Has anyone ever said this to you?
“Only boring people are bored.”
This is one of those classic pieces of parental wisdom that I received from time to time growing up.
It usually came on the heels of me pacing around the house, staring into the refrigerator countless times, and exhaling a deep sigh with the words: “I’m bored.”
The corrective response was meant to awaken some inner motivation within me. While I believed it was okay to be bored, I didn’t want to be known as a boring person. Thus, I was encouraged to find something useful to do with my time.
Growing up, boredom was an unacceptable posture towards life.
When it comes to leadership, creativity, and influence, the opposite might be true as well: only bored people are boring.
Think about the speech you weren’t very excited to deliver.
Think about the paper you submitted that rambled on to meet the word count.
Think about the project you were required to accomplish but your heart wasn’t in it.
What effect did it have on other people? What kind of impression did it make?
In most situations, boredom begets boredom. It’s contagious.
Sometimes I’ve gotten excited about a topic simply because the speaker, the writer, the teacher, or the leader was passionately excited about it.
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