My Boring Job Created a Most Unexpected Side Benefit

How the world’s most tedious job served to turn me into a published author

As a newly arrived immigrant in Germany, the first job I got was at a factory. My German was decent, but not good enough to get a job in my field, so I settled for a simpler one.

I was a production helper, working with machines to help produce plastic parts for everyday things such as locks and window openers. What I did was the most boring thing I could ever think of.

• One of my tasks was to place small metal parts into a machine that would spray molten plastic on them and form the final product.
• I had to open the machine lid, place eight metal parts, close the machine lid, and let the machine do the part with the plastic.
• The machine would then push the finished product away, and I’d have to repeat the same process.

So I had to place eight metal parts, over and over again, and repeat that process for eight long hours, five days a week. I was wrong. Calling that task boring would be an understatement.

It was hauntingly monotonous!

And I had to do it every day for weeks! I felt I had to quit the job as soon as possible, but my rent and bills wouldn’t allow me to do that. Besides, I had to improve my German skills to find a better job.

While doing that tedious job, I’d look at the clock every single minute to see if time passed. I was waiting for that divine moment when the shift leader would come and turn off the machine, saying the magic word “Feierabend”, which meant that my job was over for the day.

Feierabend became my favorite German word instantly.

One day, I thought I had to do something radical to survive this without looking at the clock all the time. So I tried to do that task as fast as I could. Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I gradually came up with a technique that would help me get faster.

I’d say two four-syllable Greek words and place a metal part in the machine for each syllable. As time passed, I said the words faster and faster. I felt like an Olympic athlete, pushing to run faster, break a world record, and make my family proud.

Meanwhile, the machine calculated the time it took me to place the parts inside and showed the number of seconds each cycle took on a bright screen. At first, it was 30 seconds. Not bad, but I could do better.

I made it my life’s goal to get to 29, then to 25, then under 20 seconds. Time passed a lot faster that way, and I started having fun trying to surpass my “personal record”.

I visualized myself as a commentator at that Olympic sport where Maria the superathlete was performing.

“Maria is going at it again. Placing the parts at lightning speed, will she pass her record of 20 seconds? Yes, it’s getting faster than normal. She can do it, oh she did it! 19 seconds! We have a new world record!”

Suddenly, I wasn’t even looking at the clock anymore. As this fun visualization and effort made my job a lot less boring, I kept going faster.

I did this for a few days, and one day, as I was finishing the task and getting closer to Feierabend, I realized there was a circle of colleagues watching me work.

• “Blitzschnell”, I heard one of them say, “lightning fast”.
• “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said another.
• “How do you do that? Can you show me?” said a colleague who was a lot older and more experienced than me.

What had happened? In my desperate attempt to make the job less boring, I actually became great at it. That made me content, but sadly, it didn’t last long.

I got bored again!

Yeah, I was fast and my colleagues and boss recognized that. But I reached a point where I couldn’t get any faster without messing up here and there, so it stopped being interesting. And I had to do the same task for another two weeks!

I looked at the clock again. Then I caught myself and thought, “No. No clocks again. I have to stimulate my brain somehow.” So I started thinking about my life up to that point, and that train of thought led me to think of everything I wanted to accomplish.

As I had so much time on my hands to think of everything, I suddenly remembered that I had always wanted to write a book on how to learn languages for free.

I had taught myself many languages up to that point, so I felt I wanted to help people. But then I thought, “That won’t happen. I’m not good at writing. But hey, how could the introduction to that book be?”

As I had nothing to lose but time (which was my biggest desire), I started thinking about the introduction. By the time I had to take my lunch break, I’d thought of the whole introduction for that book. I picked up a piece of kitchen paper — it was the only thing I could find in the room — and wrote it down.

When my lunch break was over, I got back to work and started thinking about what else I’d include in that book. The next day, I brought my laptop to work to use during my lunch break. I’d write the ideas I had while working with the machine.

The next weekend, I asked myself when Monday would come so I could get back to work and think of new ideas for the book!

Wait, what?

Isn’t Monday the most hated day in the world? Don’t I hate my job, too? Don’t I find it extremely boring? Why am I excited about it? What kind of sorcery is this!? Was I looking forward to doing the most boring job on earth?

It’s been four years. I live in a different city doing a different, a lot less boring office job. But I’m still thankful for that job at the factory. It helped me become a published author. I wouldn’t have started or even thought of writing that book if it weren’t for that job.

It taught me how to use my brain effectively while my body was busy.

When I changed jobs, I felt the urge to apply what I learned. So I started doing household chores to keep my body busy and think of new ideas. It worked! I gradually transformed from an extremely chaotic person to someone who loves and praises order daily.

And this transformation gave me more ideas than ever before. I noticed changes in my mood, too.

What can I say? Dear reader, if you’re stuck in any boring task, keep your brain busy, too. Brainstorm new ideas, expand and combine existing ones, and think of what you’d like to write or do next.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll think of a nice book introduction, too.

Happy brainstorming, Maria