneur, an internet marketer, selling information products on-line. My products particularly are chemistry and math tutorials because I am a scientist, and chemistry and math are my formal training.
Now let me ask you this, what’s your “why”? Try to answer this sincerely and you can pull yourself from the boring routine of life and plow through it.
