The Power of Boring

Here’s a quote, a resource, a book, and an affirmation to help power you through the rest of the week.

QUOTE

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
— Aristotle

RESOURCE- Groundhog Day and the Power of Boring

February 2nd was Groundhog Day. Same ritual, year after year. Wake up. See shadow (or don’t). Six more weeks of winter (or early spring). Repeat.

Teaching in February can feel the same way. Same morning routine. Same lesson structures. Same student behaviors. Same staff meetings. Same grading pile.

Again. And again. And again.

It’s easy to think the repetition is the problem—that you need something dramatic to break the cycle. A new curriculum. A classroom redesign. A complete system overhaul. Something exciting to make teaching feel less like Groundhog Day.

But here’s what Aristotle understood 2,300 years ago: Excellence doesn’t come from exciting one-time acts. It comes from boring things done repeatedly. The teacher who leaves at 4 pm every Tuesday isn’t doing something heroic.

They’re doing something boring. Repeatedly.

The teacher who has the same morning routine (coffee, five minutes of silence, review the day) isn’t revolutionizing education. They’re being boring. Repeatedly. The teacher who does the same Sunday reset practice every single week isn’t discovering some new breakthrough. They’re being boring. Repeatedly.

And that boring repetition? That’s where sustainable excellence lives. Stop chasing the dramatic intervention. Start protecting the boring practice.

Try it this week:
Identify one boring sustainable practice. What’s one thing you could do consistently that would actually help? Not exciting. Not impressive. Just… helpful. Repeatedly.

Examples: Leave by 4 pm every Wednesday. Ten minutes of planning Sunday evening. Five-minute morning routine before students arrive. Same lunch break routine every day. Cleaning off your desk before you go home. Writing a few notes about how a lesson went that will help you out the next time you teach it.

Commit to it for one week. Not forever. Not as a New Year’s resolution. Just this week. Same thing, same time, every time it’s supposed to happen. By Friday, that boring practice won’t feel new anymore. It’ll just feel like what you do. That’s the point. Excellence isn’t an act. It’s a habit.

The teachers who last decades aren’t the ones making dramatic gestures. They’re the ones who figured out which boring practices to protect—then they protected them.

You are what you repeatedly do. So the question isn’t “What exciting change should I make?” The question is: “What boring thing am I willing to repeat?”

Read more: The Secret Benefits of Routines

BOOK

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work - Mason Currey examines the daily routines of 161 writers, artists, composers, and scientists—from Beethoven to Maya Angelou. The surprising truth? They all had boring, repetitive routines. Same wake-up time. Same coffee ritual. Same work hours. Their genius didn’t come from inspiration—it came from showing up to the same boring practice every single day. 📚 Get it on Amazon | Teacher Reset Kit Book Recommendations

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NOW REPEAT...

Excellence lives in the boring things I’m willing to repeat.

P.S. Want to build boring, sustainable practices with other teachers doing the same? That’s what we’re doing in The STRONG Teacher’s Lounge. Join teachers choosing excellence through repetition, not exhaustion through heroics.