Category Archives: Monotony

“You can’t start the next…”

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“You can’t start the next chapter if you keep re-reading the last one.”

—Author Unknown

Imagine a book based on  your life, with a Table of Contents that looks like this:

QC #826How likely would you be to keep reading the same chapter over and over again?

Although the answer seems obvious, many people live their lives this way, where “today” looks a great deal like many of their yesterdays.

EXERCISE:

If today’s scenario is even a bit familiar, consider telling a new life story by using Stephen Covey’s “Begin with the End in Mind” habit. Work your way backwards to write about the page-turning journey that got you there. I hope it is a best seller!

“Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.”

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“Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.”

– A. G. Buckham, pioneering aviation photographer

510Image from Flickr by ste3ve.

One of the four key behavioral characteristics I evaluate with each new coaching client is their need for stability. Although there are both pros and cons to this characteristic, some people discover that too high a need for stability and safely can lead to a lack of variety and a routineness that diminishes their happiness and fulfillment.

Examine your current vocation and notice your orientation to trying new activities toward growth versus the tedium and boredom that is constantly doing the same thing the same way.

Consider your personal life and some of the choices – or perhaps I should say default choices – you make daily that have one day look like pretty much like countless others.

Exercise:

Decide to spice up both your personal and professional worlds today by taking a few small risks. Consider a few of the following to begin the process of breaking free from any monotonous aspects of your life:

  • Wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and choose to work on a pet project you’ve longed to start.
  • Eat something for breakfast or lunch you haven’t tried before, or haven’t had in some time.
  • Take a different, perhaps more scenic, route to work or another destination.
  • Volunteer to participation on a new project or new committee at work that will add some variety or opportunity to your career.

Feel free to reply to this message to let me know what changes you plan to make to challenge the current status quo of your world.