Why Being "Boring" Is Your Greatest Professional Strength

Here's something that you may not hear that often. I am both one of the most boring people that you'll ever meet and maybe one of the more interesting people. That's how I describe myself. I describe myself as either the most boring, interesting person or the most interesting boring person. I haven't figured out which one is right, but I know that in some ways I'm a contradiction because by the typical measures, by the things that most people think make someone interesting. They're hobbies, they're travels, the things that they love, the things they do. I'm kind of boring. I've had an incredibly interesting life. I continue to live an interesting life, but I don't do very much. I live inside my head. The thing that gets me more excited than anything else is ideas. So I spent a lot of my time alone. See other way I describe myself. I describe myself as an extroverted loner. I am incredibly social. I love telling stories. I love talking about the ideas, the things I've read, the things that I'm building, and then I go home and I just think about them. Or what makes me boring, and I know that this is kind of weird, is that I actually pursue the things that I'm interested in. That is interesting in and of itself. But it also leads me very little time to do other hobbies. I've always been this way. Since my early 20s, I've always been starting something new. I've been chasing some sort of fame or success or wealth. Or I've just been building something because my interest was peaked, and I just couldn't help myself. I couldn't help but tinker or write some code or build something creative because that's where I get my excitement from. And I just wanted to talk to the other boring people out there, or maybe some of the interesting people out there because just because you're boring, just because you live what some people would consider a boring life doesn't make you not interesting. Take it for me. I'm assuming because you're watching this video that you've watched some of my other videos. You've heard my stories. You've heard me talk about the businesses that I've created, the times that I've been on stage, whether it was successful or a failure. The things that I do with my family, the things that bring me joy and happiness. I live a pretty rich life in those ways. I've done things that most people are too afraid to even try. But beyond it, I don't really have a lot of other things that I do. I spend a lot of the time just reading or thinking. I spend a lot of time in my head or just working on a computer trying to make something happen. And I'm absolutely okay with it. I'm okay with it because it's who I've always been. It's not as if I used to head to the club or go bike riding or mountain climbing. I didn't do snowboarding and skateboarding. And now as I get older, I'm just letting those things go and realizing now that I've become a boring person because that's not true. I have always been boring. But I've also been someone that has learned to tell a good story. Someone that has learned to take some risks in my life. Someone that is genuinely excited to join any conversation because I know I have something to add. I might not have a recommendation for the best restaurant because who cares. I'll just eat whatever's in front of me because I want to get on to doing something that I'm actually interested in, like building or creating something. But I have something to add. I have opinions. I have ideas. I have a personality that underlies all of it. And I think that everybody is the same. I talked to a lot of people that are worried that the fact that they don't have those hobbies. The fact that they are a little more reluctant to share their ideas or share their stories they do have makes them boring. And it will hold them back. And that can be true. But it doesn't have to be because take it from me. A truly boring person. I am always willing to share my ideas. I am making a channel. Now granted this channel may not be the best representation when you watch it because you might say, well, that's why you don't have very many subscribers you're boring. But trust me, it'll take off one day. I am interesting because I make myself interested. I actually think that that's who's most interesting. Maybe I'm biased in that. But just because you do a particular thing doesn't mean you're interesting. In fact, a lot of the time if you are obsessed over some hobby, if you're going to talk to me every time that I see you about the latest excursion you're going on or the mountain that you're climbing or some other technical aspect of the thing that I don't really care about. Well, that's boring to me. Was boring about that as a you don't recognize that I don't have the same passions as you. What's interesting to me and what I try to be as a boring interesting person is finding something that whoever I'm talking to can relate to that we can get excited about. Maybe it is a shared TV show that we just watched independently. Maybe it's just something we read or just our perspective on the world. That's why I make these videos. That's why I don't make promises. That's why I talk about generalities. That's what interests me. And I know that there are people that are just as interesting because they are thoughtful because they're introspective because they've lived a life. I'm interested in how you manage or insecurities. I'm interested in how you've overcome the fears you have to still do the things you do. I talk to so many people that have done remarkable things like going back to school for the first time in their 40s or 50s. That's interesting. I don't care about where you went on your trip to Spain. I care about how you overcome that. What it felt like on the first day that you walked into a room full of 18 year olds and you had to learn how to be part of that group. That's interesting. I think that that's something that everybody needs to accept. That what's interesting and what's boring. Like everything else in life is subjective. And you can choose to find yourself interesting and present yourself as interesting even when you're the most boring person in the room like I am. I guarantee you no matter who you are no matter how boring you think you are. You probably have more hobbies in me. There's probably a book series you love more than I do. I just like to read the news. There's probably a video game that you've been playing and mastering. I play casual games once that I can play for five minutes and then go back to building something. I don't have a lot of interests. And I think that I don't want to change. There's been times in my life where I've wondered if I should focus more on hobbies that I should learn to love something more. I don't need to. I love my family. I love myself. To me, those are the things that matter and those are the things I'm going to keep focusing on. So if you're someone that is worried about being boring just use me as an example. Yeah, I've done some interesting things. But they're all things that I just created from nothing. They were just ideas in my head. And for me, I happen to put them on paper. I happen to take them on stage or put them on film. That's still the same thing. I'm doing nothing different except sitting in my house by myself being boring. I just happen to do it out loud. So if you want to be boring with me, if you want to be boring out loud, if you want to learn out loud, be interesting because of the ideas you have, then share your comments. I would love to hear from some of you. I do an open Friday calendar where I actually just meet random people and share stories. That's how I learn. That's how I remain interesting is by co-opting or stealing your stories just a little bit. And I'm always around to help you craft your stories into something that is more interesting. And over time, I want to start recording those conversations because I think that there is so much interest in the average in the regular people. And the people that aren't on the circuit of videos and YouTube interviews and podcasts, we're all interesting. And I want to hear more from you. So reach out. I would love for us to be boring together or interesting together whatever it takes. And let's see if we can overcome the shame and the guilt of not having a particular hobby, not being the person that ran the marathon. We are interesting too. And I look forward to maybe helping you share that story with the world.