The Magic of Repetition

Routine and endless repetitions are the worst nightmare for many. Only when every day is different, do we believe we are living life to the fullest. In the process, we overlook the fact that the real magic lies in repetition.

We get bored quickly. We have hundreds of television channels, thousands of radio stations, and billions of websites. Add to that movies, books, newspapers, Tinder, social media, and countless leisure activities.

No one works more than ten years at a job. Finding the ideal partner for life seems impossible, given the endless choices on dating sites.

In every aspect of our lives, we’re afraid of missing out. What if we commit too soon? Who guarantees that our choice won’t ruin a much better opportunity?

Everyone strives for an imaginary endpoint where everything is great and perfect. But as soon as we invest time and energy somewhere, we already ask ourselves if it’s worth it. Some write a book and then stop because it doesn’t become an instant bestseller. Others write two or four articles on an online platform and give up because they only find two readers.

Deep down, of course, we know that we’ll never get to the goal of our dreams without giving it our all. But we suppress this knowledge and act as if we had a thousand years to try out everything that comes into our heads.

You are only good at what you do every day

What are you especially good at? Do you cook delicious meals? Do you beat everyone in your favorite online role-playing game? Can you say every line from every Star Wars movie?

Once you find something you’re very good at, you’ll realize one thing: You’ve been doing it almost every day for years.

Once you realize that and then turn to your unfulfilled dreams, you’ll understand why you haven’t been able to fulfill them yet.

Do you want to be a famous writer who earns a lot of money with your books? If you haven’t even come close to achieving that goal, you probably haven’t spent much time writing in recent years.

Have you wanted to learn a new language for years so you can talk to people when you travel but still can’t understand more than a few sentences? Then you’ve spent more time dreaming than learning in the past.

In either case, this doesn’t have to mean you’ve been lazy. More likely, you want to achieve those goals, but you don’t think you can. You then take your lack of success as proof of your inability.

But where should success come from if you don’t pursue your goal patiently and day after day?

Repetition does not mean doing the same thing over and over again.

If you write two thousand words every day, year after year, you seem to be doing the same thing every day. But in reality, you write different words every day. Only the activity itself remains the same. What you really fear is writing the same words every day. That would be a horrible fate indeed. But this way, your ability to write will improve.

If you study Spanish for an hour every day, you are not doing the same thing every day. Of course, you have to repeat the same vocabulary many times until you don’t forget it, but you don’t learn the same vocabulary every day. Your understanding of the language grows with each day.

Being in a long-term marriage doesn’t mean experiencing the same thing with the same person every day. Every day is different because each of you is a little bit different every day than the day before. Two people grow together, change and become one. The relationship becomes deeper with each passing day.

Each repetition is a step on the way to the goal

Every sentence you write brings you closer to finishing your book. Every pull-up brings you closer to your ideal body. Every tender gesture towards your partner increases your chance to be happy with him or her forever. As long as you take one step at a time, you will inevitably move forward. You can’t know how many steps you will have to take to reach your goal, but it doesn’t matter.

The important thing is that you have no chance of getting there if you stop or keep trying new ways. If you want to learn Spanish, you shouldn’t start studying Japanese on the side the day after tomorrow. If you’re going to write books, there’s no point in writing one day, beginning a programming course the next, and starting a YouTube channel the day after that.

Repetitions are not your enemy. They are not there to suck the life out of you and make your life monotonous. They are your stairway to heaven, where your dreams reside.

Only those who embrace and endure the seeming monotony of repetition will be rewarded with extraordinary results. You know it’s true because there are things you are already good at today. Whatever you strive for — do it the way you did with those things. Then you can’t fail.

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