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Once you know boredom is the real demand, you stop trying to simplify a task that is already simple and start making the dullness bearable instead. A timer set for twelve minutes, a podcast, standing up to do it, the same slot each week so no decision is needed. Aim to get through the tedium rather than to feel interested, because interested is not coming.
Those who persevere patiently will be given a full and unstinting reward (Quran 39:10). Sitting through something dull is counted, even when it feels like nothing much.
الزمر
قُلۡ يَٰعِبَادِ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمۡۚ لِلَّذِينَ أَحۡسَنُواْ فِي هَٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا حَسَنَةࣱۗ وَأَرۡضُ ٱللَّهِ وَٰسِعَةٌۗ إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى ٱلصَّٰبِرُونَ أَجۡرَهُم بِغَيۡرِ حِسَابࣲ
Say, ‘[God says], believing servants, be mindful of your Lord! Those who do good in this world will have a good reward- God’s earth is wide––and those who persevere patiently will be given a full and unstinting reward.’
Qur’an 39:10read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Work validating a habit measure found that what defines a habit is automaticity, acting without deciding, rather than how often you do something or how important you say it is. That is why a fixed weekly slot helps with a boring job: the deciding is what costs you. It is a measurement study, so it explains the mechanism rather than testing whether this helps with receipts.
Gardner B, Abraham C, Lally P, de Bruijn GJ. (2012). Towards parsimony in habit measurement: testing the convergent and predictive validity of an automaticity subscale of the Self-Report Habit Index.. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
You can build up some tolerance for a dull job, and you can shorten the stretch you have to tolerate.
When somebody looks like they have stopped caring, it is often that they have stopped expecting it to go well. Giving up on yourself tends to come after a long run of trying and being told it was not enough.
If reminders, other people's deadlines and a bit of chivvying are what keep you moving, you are allowed to keep them. Inner drive arrives later for some of us, and taking the scaffolding away early does not hurry it along.
Decide now what you get if this is done by Friday, and what it costs you if it is not. Tell someone, so it is on the record.