I have always been a fan of reading quotes. Whether it’s from different sports heros, famous entertainers, or highly decorated academics and military figures. This has been a great way for me to get a quick nugget of knowledge or motivation to keep me moving. I find that when you look closely, there are drops of wisdom everywhere!
Through my years of playing and coaching sports, I have discovered, as have many before and after me that at the basic level of improving anything is repetition. To learn any skill, you must see it, emulate it correctly, and then do it over and over and over again. The idea is that the more you practice, the better you will get. And for the most part, it is true. This is where my quote comes in!
“Success is in the boring.”
According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Outliers”,
“The principle holds that 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice" are needed to become world-class in any field. When psychologists talk about deliberate practice, they mean practicing in a way that pushes your skill set as much as possible.”
Now obviously this isn’t an exact science, but it does give you a general idea of how hard you need to work if you want to become good at something. My questions for you is this, do you think that all of those 10,000 hours of work are fun? Of course not! Working through that many hours of repetition and practice will have its high and low points. Times when it’s exciting and times when it’s boring. The key is to be able to still push hard and work with a purpose while staying focus during those points of being low or bored.
As a coach, I often hear athletes say that they don’t want to play anymore because it’s not fun. Or that they don’t want to lift weights and do the extra work because it’s boring. These types of feelings will happen to anyone who wants to achieve something of significance. The goal is to be able to find a purpose within your work and to continue to push. Do you think people that choose to become doctors and lawyers love every minute of studying in the library? That Michael Jordan loved all the lonely hours in the driveway and gym that he had to put in to be great? It’s not always fun and excitement. If you want to achieve anything great, you will have to grind through the hours of boring with a purpose.
Working through the boring is an important part of being successful in anything. Find a way to combat that boring and find the purpose in what you are doing. See the big picture as to WHY those countless hours matter to you, the hours that no one else sees. Those are the hours that turn into something amazing. Those are the hours where you achieve.
Keep grinding if you have a goal. Put in the time to get past the boring.
Remember to enjoy the journey!
Jeff Butorac