How boredom can boost your bottom line

Hey Contrarians,

Some cardinal sins in my book: Asking a friend for a ride to the airport. 5-minute long voice notes. Being boring.

Living life to its length and breadth is a priority. That leaves no room for the uninteresting.

But… What if boredom isn’t just a yawning abyss?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and we might need to flip the script. I think, maybe, you should be bored.

Today in 10 minutes or less, you'll learn:

✔️ Contrarian framework: Efficient vs. effective

✔️ The rapid decline of boredom

✔️ The "ups" frame: 3 ways boredom becomes your biz superpower

✔️ What happens when we’re unintentional...

BTW…

I’ve been hosting a monthly Masterclass on how to buy a business, but next week will be the final one for the foreseeable future. So this is your last chance at this free event.

I’ll be going over the 10 steps to buying a business that cashflows, with a Q&A. We’re capped at 5k attendees (and this email goes out to almost 450k people), so save your spot here before they’re gone.

Contrarian Framework: Efficient vs. effective

I was recently on a panel with Jay Shetty. For context, I’m kind of a hardo with a Wall Street background who’s uncomfortable with all things touchy-feely. And Jay… Is literally a former monk.

The dichotomy couldn’t be greater, yet he said something that resonated deeply with me.

He pinned a name to something I’ve felt throughout my life (and I bet you have too):

“You have effective days and efficient days… Don’t confuse the two.”

There are days when you’ll hammer out a 25-item to-do list, and then there are days when you’ll make one, important decision. Both are key.

So spot on, it’s scary.

It’s my belief that, in either case, boredom is an underrated ingredient for impact.

Some of our most effective moments are born in the most “boring” of times – like coming up with an idea on a long walk or spending hours in deep writing.

On the other end, letting ourselves get bored helps us notice we’re on a hamster wheel, checking off to-do lists but going nowhere.

Maybe we should stop dreading boredom. Instead, let’s learn how to recognize it, tame it, and leverage the sh*t out of it.

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The decline of boredom

Since the dawn of humanity, humans have experienced boredom. Right?

Sure, they had bigger things to worry about (woolly mammoths and sh*t), less time to be bored (too busy hunting and gathering), and totally different expectations (life’s slower without smartphones). But humans are humans, and boredom is boredom.

What we consider boring has obviously changed since thousands of years ago.

But it’s also changed since ten years ago.

TikTok has more than 150M users in the US and 1B worldwide. On average, users spend 93 minutes in the app per day.

Millions are spending the equivalent of three full weeks a year entertaining themselves with an app that launched in 2017. Mind you, that’s on top of all our other 21st-century dopamine machines.

The point is, other than that one helluva spike in 2019 (when Arianna Grande released "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored"), it's clear we’ve gotten quite good at finding new, effective ways to cut boredom out of the equation.

The takeaway here is that boredom is becoming increasingly scarce.

And what happens when something becomes scarce?

Its value rises.

The "ups" frame: 3 ways boredom becomes your biz superpower

I have a framework for intentional boredom that turns the uninteresting into a business superpower.

Being boring is usually a downer, so I call this one the “ups” frame.

Here’s how you get down with "ups":

1. Unsexiness: The boring biz advantage

In business, boredom is a powerful moat.

Investor Charlie Songhurst has famously described that boring and complex companies can offer the best returns.

And sure, I agree you'll be sitting on a big pile of f-you money if you manage to create the next giant accounting platform.

But the truth of the matter is, for 99% of us, we'll realize within 15 minutes it ain’t gonna work out.

That's why I'm mainly focused on opportunities in the boring and simple, and I think most people should be, too.

Boring businesses – anything from HVAC to porta-potty rentals, and everything in between – are often overlooked because they’re not sexy.

But remember, boring doesn’t mean unprofitable.

There’s simplicity in the unsexy, too, and because of that, all kinds of golden opportunities exist. Predictable cash flows, competitors that don’t have $1B in funding, low bars for customer service, poor brand recognition…

Embrace the tedium, and you’ll find more opportunities, fewer sharks in the water, and bigger slices of the pie.

2. Patience: The GOAT of investing

If there’s anyone who’s made boredom work for them, it’s Warren Buffett.

The man is worth $120B, and he’ll be the first to tell you that much of his business model involves just sitting around and waiting.

A good portion of Buffett’s success with Berkshire Hathaway boils down to two core steps:

1. Make a small number of smart decisions (hard).
2. Give them time – ample time – to play out (even harder).

A “tortoise vs. hare” strategy, if you will.

Another Buffett-ism that’s worked wonders for the man himself: “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” Like music to our ears.

It’s all boring as f*ck. But the proof is in the pudding.

On the spectrum of boring to sexy, Bershire Hathaway and the ARK Innovation ETF couldn't be further apart.

For Buffett, picking a great, simple color and watching the paint dry has been a stupidly profitable playbook.

Simplicity + time + consistency is a formula you should never underestimate.

3. Stillness: Productivity fuel

When it comes to work and productivity, boredom can be a curse.

But there’s a yin and a yang to everything, including being bored.

Boredom at work often stems from repetition. This is why you should always look to automate the drudgery – to free up your time for more engaging things. Your business will thank you, and so will your sanity.

Sometimes your most brilliant ideas will only come to you during a walk in the middle of the day, or during lunch with an employee or collegue.

So if you've opened up some time, don’t take it for granted – and certainly don’t fill it with more to-do lists.

Your best ideas need breathing room, and they’ll die of a Zoom overdose.

What happens when we’re unintentional…

I said boredom can be a curse, and I meant it.

A therapist told me once that among her clients, many are slowly wasting away from one thing...

Not anxiety or depression.

But boredom.

Honestly? I’m not sure that surprised me. The truth of the matter is a lot of people just live an oatmeal kind of life.

They wake up, go to a job they think is meh, with people they think are meh, doing things they think are meh, dating partners they think are meh…

Have you ever tried eating oatmeal for breakfast? It’s not bad. Pretty good, even.

How about for three years? It’ll keep you alive, but it’ll bore you to death.

That terrifies me.

I’ve begun to learn that the worst thing that can happen to you certainly isn’t failure. It’s living in mediocrity, and never trying to change.

That’s the kind of boredom that’s unforgivable. The boredom that creeps up over time, while you give away little parts of yourself to others’ routines, plans, and expectations.

Own your life, so you can go for the f-ing steak for breakfast.

Let’s live interesting lives. Let’s be bored. Let's own boring businesses.

But let's be intentional in our boredom.

We don’t have to, we get to.
​

- Codie
​

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