How to Persevere in the Face of Boredom and Distraction
We’re often told it’s passion that separates the successful from the unsuccessful. But what if passion’s overrated and it’s actually something much simpler, much easier to tap into than that? Keep reading to find out what it is that separates those who thrive in the work they love from those who flounder.
“At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey to self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom… it doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.”
here’s what you’ll learn from this article:
How to know when the “Instant Gratification Monkey” has taken charge.
Learn how Resistance shows up once we’ve developed consistency.
Learn why passion is overrated.
Let’s get to it!
ZOOMING OUT
If you’ve been following along here for a while, then you’ve likely recognized our passion for zooming out to find links between seemingly dissimilar concepts.
This approach helps to illuminate ideas, provides a broader contextual understanding of specific topics, and allows us (and you) to pick a vantage point that offers the most clarity.
For example, in this post we linked (1) Eckhart Tolle’s philosophical perspective on outer purpose with (2) James Clear’s evidence-based approach to identify satisfying habits.
This then gave us the clarity we needed to create an actionable method to help you find the “sweet spot” in your career.
Now that we’ve explained why we like to zoom out, bear with us because we’re about to connect the dots between Steven Pressfield’s concept of Resistance and Tim Urban’s concept of the Instant Gratification Monkey.
For a quick recap on Resistance, be sure to read last week’s post.
We’ll introduce you to the Instant Gratification Monkey below, but checkout Tim’s full post on procrastination for a more detailed explanation.
MEET THE ‘INSTANT GRATIFICATION MONKEY’ (IGM)
First off, let’s call this guy ‘IGM’ for short.
The IGM is the part of your brain that cares exclusively about rewards. More specifically, the IGM demands the biggest rewards with the least amount of effort.
The Instant Gratification Monkey ignores logic, past experience, and rational ideas. All he cares about is obtaining dopamine hits through persistent reward-seeking behavior.
The IGM has no patience for the long game.
He only sees what’s right in front of him. And if the task you’re working on (or about to start) is not immediately rewarding, he’ll poop on it. Figuratively speaking, of course. 🐒
Everyone has an IGM*. It’s just that some people are better at taming him than others, whether due to life experience or natural-born monkey taming aptitude.
Tim Urban suggests that your inner dialogue with your IGM looks something like this:
“You: I do things that make sense. I think long-term. I am not a child. Alright, this is the perfect time to get work done.
Monkey: Nope! Let’s watch a bunch of YouTube videos on creatures of the deep sea and then go on a YouTube spiral that takes us through Richard Feynman talking about String Theory and ends with us watching interviews with Justin Beiber’s mom! Then we’ll reorganize our to-do list, check sock prices on Amazon, and split up our iPhoto albums into smaller, more specific albums! By then, it’ll be 2:00, and we have an appointment at 4:30, so it’ll be too late to really start any work at that point.”
(We get the feeling that Tim has followed this exact course of monkey action in the past. 😆 Also, note that some of the monkey’s ideas seem remotely productive but are actually just cleverly disguised versions of procrastination.)
Tim goes on to explain that if we’re lured in by the monkey’s ideas, we’ll find ourselves in the Dark Playground.
Tim describes the Dark Playground as “a place where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening.”
For instance, leisure activities that happen when you’re supposed to be doing meaningful, soul-fulfilling work.
He goes on to note that “the fun you have in the Dark Playground isn’t actually fun because it’s completely unearned and the air is filled with guilt, anxiety, self-hatred, and dread.”
And that sometimes the “Rational Decision-Maker” you puts her foot down and refuses to do “normal” leisure things and so “you find yourself in a bizarre purgatory of weird activities where everyone loses.”
We’ve totally been there. 😂 Have you?
*Neuropsychology behind the IGM: The limbic system is the part of the brain the monkey calls “home”. One of Ashley’s favorite graduate school professors famously referred to the limbic system as the “Las Vegas” of the brain. It’s the part of the brain that, if left unchecked by the frontal lobe (AKA the brain’s CEO), is prone to overindulgence in rewards and erratic, unhinged moods. The limbic system is also what generates the instinctual desires characteristic of the id (à la Freudian theory). The limbic system is necessary and integral to our survival as humans, but it needs the frontal lobe’s reasoning capacities to temper its emotionality and keep its cravings in check.
DON’T FALL FOR IT
From the outside, the Instant Gratification Monkey is cute, playful, and seemingly innocent. He exudes a ‘what’s-the-harm’ innocence every time he proposes an idea, so it’s easy to fall for his traps.
And the truth is, there usually isn’t any harm in following his ideas once or twice.
Any more than that though and you run the risk of developing an unwanted habit.
Neurons that fire together wire together. And so, the more frequently you follow the monkey, the more deeply you’ll carve out the brain’s pathways to the Dark Playground.
HOW TAMED IS YOUR MONKEY?
We love Tim’s idea of the Instant Gratification Monkey and so we’ve run with it. Below we’ve broken down the three most common types of relationships a person can have with their IGM.
Which one best defines yours?
1. The totally tamed monkey. You have a well-trained IGM. He only very rarely suggests outlandish ideas that will send you into the Dark Playground, but since you’re keenly aware of his antics, it’s easy to shut him down and stay the consistent course.
2. The semi-tamed monkey. Your IGM is fairly well-trained, but because you’re less aware of his antics, you occasionally fall into his monkey traps. This is especially true when life happens or the circumstances are off—e.g., you’re sleep deprived, in a mood, etc. For instance, you’re experiencing the mid-afternoon sleepies and your IGM suggests that you plop on the couch and watch Netflix instead of finishing the blog post you planned to share tomorrow. And so you choose the couch, because it’s easier than saying ‘no’ to the monkey when you’re tired.
3. The wild and unruly monkey. Your IGM is running the show (and sh*tting all over your dreams). Whatever he says goes. You experience routine monkey interruptions and derailments in your work as you chase his gratuitous thrills without question. His ideas feel fun at first (oh heyyy, anticipation-induced dopamine spike 👋), but are ultimately unfulfilling because you’re ignoring your most important work.
If you classified your relationship with your IGM as #2 or #3, the monkey is in charge some or most of the time.
HOW RESISTANCE USES THE IGM
The Instant Gratification Monkey is not only a function of procrastination but also a very common manifestation of Resistance.
Resistance uses the IGM’s attention-grabbing methods as a tool to stop us from starting, yes, but also as a tool to slow, stop, or delay consistency.
In our experience, taming the IGM and retraining the way the mind responds to his ideas is about half the battle in the fight against Resistance.
PERSEVERING IN THE FACE OF BOREDOM
“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.” — James Clear
In this post, we talked about what Resistance looks like when we’re about to start a new project. In those instances, it tends to manifest as fear and limiting beliefs.
Let’s now fast forward a bit and assume you’ve not only started but have also been taking steady, consistent action toward your exciting-but-fear-inducing idea.
Resistance and the IGM don’t disappear just because you’ve gained momentum and are showing up day-after-day to do the work you love.
They just become better at disguising themselves.
Remember, Resistance is a morphing energy. It manifests in different forms depending on where you’re at in your journey, but it’s always there.
When it and its constituents (e.g., the IGM) don’t look like fear, they tend to take shape as boredom or a lack of inspiration/motivation.
This is especially true once you’ve hit a steady stride with consistency.
For example, you’re chugging along doing the work you love and then all the sudden you hit a wall of restless energy or boredom.
The Instant Gratification Monkey loves this. He immediately pipes up and starts suggesting all sorts of ideas that will for sure lead you into the Dark Playground.
PASSION IS OVERRATED
We love this quote from an Olympic athlete coach that James Clear cites in his book Atomic Habits about the trait that separates the professional athletes from all the rest:
“At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over.”
What a refreshing perspective.
Far too often we’re told it’s passion that separates those who succeed from those who fail.
While there’s inspirational whimsy to the idea of a passion-driven purpose, no one has a bottomless pit of passion.
It’s easy to become discouraged if we embrace the false notion that success is reserved for the perpetually passionate, because we all have unpassionate moments, days, or even weeks.
The idea can also lead us to believe that something’s gone awry with our purpose or, worse, that something’s “wrong” with us when we experience less-than-passionate moments.
Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors of passion. It’s not the differentiator between success and failure.
No matter how much we love our work or how aligned we feel with our purpose, there will be times when we feel frustrated or unmotivated. Times when we’d rather take a nap than step up to the plate.
So long as you’re human, you’ll experience moments of waning passion in the work you love. In those moments, don’t give in, show up.
In those moments, embrace the habits of a professional.
Remember, inspiration will find you once you’ve demonstrated dedication to your cause. That means showing up even when you don’t feel like it.
Bottom line: When it comes to success—no matter how you define it—passion and motivation help, but it’s consistency (no matter your mood) that seals the deal.
On that note, we’ll leave you with this quote by James Clear:
“Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life [and moods] get in the way.”
Stay tuned for more on professionals vs. amateurs next week…
INTENTION
I show up for the work I love despite convincing excuses, moods, and circumstances to the contrary. I trust that if I show up for the work, the Universe will show up for me.
3 RESOURCES
Book: Atomic Habits* by James Clear
Book: Do the Work* by Steven Pressfield
Ted Talk: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund us at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting us!
