How Boredom Makes You Quit Too Soon

With all the information freely available online, why do many people still struggle to achieve results?

One big reason is that people aren’t naturally wired for long term success. In fact, a study found that 92% of people that make New Year’s resolutions fail to achieve their goals.

People give up for many reasons and one reason is boredom.

When starting a new initiative, excitement fuels people to take action. But when people don’t get instant results, they quickly can lose interest and quit.

Success usually takes time and requires committing to boring and repetitive tasks. But the people that stick with it are the ones who see the rewards.

Here’s a strategy to overcome your natural self-sabotaging instincts and achieve greater success.

Develop a long term mindset

One important thing to realize is that success often takes time to achieve. People love the idea of getting immediate results, but success becomes most noticeable as results accumulate over a longer time frame.

The easiest time quit a new project is at the beginning. When you try something for the first time, you aren’t very skilled and you probably won’t get amazing results. You probably feel like results will take forever to achieve at the rate you are going.

But growth isn’t always linear and in fact, results can often accelerate over time.

As you market your business more, you’ll get better at marketing. Your skill and effectiveness will improve and your progress will accelerate as you become more efficient at execution.

You can also improve your product and service over time by listening to customer feedback and making your product better as you go along.

Also, as more people find out about your business, they will also tell other people about it. Word of mouth can causes a business to grow exponentially.

Success starts with having the right mindset. Understand that results will be slow at the beginning, but can accelerate over the long term.

Create a step-by-step system

Once you have an idea of what you want to do, break everything down into a step-by-step plan.

Decide exactly what you need to do, how long each task will take and when you are going to do it. Creating a system will make execution easier and reduce feelings of overwhelm.

Success becomes scalable through systems and processes. They create simplicity and structure that will allow you to form productive habits.

Set specific goals and measure results

Asides from creating a system, you also need to set goals and measure results. For example, let’s say that you decide to use guest blogging to grow your business.

Leo Widrich wrote 150 guest posts to get Buffer’s first 100,000 customers. Perhaps you might set an initial goal of writing 50 guest posts to see what happens.

To measure results, you have to decide what metrics you want to track. Many businesses will track website traffic and sales, which should increase if your product and marketing are successful.

Measuring results will let you know if your marketing is working. Depending on your results, you may decide to continue with your marketing plan, make adjustments to improve results or quit and try something else.

Implement accountability

If necessary, you may want to implement accountability measures to increase your likelihood of success. According to a study by the Association for Talent Development, getting an accountability partner increases the likelihood of reaching a goal to 95% whereas the probability of reaching a goal is 10% if you only have an idea or a goal.

So how can you create accountability to increase your odds of success? Here are a few ways.

1) Get a business or accountability partner – Partnering with someone that shares the same goals as you can be a good way to ensure that you take consistent action towards your goals.

Once you agree to work with a partner, you have to do your part so that you don’t let your partner down. A dedicated accountability partner will push you to do your best and keep you focused.

2) Joining a mastermind group – Jim Rohn once said that “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” One popular piece of business advice is to surround yourself with successful people or other like-minded individuals who have the same goals as you.

Joining or forming your own mastermind group is one way to increase your odds of success. A good mastermind group will keep you accountable as well as provide opportunities for collaboration and for getting feedback.

3) Hiring a coach or mentor – A study by MetrixGlobal, LLC showed that 77% of respondents indicated that coaching had a noticeable effect on their business and that coaching produced an average of a 529% return on investment.

When we work at a job, our boss keeps us productive and accountable. However, when people set business and personal goals, they usually don’t have a person that keeps them accountable and as a result, the probability of achieving goals is low.

A good coach can fill the role that a boss plays and keep you productive and motivated.

Succeed by Embracing Boredom

Success is hard because to become successful, people often have to force themselves to do boring repetitive tasks over a long period of time. To succeed where most people fail, develop a long term mindset, set realistic measurable goals and create systems and processes to execute your plans.

Finally, create accountability to make sure you get things done. After the initial excitement of starting a project fades, it is repetitive execution that brings results.