For the Love of Boredom...

Earlier this morning, I was reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. He introduced something he called the “Goldilocks Rule,” which was essentially the idea that when building a habit you need to challenge yourself at the right level.

If for example, you are learning to play tennis, competing against a 4-year-old would lead to boredom, but competing against Roger Federer would lead to failure. The best way to stay challenged is to learn with or compete against someone at or slightly above your level so that you receive the necessary dose of dopamine to keep challenging yourself.

But after you’ve established the habit, after you’ve become relatively competent at something, it can be increasingly difficult and exhausting to seek the next level, to always push yourself forward.