“Repetition isn’t failure. Ask the waves, ask the leaves, ask the wind.” – Mark Nepo
If only getting this message through to the kids was as easy. You’re likely to get an eyeroll or at best, a sigh. For that matter, most adults too fail to comprehend the message in this quote. They struggle to embrace repetition as a path to mastery.
Why We Reject Repetition
In a society obsessed with perfection, this should become the ground rule but unfortunately that hasn’t happened.
Imagine a kid struggling to tie their shoelaces. At first, its messy, the knots are loose. But with practice, it becomes second nature.
But now it’s all about instant results and quick fixes. Just get it over with in the shortest time possible. Novelty has become the USP. It’s like choosing fast food over a nice homecooked meal.
Quick fix culture sells dopamine shots. It doesn’t tell you how easily that motivation fizzles. Mastery, on the other hand, is about building your own fire.
How can true mastery and proficiency thrive in such circumstances?
Boredom Is the Hidden Teacher
But getting bored is actually an excellent teacher. It teaches your patience and delayed gratification.
How so? You don’t get results immediately. You need to put in the reps consistently before you’re rewarded.
It strengthens your focus and discipline. It builds your resilience and commitment.
Push through the monotony. Repetition feels dull at first but its where results begin to show.
Repetition is boring. It’s more than boring; it’s a choice, it’s intentional. But that’s where excellence gets forged.
Athletes train daily. Musicians practice every day. Writers rewrite drafts.
If you’re passionate, you want to excel. Only understand that passion has nothing to do with high adrenaline or raging hormones. It’s a commitment to excel.
Mastery is fuelled by consistency. Doing the same thing, day after day after day. Boredom after boredom. that’s how you build it.
Where Mastery Is Born
To become good you’ve to put in the work. Agreed. Whether you’re building your business or learning a craft, it needs your time and effort.
Persistence and consistency become two sides of the coin. Doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, whether you feel like doing it or not. What matters is showing up, day after day.
In the words of Keith Ferrazzi, ‘Translate goals into practice + repetition = success!”
Giving up or taking a shortcut is not an option. The more you practice, the better you get.
Instead with regular practice, you’re able to understand the inside of the process better. It allows you to notice the nuances that others missed.
What skill could transform your life if you just gave it 100 days of repetition? Try it to see where you get.
Repetition Leads To Revelation
This depth of knowledge enables you to develop a process suited for you, a style unique to you.
Notice how your favourite sports person has a unique style or signature moves? They’ve developed it after spending years practicing it repeatedly until they owned it.
Once you reach that place where practice becomes a normal, it stops being boring. Instead it becomes meditative. It’s like a runner’s high for the mind.
Boring is good. Boring is essential. Boring builds brilliance. Just as dull discipline develops discipline.
Change how you look at it and then see the action that happens beyond it.
It strengthens your confidence and competence. It’s a long term playoff.
Whether it’s a child learning to ride a bicycle or you practicing to run a marathon, it needs the boring repetition to get the desired result.
So, do the boring stuff to become the master. In a world chasing shortcuts, choose the long road. It’s boring, yes, but that’s exactly where mastery is waiting for you. Show up. Own the outcome.
Dont know who this quote attributes to but thought this was relevant here: “Doing something right is talent; doing something right again and again is character”