For most people…
Eating the same healthy meals on a regular basis is boring.
Getting stronger with squats, pull ups, and push ups is boring.
Going for a simple walk every morning is boring.
Going to bed and getting up on time is boring.
Understanding that eating right is 80% of the battle is boring.
Saying no to sweets, politely declining desert, and skipping office candy is boring.
Doing the same thing, day in and day out, for months and months, is boring.
So…health companies make things exciting!
There are new miracle foods each week that promise to banish belly fat!
There are daily articles telling you the five easy tips for fast weight loss!
There are new DVDs with killer workouts and muscle confusion that target your abs and thighs!
There are magazines with new workout plans and diet plans that change every week!
There are technologically advanced shoes that promise to tone your posterior!
And for those people that love these exciting things, they get to be excited for the next best thing each week.
And for those people that love these exciting things, they get to stay unhealthy, chasing the next cure.
Boring isn’t very marketable
Boring does not sell magazine subscriptions, advertisements, or DVDs. Boring is silent, unwavering progress.
Boring is sticking to the same routine week after week, month after month.
Boring means not freaking out when stepping on the scale and the number is slightly off.
Boring means making small, repeated improvements to an otherwise unmoving and determined schedule.
Boring is replacing grand declarations of drastic change with tiny habit changes over long periods of time.
So what happens when you get good at boring?
Saint embraced boring:
Staci kicked some boring ass:
Joe rocked at being boring:
Be boring
Boring leads to weight loss.
Boring leads to strength and power.
Boring leads to increased productivity.
Boring leads to success and habit change that actually stick.
Boring actually works.
Sometimes, boring can be f***ing awesome.
This is one of those times.
Go be boring.
-Steve
Today’s Rebel Hero, Chris M from Canada. He went on a ‘boring’ morning walk and found adventure:
“Thor approves of the Morning Mile. Well, at least that’s what I’m forced to assume based on the torrential storm that erupted while I was about half way around my usual circuit. However, if the insane Canadian weather systems think that a little rain can slow me down, they’ve got another thing coming, because I enjoyed it so much I ran the mile again.
There’s just something glorious and dramatic about it. I remember the days before NF when I could hardly walk a mile without breaking a sweat. It feels like forever ago. Attached is a photo of me in my favorite workout shirt after I got back.”
Want to be the next Rebel Hero? Send in a photo of you in your Nerd Fitness battle gear to contact@nerdfitness.com!
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What a boring article
Here here Steve, its a natural reaction to over-complicate things when we fear failure.
Really liked this article ^^ I feel so much better about refusing rubbish food now(: … helpful
My sister says my diet is too boring, because I eat the same thing every morning. Simplify the f**k out of everything! Right Steve? lol
Ironically, there are such drastic changes to my diet and lifestyle that I would be a fool to call such change, “Boring”. It’s extremely exciting, the challenge and the change. Everyone else that throws their money away at fast food and miracle diets are the boring people.
Oh man, I’m super boring when it comes to eating. I eat the same simple food over and over again. I also do the same boring workouts! It’s easy to mock boring food. It’s challenging to embrace eating well consistently.
I am so excited my Dev friend showed this site to me! I am coming from working at home, or at a desk the last 5 years, and it has caught up to me big time.My goal, go from 230 , back to 160 – 175. Wish me luck!
I don’t think it’s boring. I think it’s TEDIOUS. My workouts are NEVER boring. My food can be a bit boring, but I once a week I try to find a new paleoish recipe to try. So I try to keep it from being UN-boring. Trying new things is always fun and not “boring”. But sticking to these new things is where people get lost.
But we are SOOOOO conditioned to get ****EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW***** that simple sticking it out and doing the hard tedious things- the small tiny changes… gets old and people schulff it off as “boring” but its no more boring than latte’s bagels/doughnuts, pizza, soda, beer, wings and burgers every week day in and day out.. It’s not like everyone else is trying new foods every week- they eat the same unhealthy crap weekly too.
But food and workouts are definitely not boring- tedious maybe- but the weight didn’t come on over night- guess what – it won’t come off over night- and that’s what people find “boring”
I eat Paleo, but my food isn’t boring. Today: wild venison with local root vegetables and fresh red and orange peppers. Yesterday: Chicken with steamed snow peas. The day before: wild duck breast with salad and roasted local turnips. The day before that, veal in a wild mushroom sauce over sweet potatoes.
My diet can be varied or boring, depending on how much time I have (and if my fave restaurant has Paleo specials when I happen in). Even when it’s “boring” … steamed vegetables and a yummy grass fed or wild protein source is going to be flavorful enough to not be boring.
Thanks so much for this :). I have been afraid of being labeled “boring” my entire adult life and so have made many immature and downright stupid spontaneous/impulse decisions in an attempt to remain “exciting”. It holds me back every day. What crap!
Thanks for laying out, unmistakeably, that the key to real excitement is in having a boring foundation sturdy enough to support anything that could happen. Boring leads to endless possibilities. Wow. What a concept. I am no longer afraid to reject impulse and spontaneity when it conflicts with becoming stronger and healthier. Starting today I will choose boring in pursuit of the impossible.
Ha, that’s nice. But it is what it is: BORING. But we can transform a duty into a game and I’m not talking about the annual cod-BS kids are playing these days. I’m talking about a change in our heads not thinking “I gotta run up that hill. I’m gonna do it another 2 times this week for weight loss”. You gotta think “If I go up there I’m gonna feel great because I accomplished something.” Never do something because someone tells you to. We are not really forced to do anything in life. We always have the choice to refuse. Often, that’s not very smart considering our self-set goals. This goal might be earning money. So disobeying your boss might be a dumb idea. So you do it. But it’s important that you don’t think you are forced to, but that you WANT to do it (because it’s benecifial to your goal). If your goal is getting healthy and loosing weight it’s a bad idea to think “I have to run up that hill / skip that ice cream” Say “want”. And add something like “because it’s beneficial to my goal.”.
That way most things don’t feel like a tedious duty anymore. Think about it.
100% agree. Keep up the great posts!
Boring…nice way to put it. If fitness and health is boring, then damn…I have a boring life. Grasp boring as everything else is trying to sell you benefits that can be seen from boring.
staci boring? well she looks good boring, and i love boring that how im beating my addictsion to caffine
I’m not sure I agree with this. What you seem to be saying is that in order to be healthy you’d better just resign yourself to a boring life, and expect never to have any fun ever again. In my experience this could not be further from the truth, and telling people this might discourage them from even taking small steps to get healthy.
As my mom used to say, do the boring stuff first so you can do the exciting ones later.
They are the boring ones not us. We’re so cool we don’t fall for the marketing and the need to try new fads every week! We are awsome!
Btw who else thinks Staci is the hottest rebel out there?
AMEN! Loved this post. I’m guessing the inspiration came from some kind of acquaintance telling you that you’re boring? I find it fascinating that people equate being healthy with being boring, but it definitely happens! Just because I no longer drink copious amounts of beer and stay out late partying because I’d rather spend the next day being productive, working or getting a workout in or doing something outside that I think is fun, I’m apparently “boring.” Well, I’ll tell ya what, being boring has lost me 40 pounds since June, so I’ll go ahead and keep on keepin’ on, boring or not.
This article is obviously sarcastic and ironic, which I think some people didn’t pick up on. It’s not boring at all for us doing it. It’s thrilling to discover this new you that’s been waiting to get out. I for one have more energy, am overall happier, feel better, and look better. Nothing about that is boring to me. But to my friends who expected me to continue some of my bad habits like binge drinking and late night partying and all the nasty eating that seems to follow…yeah, they thought I was being boring. Oh well!
You mean to tell me that the shake weight is bogus? Well, guess I won’t be asking for that at Christmas.
This post brought to you by “Keep On Doin’ by the Isley Brothers”
Slayer I see what you mean but I believe the point was being made that all the marketers try pushing crap on us (no, not all of it is crap). All this junk, makes what works the best appear boring because it’s what has always worked. If marketers didn’t advertise this way, then billions would be lost because people would not spend any money by doing what’s most effective…the basics.
Slayer I see what you mean but I believe the point was being made that all the marketers try pushing crap on us (no, not all of it is crap). All this junk, makes what works the best appear boring because it’s what has always worked. If marketers didn’t advertise this way, then billions would be lost because people would not spend any money by doing what’s most effective…the basics.
Hm. I’m not totally sure I agree with this. I do agree that some people make claims that such-and-such is boring, and are looking for something more fun, etcetera. Myself, I find running and biking incredibly boring, so I do them in limited amounts, but take a great deal more time to enjoy the playground that is my gym. One of my favourite messages from you, Steve, that I try to pass on to my friends, is that the best approach is to find something you really love to do, and do that. Don’t be bored: be smart.
However, that brings up the little piece that I think is missing from your post: a big part of the problem is that people are often uneducated about what works and what doesn’t work: they aren’t educated so they can’t be smart. In addition, they are looking for something that is both effective and efficient. So companies may make things exciting, but what they really do is market quick-fixes and miracle-cures. “Take this pill and you’ll lose 8 times as much weight in half the time!” or “Do this workout and you’ll have the abs you’ve always dreamed of!” People jump on it because they want the result, but are not always willing to (or able to get themselves to) commit to the process. In the end doing it the right way is going to lead to long term success, but the right way can be trying and hard, and it’s not consistently about quick results.
I suppose that might qualify as boring for some people, but honestly I’m having a hard time seeing how so much awesome (weight loss, increased strength and power, noticeable results and a changed life) can actually be boring.
Amen brother! I had similar thoughts a couple weeks ago: http://nerdjutsu.com/2012/11/training-getting-regular/
If you add Morgan Freeman’s voice or any other and stream together every Nike commercial every made, this post becomes an epic motivational montage.
This article hits the nail on the head. Being boring=results! Glad I found your blog.
Ridiculously awesome article. Thank you. THIS has been me the last few weeks – boring, SO boring. Crossfit. Paleo. Sleep. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. UGH. Thanks for the new motivation! http://125.msn.ca
Boring is hugely under-rated.
Ninja’s are really boring: http://www.nerdfitness.com/2012/08/13/productivity/
Some people love drama in their lives so much that they leave things until the last minute to get things done just for ‘fun’.
I worked with a guy who always was always way too busy. He wasn’t really. Rushing about because he never planned anything and did everything at or after the last minute. Badly… He had some microscopes sitting on a desk that we’d had for months before needing to send them to a field camp. He left it until 6pm the night before to pack them and find a lens missing. A job that could have been done boringly months ahead with no drama.
Be boring at work. Plan things. Get them done. Get some free time. Get rid of the stress that YOU are responsible for.
I used to be exciting at work and now I am boring. I get more done and have more time for exciting and interesting things away from the usual boring work.
I also have a Ninja mouse mat that reminds me I shouldn’t be looking at forums right now 😉
Funny enough I just read this article today when yesterday I updated my Facebook status that my life is boring. However, part of that status was mentioning I did 42 pull-ups in a row. I wonder how boring my life will be this week. All I can say is more boredom please
I so agree, it’s never boring but tedious. However, the more exciting the exercises (Zumba, for instance) the less tedious it seems. I still remember my first Zumba class and how 45 minutes flew by before I realized it, whereas most exercises I’d done before had me counting the minutes.
However, problem is if we rely too much on excitement, it does give us bad habits. I find that I have a hard time exercising if I’m not in a class, which I’ve been working on getting past now that I have nearly no time for classes.
thank you for this article! it was not so boring.
http://www.phen375.com
I wanna be like Staci 🙁
And that’s why I’ll continue being the most boring chick in the office who “used to be cool” when binged on pizza and italian food every day with her job mates. Hopefully, my workouts will be super boring too and help0 me get rid of the belly and love handles that still undermine my self esteem. Let’s keep beoring ourselves to death!!
Your articles are the best 🙂
Cleg Burris here. You are preaching to the choir man.
I like your no-BS approach to this subject. The greatest achievements in life are never the result of drastic actions, but rather the right steps repeated daily over the long haul. I believe what we view as boring is just what we haven’t learned to enjoy. I love my morning walks/jogs, especially when nothing exciting happens. Thanks for your wisdom on this.
It’s Amazing how an article on being Boring can be so interesting.
I agree totally. Many of us forgot or never learned discipline. How many of us look at Olympic Athletes hoisting up a gold medal or an NFL team holding up the Super Bowl Trophy.
We sometime forget or never realize that it took several years of hard work or “boring work” to reach that success.
Keep it up everyone.
Best of luck
Awesome!
I agree with you 90%, but I think you might have to replace “boring” with simple, I think that’s what Steve really means. The word “boring” simply is emotive for effect, though judging by comments here, it’s not the right terminology to get the crowd to agree with him.
How much “boring” do I need to lose 1 pound per week?