the boring – From the desk of Adam Thomas

Sometimes doing what feels good leaves a mark

Nothing ruins your day like an unsightly scab.

It stands against your skin; it’s rough to the touch, and it is ugly.

A scab comes off quickly, so the natural inclination is to remove it. You scratch and rub. Soon enough, your skin is smooth again.

That smoothness comes at a cost.

The place where our skin looked ugly before now possibly has a mark that won’t go away.

By picking at the scab, we chose a short-term gain.

Whenever you find yourself in “the boring,” ask yourself if the action you are pursuing is picking that scab?

If so, ask yourself if ugliness is worth accepting for a little while.

Switch it up

Soon after the high of getting a project off the ground goes away, you land in something I like to call “the boring.”

There, in “the boring” it’s easy to get lost.

I look at being lost as an opportunity to take a look at your environment.

Where you work is often as important as what you work you do. If you are working in the same place, around the same environment everyday there is a chance that it factors in to that feeling of “lossness,” or the feeling that nothing really matters.

You are susceptible when you get to the point of your project where the quick victories don’t happen. In the beginning of making a blog, its easy to get signed up, but as you finish the early work and get to writing, getting from 5 readers to 50 can take some time.

So, what I’m saying is take a chance. Grab everything and move to Austin.

I’m kidding. But seriously, take the work you are doing and put it in a different place.

Take your laptop to that coffee shop down the street
Go to a park while you think
Find the local library

Some places work better than your desk and some work worse, but a new place gives you an opportunity to give your work new energy and make “the boring” less sucky.