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When we think about personal growth, we tend to think that we should start doing all kinds of (new) stuff. Start meditating, reading, exercising, learning a new skill. And although this could be an entrypoint onto a path of growth, sometimes that step is too big, unclear or unaffordable.

I'm making a case for the opposite option; quitting. Quit doing that which is not serving you. That is easier said than done, but sometimes it actually is the easier way to go.

So, being bored instead of being busy, why should you try?

The other side of the same equation

Your current situation is the result of all the decisions you made so far. Choosing to do one thing consequently means that you do not choose for a plethora of other things. Because in the end, we only have 24 for hours in each day.

So when we try to slightly change the course of our lives, we have two options. Do more of what we would like to do or do less of what contributes to the life we do not want to live. We either create space by doing less or we claim space by doing what it is we actually want.

There is one caveat, however, when just quitting or breaking a habit: what will you do instead? My experience is that without having a concrete plan for what to do instead of that habit you are trying to break, is that a new non-serving habit will form. Instead of playing a video game, you'll start watching a series. Instead of waking up late, we wake up early and scroll through our social media feed for 45 minutes.

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Be bored instead of overwhelmed

In the personal development space, especially online, all kinds of books, programs, video's, podcasts, etc. are being marketed for new options and habits to add to our lives for the purpose of making life easier, more fun and more fulfilling.

The problem with that is that we tend to be overwhelmed with all this information. Where to start, what program to buy and what new habit to pick up first. For me, this has resulted in getting stuck many times, because I was overwhelmed with information and options.

So chances are, that with more information the opposite of growth is achieved: we get stuck. So I also tried to opposite, by removing things from my life.

Instead of being overwhelmed, what we are looking for when quitting, is to be bored. Just to let go of all the pressure to work harder so that we can feel we are going to be fine when we do less.

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Put it into practice

I recommend to have a very small game plan for when dropping a habit it: do nothing! So instead of starting up this video game, just go sit behind your PC and do nothing. Just stare at the screen.

(Yes, we could argue that staring at a screen or doing nothing is also 'doing something', but let's not get to philosophical here alright :D).

This might feel silly, but I dare you to try it. Experiment with the feeling of doing nothing when you feel the urge to do something.

Good luck and feel free to let me know how it went.

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