As I continue writing for this blog, I am continually nailing down precisely what the theme of my writing is and the purpose of my philosophy of Boredom. I recently found greater clarity in what it's all about.
I used to tell people it was a combination of minimalizing your life while focusing on productivity, mixed in with some leadership insights. That's a mouthful and is saying everything without being anything. After mentally replaying this mouthful multiple times, I realized the philosophy of Boredom is about minimalism for high performers. Short and simple.
Before creating the blog, I remember talking to a coworker about how overloaded we were with projects and that my focus in life was to be Bored so that I could do more. He laughed, saying that's not how being bored works. My response was, "it is for me." I couldn't vocalize what I meant, but after exploring this blog, I understand what I was saying is that for high performers, that's precisely how it works.
A lot of people might be frequently bored. When they get this way, they might end up doing nothing, thus increasing their boredom. Or worse, they get into trouble or focus on time-wasters. Idle hands are the devil's playground. However, that's not what happens when high performers get bored.
When bored, we go out seeking a new project to do, which is why we get ourselves into burnout trouble so quickly. We're always eager to say yes to a new project. Which is why aiming for Boredom works. It helps us say no to some of these less ideal projects because seeking Boredom is more important than saying yes to one more random project.
But a philosophy of Boredom isn't enough. Once we free up our time from distractions, we must assert project discipline. That's where the Personal Control Book comes into play. The PCB helps channel our focus into what will make the most significant impact on our lives. It's the guard rails that ensure we don't get back into the trap of randomly accepting new projects with no rhyme or reason.
Boredom is my Goal is the philosophy to apply minimalism for high performers. The Personal Control Book is then the system that funnels this newly created available energy into the best possible applications.
(Written 2019.12.07)
