Just Be Bored, and You'll Level Up

Summary

The speaker discusses their experience with habit tracking and the challenge of maintaining consistency. They highlight a four-day streak of successfully completing daily habits but then falling into a rut. The key takeaway is the importance of embracing boredom as a means to resist instant gratification activities like YouTube and video games. By allowing oneself to be bored, the speaker found themselves more inclined to engage in productive habits. They suggest that being bored can help maintain a stable dopamine baseline, contrasting with the downward spiral caused by indulging in distractions. The speaker encourages viewers to be patient with themselves, understand their triggers, and use the strategy of embracing boredom to align their actions with their goals.

Takeaways

• 📊 The speaker tracked their habits and noticed a pattern where they were successful for four days but then fell into a rut.
• 🌿 Having free time can lead to indecision and lack of motivation to complete tasks, as the speaker found themselves unsure of what to do with extra time.
• 🧘‍♂️ The strategy of doing nothing when feeling bored can lead to a clearer mind and eventually to engaging in productive habits.
• 📚 The speaker found that when they were bored and not distracted by screens, they were more likely to pick up a book and read, which is a productive habit.
• 🚫 The speaker suggests resisting the urge to indulge in instant gratification activities like watching YouTube videos or playing video games.
• 🧠 The speaker explains that indulging in distractions lowers one's dopamine baseline, making it harder to engage in productive activities.
• 🔄 Being bored can help maintain a stable dopamine baseline, which is more conducive to forming and maintaining good habits.
• 📉 The speaker admits to struggling with consistency and not expecting to complete all habits every day, showing a realistic approach to self-improvement.
• 💪 The importance of understanding one's triggers and learning from mistakes is highlighted as a part of the self-improvement journey.
• 📱 The speaker shares a personal tactic of putting their phone on airplane mode and away to avoid the temptation of distractions.
• 🤔 The main takeaway is to embrace boredom as a means to resist distractions and align oneself with the tasks and habits that are important.

Q & A

What is the main challenge the speaker is facing with their habit tracker?

The speaker is struggling with maintaining consistency in their habits. They managed to have four days in a row where they completed all their habits but are now finding themselves in a rut, not doing the work anymore.

What does the speaker attribute their success in completing habits to?

The speaker attributes their success to being bored and not indulging in distractions like YouTube or phone scrolling, which allows them to eventually pick up and engage in their habits.

What strategy did the speaker use to resist distractions and stay on track with their habits?

The speaker used the strategy of doing nothing when they felt bored, instead of turning to distractions. They would sit and think about what to do next, which eventually led them to engage in their habits.

How does the speaker describe their experience with free time and its impact on habit formation?

The speaker describes having free time as a challenge because it leads to a lack of direction and can result in indulging in unproductive activities. However, by allowing themselves to be bored, they found a way to start doing the habits they intended to follow.

What role does dopamine play in the speaker's habit formation process?

Dopamine plays a significant role as indulging in instant gratification activities like YouTube or phone scrolling lowers the speaker's dopamine baseline, making it harder to engage in their habits. By resisting these activities, they maintain a stable dopamine level, which helps in habit formation.

What is the speaker's advice for dealing with free time and the temptation to indulge in unproductive activities?

The speaker advises to be bored and resist the temptation to indulge in instant gratification activities. They suggest that by doing so, one can eventually start doing the habits they want to establish.

How does the speaker feel about their self-improvement journey so far?

The speaker acknowledges that they are not yet super consistent and are still a beginner in their self-improvement journey. They express a humble understanding that they are not going to achieve perfect consistency overnight.

What is the speaker's approach to handling their phone as a potential distraction?

The speaker puts their phone on airplane mode and places it in a drawer, making the process of accessing it more cumbersome and thus less likely to be used as a distraction.

What is the main takeaway from the speaker's experience with habit formation?

The main takeaway is that allowing oneself to be bored and resisting the urge to indulge in distractions can be an effective strategy for habit formation and maintaining consistency in one's personal development.

How does the speaker suggest one should deal with the desire to do something else instead of their habits?

The speaker suggests that one should resist the desire to do something else and instead focus on being bored, which can eventually lead to engaging in the habits they want to establish.

What is the speaker's perspective on discipline and its role in habit formation?

The speaker believes that discipline is not the primary factor in habit formation. Instead, they emphasize the importance of resisting distractions and allowing oneself to be bored as a means to engage in the desired habits.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Overcoming Boredom to Build Habits

The speaker discusses their experience with a habit tracker, highlighting a period of four consecutive days where all habits were successfully maintained, marked by green on the tracker. They contrast this with recent days where they've fallen into a rut, marked by red on the tracker, and have not been keeping up with their habits. The key realization is that having too much free time led to a lack of direction and productivity. Instead of engaging in productive activities, the speaker admits to indulging in distractions like YouTube. However, the breakthrough came from embracing boredom, which paradoxically led to the completion of tasks. By resisting the urge to scroll or play games and allowing the mind to rest, the speaker found themselves turning to books and eventually their habits. The speaker suggests that maintaining a stable dopamine baseline by being bored can prevent the downward spiral caused by instant gratification activities, which lower the baseline each time they are indulged. The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about reading a light novel instead of maintaining habits, which illustrates the struggle with discipline and the allure of more enjoyable activities. The advice is to resist these temptations and allow boredom to lead to the execution of desired habits.

05:02

😌 Embracing Boredom for Self-Improvement

In this paragraph, the speaker emphasizes the importance of being bored as a means to align one's mind and body with the tasks they wish to accomplish. They suggest that instead of indulging in distractions when feeling unoccupied, one should practice patience and allow the natural inclination towards productivity to emerge. The speaker encourages the audience to continue on their journey of self-improvement, using the strategy of embracing boredom as a tool to enhance discipline and focus. The message is to persevere and keep moving forward, implying that this approach will ultimately lead to the successful establishment of habits and personal growth.

Keywords

💡Habit Tracker

A habit tracker is a tool or system used to monitor and maintain personal habits. In the video's context, the speaker uses a habit tracker to visually represent their daily habits, with 'green' indicating successful completion and 'red' indicating failure to perform a habit. The speaker mentions having 'all green' days, which means they successfully completed all their habits for several consecutive days.

💡Rut

In the video, 'rut' refers to a period of inactivity or lack of progress. The speaker describes feeling 'in a rut' as a state where they are not maintaining their habits or engaging in productive activities, which contrasts with the previously successful 'all green' days.

💡Free Time

Free time is the period during the day when one is not occupied with work or other obligations. The speaker discusses having 'a couple days open' with 'so much free time' and not knowing what to do with themselves. This abundance of free time leads to a lack of direction and can result in unproductive behavior.

💡Indulgence

Indulgence in this context refers to giving in to immediate desires or distractions, such as watching YouTube videos or scrolling on a phone, instead of engaging in planned activities or habits. The speaker mentions indulging as a reason for not maintaining their habits and contrasts it with the strategy of being bored.

💡Boredom

Boredom is a state of feeling disinterested or unengaged. The speaker suggests embracing boredom as a strategy to resist distractions and eventually engage in productive habits. The idea is that by not indulging in instant gratification activities, one can maintain a stable dopamine baseline and become more inclined to do meaningful work.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with reward and pleasure. In the video, the speaker discusses the concept of a 'dopamine baseline,' which refers to the natural level of dopamine in the brain. The speaker argues that indulging in distractions lowers this baseline, making it harder to engage in productive activities, whereas being bored can help maintain a stable baseline.

💡Willpower

Willpower is the ability to control one's impulses and make decisions aligned with long-term goals rather than immediate desires. The speaker mentions having the 'willpower to resist' distractions as a key factor in overcoming the temptation to indulge and instead engage in productive habits.

💡Instant Gratification

Instant gratification refers to the desire to experience pleasure or fulfillment immediately, often at the expense of long-term goals. The speaker warns against the negative effects of seeking instant gratification through activities like watching YouTube or playing video games, as it can lower one's dopamine baseline and make it harder to maintain habits.

💡Self-Improvement

Self-improvement is the process of enhancing one's knowledge, skills, or personal development. The speaker identifies as being relatively new to self-improvement, having been involved for 'a little bit over a year.' The video's message is part of the speaker's ongoing journey of self-improvement, focusing on habit formation and resistance to distractions.

💡Triggers

Triggers are stimuli that provoke a specific response or behavior. In the context of the video, the speaker talks about understanding their 'triggers' as part of the process of self-improvement. Recognizing what leads to unproductive behavior can help the speaker avoid these triggers and maintain their habits more effectively.

Highlights

Achieved four consecutive days of completing all daily habits, which is challenging for the speaker.

Experienced a rut and lack of motivation to maintain habits after the successful streak.

Had free days with no set tasks, leading to uncertainty about what to do with the time.

Suggests that having too much free time can lead to inaction and avoidance of tasks.

During free time, the speaker found themselves avoiding productive activities in favor of instant gratification.

Mentions the importance of not indulging in distractions like YouTube or phone scrolling when bored.

Emphasizes the strategy of doing nothing when bored as a means to eventually engage in productive habits.

Suggests that being bored can help lower the baseline of dopamine, making it easier to start productive tasks.

Reading a light novel was a distraction from maintaining habits, highlighting the struggle with discipline.

The lack of discipline is attributed to the preference for doing something else other than the intended tasks.

Advises resisting the urge to indulge in instant gratification activities and instead embrace boredom.

Explains how indulging in instant gratification lowers the baseline of dopamine, making it harder to start tasks.

Being bored can help maintain a stable dopamine baseline, making it easier to start productive activities.

The speaker has been practicing self-improvement for over a year but acknowledges being a beginner.

Admits to not expecting to complete all habits every day, showing a humble and realistic approach.

Encourages understanding personal triggers and mistakes to improve habit formation.

The main message is to embrace boredom as a tool to overcome the urge to indulge in unproductive activities.

Shares a personal strategy of putting the phone on airplane mode and away to avoid distractions.

Ends with advice to wait for the mind and body to align with the desired task when feeling bored.

Transcripts

so I was trying to find some correlation

right on my habit tracker so you see in

these these couple days I had all green

for the day right and that that's pretty

difficult for me nowadays but I got four

I got four days in a row where I did all

my habits right 4 days in a row but now

right now I'm like kind of this morning

I felt like I was kind of in a rut

so and like I've been like lacking like

you can see like the red I've been just

totally doing nothing but what

is a difference between those days last

week versus the days now that I'm in

that I'm not keeping up with my habits

I'm not doing the work anymore like what

happened so what I figured out right is

so last week right I have I have a

couple days open like free and so when I

would wake up right I I didn't know what

to do cuz it's like I've so much free

time in the day now that I don't know

what to do with myself and of course

like oh what do you mean like you have

work to do like you to make YouTube

videos you have to read you have to

learn you to like work out later blah

blah blah but hold on

right the re like the reason I'm saying

this is because like it's so easy to

just say that oh like you have things to

do but in the moment right I didn't know

what to do so instead of right if we

were bored instead of doing the things

that you're supposed to do we just

indulge in things we like we go on

YouTube act like we're productive we

scroll on our phone a little bit we just

do things like little things like

scrolling on YouTube and the reason that

I got all green here was because

whenever I felt bored whenever I felt

like I didn't have to do anything I just

did nothing I really sat there in my

chair and did nothing I would just think

I would just think about what to do like

the whole time and I had I had the whole

day really pretty much to myself I was

just like what like what do I do and so

what would happen then right as like I

didn't really stimulate my brain I

wasn't like scrolling on my phone or

going on YouTube what I would do then is

like look around my room oh like I see a

book now right and then I'm like all

right I might as well read right if I

have nothing to do I might as well read

see and this is where you start to like

come down to your your Baseline of like

dopamine because usually like when we're

Bor we need to keep our mind occupied so

like we'd go and indulge in YouTube or

we go and indulge in our phone or just

something just something stupid

so if you ever feel like you have like

free time and like you like you're not

doing your habits it's like just try to

be bored for as long as you can and

eventually you'll start doing the habits

that you really want to do because the

reason that you don't want to do the

work that you want to do is because you

want to do something else cuz there's

something else that you want to do right

um so like these past couple of days

like I read like a like a like a light

novel right like it's like a story like

a fiction book and what happened was I I

would rather read that than do my habits

and of course you could say like oh like

why don't you have discipline like the

reason I don't have discipline right is

because I just didn't want to do it it's

simple as that I wanted to do something

else so those types of things like the

indulgences like YouTube or like your

video games or whatever you want right

you have to just be bored be bored as

much as you can and just have the

willpower to resist those types of

things it's better to sit down and be

bored than to indulge in those instant

gratification activities because let's

think about it right your dopam

baselines like this right and when you

indulge it goes down when it when you

indulge again it goes down so your

basally gets lower and lower when you

take part in those instant gratification

activities but when you're bored right

your Bas On's like this but it just

stays like that like you're not getting

worse and worse and worse so when when

you feel like you have nothing to do

don't just indulge just sit there bored

until you feel like you want to do

something pretty much and it's like like

I've only been at this for like a little

bit over a year and it's still like I'm

not like super consistent like like like

it I'm not I'm not doing bad this month

but it's just

like I didn't I don't expect to get all

green like oh my I didn't I don't expect

to like knock off every habit on my

tracker for the month like I'm not there

yet and I have to like kind of almost be

humble and be like okay like I'm not

going to I know damn well that like I'm

not going to get every single thing

green just because like I'm like I'm

almost like still a beginner I'm like

only like one and a half years old or

some like that in self-improvement

so knowing that I kind of humbled myself

and I'm just like okay I'm going to take

this St by day slowly and understand and

try to like pick my brain and try to

understand my triggers and what I do

wrong so the main point of this video is

to tell you that you should just be

bored instead of indulging in activities

because that's that's what really got me

to do all my habits it's just me being

bored like I I put my phone on

airplane mode and just put it in a

drawer and now it's just like since it's

in the drawer like the pain of getting

it and putting it on airplane mode is

just too much that I just don't even do

it it so I put that away and maybe I

turn off my computer I mean it's on

right now but doesn't matter go and be

bored and just wait for your body and

your mind to kind of align itself with

the task that you want to do so with

that continue your journey and keep

moving forward