How the Way You Respond to Boredom Changes Your Life

this video is sponsored by ag1 use the link in the description to receive a free one-year supply of vitamin D3 and K2 and 5 travel packs with your first purchase also for those interested my new audiobook millions of little threads is now available on Audible in addition to the pursuit of Wonder website as well as on Amazon as an ebook and paperback links for those will be in the description as well life is short that's what people say for most of us when we hear or consider this it compels us to take more risks to

get more done to move faster to see more places and meet more people to acquire new things and Achieve new heights of Social and career status after all we only have so much time left before time is gone forever but perhaps for this very reason that our time is limited and may be short we should often take this phrase to mean the opposite since life is short we should slow down we should simplify [Music] many of us at least at some point have wanted an extraordinary life a lifestyle in which the calendar is always full

and everyone wants us to be somewhere doing something where we have tons of friends and contacts things to do places to visit new items to acquire new social levels to achieve perhaps this ideal came from childhood when we were conveyed that our sense of self-worth was validated only by our display of extraordinary Scholastic achievement perhaps it came from the particular culture through which we were programmed Perhaps it is in our own personal nature Perhaps it is all the above or something else entirely whatever the origins this idealization can compel many of us to pursue these

sorts of Highly active highly consumptive lives none of which is inherently bad but likewise none of it is inherently good what is bad however is not knowing the difference for oneself and not living accordingly transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote I do believe in Simplicity it is astonishing as well as sad how many trivial Affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day how singular an affair he thinks he must omit when the mathematician would solve a difficult problem he first frees the equation of all encumbrances and reduces it to its simplest

terms so simplify the problem of Life distinguish the necessary and the real probe the Earth to see where your main Roots Run foreign is often regarded as one of the most valuable things it isn't really what's valuable is our perception of it how we handle and consider it having more or less time makes no difference if the majority of it still isn't spent and experienced well stoic philosopher Seneca wrote it is not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it life is long enough and a sufficiently generous

amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested but when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity we are forced At Last by death's final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing so it is we are not given a short life but we make it short and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it life is long if you know how to use it the philosophy of stoicism is a very useful school of thought to refer to

and draw from when considering these Concepts simplifying one's life and using one's time well fundamentally the stoics argued that the individual should strive to reduce all dependency on unnecessary externalities wealth material items Fame control over other things and people and so on almost nothing material is needed for a happy life for he who has understood existence wrote stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius instead one should strive to focus their time on fulfilling their responsibilities and work cultivating a command over their internal domain and preserving the remaining time for philosophically focused Leisure only enjoying the

fruits of one's labor if it comes while not being motivated or affected by it although we don't necessarily need to arrive at the exact same conclusion as the stoics it is at the very least a good place to start in order to see time clearly and determine what we believe is a valuable use of it we should at least conceptually strip all unnecessary spending of it away and only put back what we truly want and need in the 17th century French philosopher Rene Descartes provided an analogy in a second edition of meditations on first Philosophy

for a sort of thought experiment that he had conducted in order to determine only what he could know with absolute certainty to be true in the analogy Descartes suggested to imagine that you have a basket of apples you're concerned that some of the apples might be rotten and the rot will spread to the other fresh apples the only way to ensure that this doesn't happen is to empty the whole basket inspect each apple for rot one by one and then only place back the fresh apples again Descartes used this to illustrate his process of doubting

empirical and ontological beliefs but the same thought process can also be applied when considering how we should spend our time how we choose to spend our time when we have a choice is likewise also a belief it is what we believe about how life should be lived but in truth how often do we actually inspect the apples of our life how many of ours are rotten right now how much has and how much will the rot spread if we don't at least on occasion empty the basket to check a key factor to all of this

to not only understanding how one wants to spend their time but also successfully executing on what one determines is somewhat paradoxical it is both a driving force behind the avoidance of doing what we want and what we know we should do and the solution to doing what we want and know we should do the problem and the solution is boredom the compulsion to do things all the time be it filling up our life with ceaseless desires filling up our schedules every week with plans and events or filling up every quiet moment with the noise of

a phone or computer or video game or whatever else is largely driven by our effort to avoid boredom both the feeling of boredom and the feeling that others see us as boring but it isn't boredom that we are allowed to think and it is through boredom that we will discover great comfort Focus authenticity and productivity when we are not compelled to fill our schedule with anything and everything in order to Simply avoid boredom or seeming boring when we are not compelled to satiate the slightest intimation of boredom with a phone or console we will instead

begin to more often do the things we otherwise put off but actually want to do and work on like most things boredom is relative if let's say one has no plans on a Friday night and they are limiting their phone or video game usage or whatever else writing that next chapter of that book or writing out that business plan for that business idea or journaling about one's thoughts or calling one's mother or father or presently enjoying time with just one person who is truly close or enjoying the night sky quietly with oneself suddenly become the

best and only game in town when the calendar is Bearer when the day is slower when the room is emptier what is there left to do but the things you haven't eliminated the things that matter to you the things that you put back in the basket consequently not only is a simpler life perhaps more enjoyable and of deeper quality but it is also often more focused and productive of course this is all to reduce the process into simple terms ironically properly simplifying one's life is rarely simple but perhaps we can draw from another philosophy to

help us with this the philosophy of taoism in taoism there's a concept known as Wu way which translates into non-doing or effortless action this is generally applied to how one carries out work and tasks suggesting that one engages in tasks with a deep focus and complete immersion loosening oneself up and surrendering to spontaneous action but we can also apply this same principle when determining what activities we participate in to begin with if we should strive to be less forceful within our activities perhaps likewise We should strive to be less forceful about our activities going with

the flow is often taken to mean saying yes to everything and just letting things happen but perhaps a much more apt interpretation here would mean only saying yes to things that feel natural in other words when considering how to spend one's time perhaps if it is not definitely a yes it is definitely a no in the Taoist text the Dao de Jing Lao TSU wrote The Supreme good is like water which nourishes all things without trying to it is content with the Low Places that people disdain thus it is like the Dao in dwelling live

close to the ground in thinking keep to the simple in governing don't try to control in work do what you enjoy in family life be completely present none of this is to say that a quieter simpler life is the right life nor a better life but it is to say that it is the right better life for some people and likely lots more people than those who currently live that way and more yet a healthy dose of Simplicity and boredom is still incredibly important and valuable for everyone of all preferences and Lifestyles the point is

not strictly to do more or less but to determine what our lives actually need to maintain the right flow for some of us perhaps we genuinely want and need the waters to be rapid for others however perhaps a steady current that we can both comfortably paddle through and comfortably float in is more than enough in a world without clear Direction often far more important than being influential or world renowned or in a position of power is simply being sane and kind sometimes just being a good decent person a good friend to a few a Dependable

partner to one a well-focused participant in a thoughtfully chosen career is as heroic and successful as anyone can truly be perhaps some of the most successful Among Us are those who very few will ever know this video was sponsored by agu1 when simplifying one's life it's important that we find solutions to problems that are as easy as possible without compromising our goals and needs being someone who can sometimes struggle with getting all the proper nutrition ag-1 completely reduces the friction of hitting health goals getting comprehensive daily nutrients and supporting immunity and long-term gut health in

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one-year supply of immune supporting vitamin D3 and K2 plus 5 travel packs with your first order and of course as always thank you so much for watching in general and see you next video