How many times do you feel trapped in your go-to routine?

Not being engaged is, together with being constantly tired, the identikit of the 2018 student. When it comes to building a habit, teenagers often tend to get bored and disinterested in the task as soon as it fails to stimulate their curiosity. We moan and groan about how things are hard but when we get accustomed to them we feel the need to try something new.

The golden rule, however, remains: repetition is vital in achieving goals! Building a habit is a lot like building a wall, each block has to be positioned one on top of the other in a repeated and identical manner for the wall to stand, with consistency and persistence to make sure that each brick is positioned in the right way so that the wall doesn’t fall. Because you don’t want the wall to fall do you? So here are a few tips to fall in love with boredom and keep that wall up:

1. Embrace boredom- there will always be times when you will find yourself doing something that doesn’t particularly interest you, however, the secret is to remember that it is up to you to make the best of these moments and find your own way to make them interesting. Don’t deny boredom, accept and embrace it.

2. Increase your skill ability- it is known that the tasks in which you exceed are the ones you enjoy the most. My advice is to celebrate each small success in the task as it will be easier to enjoy an assignment if you are stimulated to make progress.

3. Fall in love with the result of the task rather than the task itself – try to shift your focus towards the end result instead of the process. For example, if you are bored studying for a subject that you don’t particularly like, imagine how glad you will be once you get a good grade in that test and remind yourself that this was only achievable because, even when bored, you kept going. If you find that this method is not stimulating enough try to reverse it. In the previous case, fall in love with always getting good grades in a particular subject. This will create a challenge for you, shifting your focus away from the process of studying but rather making you more focused on keeping your ‘good-grades streak’ alive.

4. The power of patience – throughout your journey always remember that boredom is a test that gives you evidence of how motivated you are to pursue your goals. A blend of hard work and persistence is the key! You must remember that those who succeed are the ones who keep on practicing the fundamentals which everybody knows but which not everybody performs because they are considered too boring, too routine. There is no need to re-invent the fundamentals, what is important is committing to them and doing more of what already works.