Boredom Is Good: Increasing Creativity and Enriching Your Life

Available for Interviews: Roger Hall.

Dr. Roger Hall has a doctorate in Counseling Psychology, is an Executive Coach to entrepreneurs and leaders, and is an in-demand public speaker throughout North America.

 

Talking Points from Roger Hall on
How Boredom Is Good and Can Lead to Creativity:

One good thing That Came out of the Quarantine Was boredom!

All over the internet we saw people baking bread, planting gardens, painting, imitating classic artworks, and hundreds of other creative outlets.

Why?  Because they were bored. Boredom is a good thing! Here’s why:

• Boredom is the breeding ground for creativity.
• Overstimulated brains never need to create, they simply distract.
• When do your best ideas come to mind? In the shower. Because you know how to shower without conscious thought, you are comfortable in a warm environment, and nothing is distracting you.
• When our brain rests from concentrated activity, it goes into what is called the Default Mode Network.  A set of brain structures actually become more active than when you are concentrating on a task.  

Bad & Good Mode Networks

The Bad Default Mode Network.  When your mind is wandering, it can go to worry and you can begin to churn on unproductive thoughts and you end up feeling awful.

The Good Default Mode Network.  When your mind is wandering, it can go to good places. You can think about your relationships, your future, and it is also when creative ideas can come unbidden.

Roots in Creativity

When I was a child, there was a lot more boredom. My son asked me why all the great rock guitarists were from my age. I asked him who of his friends was the best guitarist. He told me it was Tyler. I asked him when Tyler was bored on a Sunday afternoon, what could he do? He said he could watch TV, play video games, get on the internet (and the list went on). I told him that when Eric Clapton or Brian May got bored on a Sunday afternoon, there wasn’t much on TV (only 3 channels), no video games, and no internet, so they practiced their guitars.

When my family took camping trips, my sister and I looked out the window.  There was no onboard entertainment center. We didn’t like to read in the car because it made us car-sick.  So what did we do? We imagined things.

In his book, The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing Our Brains, Nicholas Carr describes convincingly how the internet and the speed with which we are consuming information is changing our brains.  

Boredom is the garden for creativity.  Boredom is also the garden for self-control. If you never have to wait for anything, you never learn self-control. Boredom necessarily involves waiting for things.  

5 Suggestions for Breeding Boredom—
and creativity 

1. Unplug your technology.
   
2. Practice sitting quietly and being bored. The longer you practice, the better you will get at handling it.
   
3. Go for a drive with no radio, no devices. Stare out the window.
   
4. After doing the above, ask yourself what were you thinking about.  This may allow you to see which creative ideas have emerged.
   
5. Write them down. Act on them!