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Anything is interesting if you engage with it. And being bored is a state of mind. It's a fallacy to say "that's boring". The bored-ness is in your head, not in

Anything is interesting if you engage with it. And being bored is a state of mind. It's a fallacy to say "that's boring". The bored-ness is in your head, not in the task.

andrewzah 6y ago
This is certainly true. Being bored to a large extent is a personal choice. Things can be as interesting as you make them, but it requires looking at things from different perspectives sometimes.
Ecstatify 6y ago
I’m guessing you’re a manager.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  Developer all my life.
mlboss 6y ago
Not sure why you were downvoted. I totally agree with you. One of my past manager told me that the trick of making a boring job interesting is to introduce a layer of abstraction to the task. For example, if you have to right a lot of boiler plate code then write a code generator.
- pschuegr 6y ago
  "The trick to making a boring job interesting is to make it more complicated". This is IMO terrible advice for building software. Edit: your example seems like a good instance of applying this _well_, but I would not tell anybody this as general advice.
Taylor_OD 6y ago
I don't know... Have you ever done manual QA as a full time job?
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  Some mechanical menial jobs can be satisfying. At least when you can get in the zone, and see what you've accomplished at the end of the day. I grew up on a farm. There was a lot of that. It took mental discipline, which most folks may not have an opportunity to develop in this hypercharged media world.
  - Taylor_OD 6y ago
    I didnt grow up on a farm but grew up on a good bit of land with a lot of yard work that needed to be done. I agree that some jobs like that can be satisfying but its very different from a computer based role. At the end of the day when you have taken a large tree branch and turned it into a stacked pile of chopped wood you feel a sense of accomplishment. It doesnt feel quite the same when you've cleared 4 QA UI tickets.
mcjkrw 6y ago
For me if something is super boring, I will try to perceive it as a "free zen meditation session". Just do the boring stuff, but also try to work on my posture, breathing and so on, and engage. I'm far from perfect with it, but it has changed the way I perceive work forever.
bogdanoff_2 6y ago
You're probably right. Can give some practical advice or pointers about how to become interested in something? What do you practically mean by "engage"? Second point: even though something is "only" in your head, it doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to change. The question then becomes not whether it's possible to become interested in something, but whether it's worthwhile to put your time and energy into doing so as opposed to doing something you find interesting from the start.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  I guess things are 'interesting from the start' because of a coincidental state of mind when approaching the topic. Its emotional, not intellectual? Engaging is pretty well understood. Its putting your full consistent attention on a task, and attempting to perform it better. I find some things interesting at some point, and not interesting at others. The thing doesn't of course change. Its all me.

Anything is interesting if you engage with it. And being bored is a state of mind. It's a fallacy to say "that's boring". The bored-ness is in your head, not in the task.

andrewzah 6y ago

This is certainly true. Being bored to a large extent is a personal choice. Things can be as interesting as you make them, but it requires looking at things from different perspectives sometimes.

Ecstatify 6y ago

I’m guessing you’re a manager.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Developer all my life.

mlboss 6y ago

Not sure why you were downvoted. I totally agree with you. One of my past manager told me that the trick of making a boring job interesting is to introduce a layer of abstraction to the task. For example, if you have to right a lot of boiler plate code then write a code generator.

pschuegr 6y ago
"The trick to making a boring job interesting is to make it more complicated". This is IMO terrible advice for building software. Edit: your example seems like a good instance of applying this _well_, but I would not tell anybody this as general advice.

Taylor_OD 6y ago

I don't know... Have you ever done manual QA as a full time job?

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Some mechanical menial jobs can be satisfying. At least when you can get in the zone, and see what you've accomplished at the end of the day. I grew up on a farm. There was a lot of that. It took mental discipline, which most folks may not have an opportunity to develop in this hypercharged media world.
- Taylor_OD 6y ago
  I didnt grow up on a farm but grew up on a good bit of land with a lot of yard work that needed to be done. I agree that some jobs like that can be satisfying but its very different from a computer based role. At the end of the day when you have taken a large tree branch and turned it into a stacked pile of chopped wood you feel a sense of accomplishment. It doesnt feel quite the same when you've cleared 4 QA UI tickets.

mcjkrw 6y ago

For me if something is super boring, I will try to perceive it as a "free zen meditation session". Just do the boring stuff, but also try to work on my posture, breathing and so on, and engage. I'm far from perfect with it, but it has changed the way I perceive work forever.

bogdanoff_2 6y ago

You're probably right. Can give some practical advice or pointers about how to become interested in something? What do you practically mean by "engage"? Second point: even though something is "only" in your head, it doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to change. The question then becomes not whether it's possible to become interested in something, but whether it's worthwhile to put your time and energy into doing so as opposed to doing something you find interesting from the start.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
I guess things are 'interesting from the start' because of a coincidental state of mind when approaching the topic. Its emotional, not intellectual? Engaging is pretty well understood. Its putting your full consistent attention on a task, and attempting to perform it better. I find some things interesting at some point, and not interesting at others. The thing doesn't of course change. Its all me.