Love Your Mundane Daily Cycle — It’s The Key To Your Destiny
Spin monotony into opportunity and create your dreams with this superpower
We all have our own version of the mundane cycle. Something along the lines of:
Wake up. Make a coffee. Brush your teeth. Get on the bus. Get to work. Watch the clock. Go home. Watch television. Eat. Go to bed.
You loathe the cycle and the mundane tasks within it. You beg for the day to end. You thank God when it’s Friday.
If you want to reflect on a life where you did something you hated and begged for the days to be over — just keep doing what you’re doing.
If not, you need to make a change.
Part 1 | Finding magic in the monotony of life
Life is full of monotony. The first step is to change how you view it.
No matter how exciting your life is, there will always be boring tasks and mind-numbing days. Pick any exciting career — astronaut, musician, actor — they’ll all have mundane cycles, just like you and I.
I’m not saying that no matter what you choose you’ll be depressed. I’m saying no matter what you choose, no matter which path you go in life, no matter who you meet or what crazy circumstances you fall into, there will always, always, always be boring and mundane tasks.
So, why not enjoy them?
Sit outside and enjoy that coffee. 5 minutes of no stress, no responsibilities
Listen to your favourite audiobook on the commute to work — no distractions
Think of making dinner as a creative outlet — one that you can customise and spice to your liking (creating something nutritious and delicious from simple, raw ingredients is like using magic)
A task isn’t intrinsically boring, you make it boring by disliking it. Change your perspective on it — create joy within it. It’s not the chore itself that you hate, it’s your attitude that makes you hate it.
Part 2 | Make the most of the opportunities within the mundane
One of the major reasons why people are not doing well is because they keep trying to get through the day. A more worthy challenge is to get from the day.
— Jim Rohn
I work a corporate job while I pursue this writing thing. Being in an office was tough for me when all I did was say that I hated it, and looked forward to when the clock struck 5. I didn’t like pouring all my effort into results for ‘the man’ — I felt like I was on a ship that was 1 degree off course, and with every nautical mile I sailed, I got further and further from my destination.
Then something switched.
I decided to use the job to my advantage. What could I do here that will benefit me?
Every report I wrote became practice for my writing skills.
Every time-management task became reps for when I have to manage my time with clients.
Every time I had to focus on something I didn’t like, was practice for focusing on the mundane tasks that’ll come with my dream career.
Answering higher-ups became an opportunity to grow my network of people who may need writing help down the line.
I don’t mean this to sound like it’s about me. I want to show you how my days brightened up with a simple perspective shift, and how yours can too.
Be selfish.
What can you get from this? If you gain, you enjoy. Even if you have to work in a less-than-ideal setting, there’s always something you can get from it.
Part 3 | You CREATE opportunity
Opportunity is not something hidden that you have to find. Opportunity is created.
A house is built from foundations — many small things coming together to make a big thing. Your life is no different.
You don’t always know how something’s going to help you in the long run, but if you focus on deriving meaning from each and every task, your destiny will unfold before you — not because you deserve it, or because you stumbled upon it, but because you created it.
Is being a cleaner a clear path to the CEO of a cleaning business? No. But being a cleaner, and actively thinking about what you can use the skills for, creates the opportunity of owning a cleaning business.
Your path is unique. You can either learn from each stop along that unique path, or you can waste your experience by deriving nothing from the seemingly mundane things you do.
There are two ways to look at your path:
Option 1 — Loathing the mundane
Hospitality: Greasy, underpaid, dirty
Retail: You sell but don’t keep the money, boring work
Corporate: Boring spreadsheet work, long hours
You’ve wasted your time and you live a sad life.
Option 2— CREATING opportunity within the mundane
Hospitality: You gain humility, resilience and people skills
Retail: You learn the psychology of selling, and you further develop your people skills
Corporate: You develop organisational skills, time management, discipline, focus and create a powerful network all by leveraging the platform that your job provides
You apply these to your passion and create a successful business.
The same mundane path, with two very different outcomes.
Charlotte Bosanquet’s story is a perfect example of this.
She had a commercial cleaning job in Sydney, Australia. Commercial cleaning is not a glamorous job — scrubbing, chemicals, manual labour, and demeaning work.
She could’ve hated it, she should’ve hated it. She could’ve complained about it and died with the problem, as many do. But her life took an unlikely turn.
After losing her job, she decided to use the skills that she’d gained to her advantage. She knew the ins and outs of the cleaning business, what needed optimising and what she could do to improve it — why not start her own business?
Now, Charlotte is the founder of Care Cleaning Services Sydney, raking in almost $4k/week (news.com).
If that doesn’t scream get from the day, I don’t know what does.
Final thoughts
What are all the opportunities mundane life presents you, and how will you cherish them?
Get rid of the whiny attitude, and instead ask yourself:
What can I get from this?
If you do, your life is about to change.
Don’t get through the day, get from the day.
Thank you all for reading.
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I wish I could’ve given past me these kinds of mindset shifts, so I’m trying to reach as far and wide as I possibly can. Please share this post with someone who you think might enjoy it too.
Until next week,
Eren
Good observations. My generation would say "Seize the Day".