It's really hard to do the boring stuff .
I find it very hard to do the boring stuff, and that applies to most people. I was a little bit stuck with my liberal arts education. I halted taking the lessons because I wanted to get caught up with typing up my notes. The thing is this, even though I knew that I am doing the right thing, I hated it. Who wants to be typing notes when they could be learning new things or exploring?
Because the task of typing notes is boring, I did not do it consistently, which was a bad thing. And because I did not do it consistently, it made no sense to move forward with the courses. It took me a really long time to type-up my notes, which stalled my liberal arts education. When I typed up my handwritten notes, I only typed up about two pages of notes because I was always distracted.
I mentioned that I was a little bit stuck with my liberal arts education because I have started reading the classic books. Originally, I intended to take all the courses first, and then tackle the books, but it occurred to me that I could do them simultaneously since I have to read anyway. So I am not behind with my learning project.
When I realized that I was stalling by not typing up my notes in a timely manner, I committed to typing up more than one lecture, and the amazing thing that happened, was I got into the process because I was reminded of the interesting things that I have been learning. In no time, I was able to type up all the notes, and start the process of moving important information into my long-term memory.
Have you read?
How to Increase Your Reading Comprehension
This reminded me that in the past, when I wanted to read a book such as The Arabian Nights
, which is over 1000 pages in length, to ensure that I was making progress, each day I would commit to reading at least 100 pages. This allowed me to read the book in a shorter time, and it didn't hurt that the story was very interesting because there were stories within a story. And the other benefit is that when you commit to reading at least 100 pages of a long book, it gives you enough time to get into the story so you will want to take it up again to continue reading.
So if you are working on a difficult task, or one that you are not thrilled about because it is so boring, perhaps this technique would work for you. Set aside enough time to tackle the project and get a substantial part completed. When you see yourself making progress, you will want to stick to it. And you may find that once you are in the middle of the project, it's not as bad as you first thought. Your perception depends on where you’re standing.
Now I am back to taking courses, and this time I will be typing up my written notes each day to build it into my routine. Yes, it's really hard to do the boring stuff, but if it is important stuff, then it makes sense to commit the time, and work on the activity until you have completed it.